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Lee Purcell

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Lee Purcell
Purcell in 2017
Born
Lee Jeune Williams

(1947-06-15) June 15, 1947 (age 77)
OccupationActress
Years active1969–present
Spouses
Robert Gibson
(m. 1968; div. 1972)
Kenneth Gerbino
(m. 1975; div. 1981)
Gary A. Lowe
(m. 1982; div. 1995)
Bob Dahlquist
(m. 2014)
Websitewww.leepurcell.com

Lee Purcell (born Lee Jeune Williams; June 15, 1947)[2] is an American actress[3] who worked primarily in the 1970s and 1980s.[4]

Early life

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Purcell was born Lee Jeune Williams at the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point (North Carolina), the elder daughter of Major Frank D. Williams Jr., a highly decorated Marine Corps pilot who was killed while on active duty when she was two months old.[5] Her mother, Lee (née McKnight) Williams (1925–2014), remarried, to Donald Purcell, a U.S. Navy doctor assigned to the Marine Corps.[6] Lee Purcell has a younger sister.[7]

She graduated from Paragould High School in 1965[7] and briefly attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri as a dance and theatre student until she was expelled.[why?][8][9][10][11]

Career

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Purcell in 1970

She moved to California in 1967[12] and studied acting. Purcell supported herself by working in commercials[11] and selling clothes at a disco.[13]

In 1969, Purcell was selected for her first feature film by Steve McQueen in his company's production of Adam at Six A.M., co-starring Michael Douglas.[14] Asked to explain why he chose Purcell from nearly 500 other available actresses, McQueen said, "It wasn't easy. We kept narrowing down the field over a period of weeks until it came to giving screen tests to six of them. All of them were good, but Lee seemed to jump right out of the screen."[15]

Purcell at the 1994 Emmy Awards

Her television work included roles as Billie Dove and Olivia de Havilland in two biopic TV movies: The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977)[16] and My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn (1985).[17]

She was nominated for two Emmy Awards. In 1991, she was nominated as Outstanding Lead Actress for Long Road Home[18] and in 1994 as Outstanding Supporting Actress for Secret Sins of the Father. She was co-producer, and starred in the 1998 low-budget cable-TV movie Malaika (alternate title Tons of Trouble).[19]

Purcell's film career wound down in 1983 and she has only had five motion picture credits since, the last in 2015. She has continued to do television projects.[20]

Personal life

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In December 2010 Purcell launched an interactive fashion and beauty website, BoomerBabes, geared towards Baby Boomer women. The website gained few visitors[21] and BoomerBabes stopped updating in 2014.[22]

Purcell is a member of the Church of Scientology.[23]

Filmography

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Feature films

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Year Film Role Director
1970 Adam at Six A.M. Jerri Jo Hopper Robert Scheerer
1972 Dirty Little Billy Berle Stan Dragoti
Stand Up and Be Counted Karen Hammond Jackie Cooper
Necromancy Priscilla Bert I. Gordon
1973 Kid Blue Molly Ford James Frawley
1974 Mr. Majestyk Wiley Richard Fleischer
1978 Big Wednesday Peggy Gordon John Milius
Almost Summer Christine Alexander Martin Davidson
1980 Stir Crazy Susan Sidney Poitier
1982 Airplane II: The Sequel Mrs. Seluchi (Deleted Scene) Ken Finkleman
Homework Ms. Jackson James Beshears
1983 Eddie Macon's Run Jilly Buck Jeff Kanew
Valley Girl Beth Brent Martha Coolidge
1985 Space Rage Maggie Conrad E. Palmisano
1996 Movies, Money, Murder Lilah Stephen Eckelberry, Arthur Webb
1998 Dizzyland Dennis Hackin
2005 The Unknown aka Clawed: The Legend of Sasquatch Doris Winslow Karl Kozak
2015 Kids vs Monsters Francine Gingerfield

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1969 Bracken's World Girl
1970 Marcus Welby, M.D. Cathy Cullen Made a second appearance in 1972, as 'Carol Lockett'
Bonanza Angie
The Young Rebels Maggie Todd
1972 Medical Center Liza
1973 Cannon Marian Luke Made two additional appearances in 1975, various characters
Hijack Eileen Noonan TV movie
1974 ABC Wide World Mystery Donna
The Rockford Files Susan Parsons
1975 The Waltons Bobby Strom Played an aviator
Insight Tracy
Barnaby Jones Kathy Cooper Made a second appearance in 1977, as 'Peggy Giroux'
1976 Hawaii Five-O Molly Taggert Made a second appearance in 1977, same character
Jigsaw John Virginia Sand
1977 The Amazing Howard Hughes Billie Dove TV movie
The Streets of San Francisco Carol Revson
1978 Stranger in Our House Julia Trent TV movie (aka Summer of Fear)
1979 Murder in Music City Samantha Hunt TV movie (aka The Country Western Murders)
A Man Called Sloane Michele Blake
1980 Kenny Rogers as The Gambler Jennie Reed TV movie
My Wife Next Door Lisa Pallick Pilot for proposed TV series
The Secret War of Jackie's Girls Casey McCann TV movie
1981 The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite Bonnie Lee Beaumont TV movie and pilot for proposed TV series
Killing at Hell's Gate Jane Pasco TV movie
1982 The Phoenix Cindy Houghton
1985 Magnum, P.I. Goldie Morris
Murder, She Wrote Joanna Benson Made four additional appearances in 1986, 1989 and 1994, various characters
My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn Olivia de Havilland TV movie
Hollywood Beat Maggie
1986 Betrayed by Innocence Sharon DeLeon TV movie
1987 Matlock Andrea Colter
MacGyver Shadow
1988 To Heal a Nation Sandie TV movie
The Incredible Hulk Returns Dr. Maggie Shaw TV movie
Jake and the Fatman Pamela Parker
1989 Simon & Simon Colleen Huntley/Missy Taylor
1990 Shades of LA Alex Taylor
1991 Long Road Home Bessie Robertson TV movie. Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress
1994 Secret Sins of the Father Ann Thielman TV movie. Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress
1995 Due South Louise St. Laurent Made five additional appearances in 1995 and 1996, same character
Dazzle Red TV movie
The Magic of Christmas Herself Holiday special
1997 Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction Dr. Kim O'Farrell Segment: "The Unknown Patient"
1998 Promised Land Beth Hixon
Malaika Molly DeMornay TV movie (aka Tons of Trouble)
2010 Persons Unknown Eleanor Sullivan Mini-series. Five appearances
2016 J.L. Family Ranch Mable Ritter TV film

Special projects

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Year Title Role Notes
1987 A Woman's Guide to Firearms Herself Instructional video
Your First Gun- A Family Guide To Shooting The mother Instructional video
1992 The Joke Jane 35mm short
1997 This World, Then the Fireworks ADR work (additional dialogue recording)
2006 White Picket Fence Bonnie Durley Super 16mm short

References

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  1. ^ Lee Purcell, Encyclopediaofarkansas.net. Accessed November 29, 2022.
  2. ^ Lee Purcell, Encyclopediaofarkansas.net. Accessed November 29, 2022.
  3. ^ "Lee McKnight Purcell Obituary". tributearchive.com. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  4. ^ "Lee Purcell". IMDb. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  5. ^ "Frank Dunn Williams".
  6. ^ "Dr. Donald I. Purcell". memorialsolutions.com. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
  7. ^ a b "Paragould Took Hat Off For Lee Purcell". usgennet.org. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
  8. ^ "Schenectady Gazette - Google News Archive Search".
  9. ^ "Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1967-01-15 :: Columbia Missourian (1967 -- Oct 1968)".
  10. ^ “Adam Travels to Excelsior Springs”, Columbia Missourian, September 21, 1969; accessed June 14, 2015.
  11. ^ a b Columbia Missourian November 26, 1972 "Success for Lee Purcell", cdm.sos.mo.gov; accessed June 14, 2015.
  12. ^ The Sumter Daily Item-Dec 26, 1969
  13. ^ Profile, Daily News (Bowling Green, KY), May 8, 1981.
  14. ^ "Mentored By the Biggest Star in the World: Inside Steve McQueen's 'Adam at 6 A.M.'—Interview by Jeremy Roberts for Medium". 13 April 2017.
  15. ^ Profile, Beaver County Times, September 25, 1969.
  16. ^ Profile, Times Daily, April 11, 1977.
  17. ^ Profile, Lakeland Ledger, January 20, 1985.
  18. ^ Profile, Sun Sentinel, July 19, 1991.
  19. ^ Profile, New York Times; accessed April 8, 2015.
  20. ^ "Lee Purcell". IMDb. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  21. ^ "boomerbabes.com Traffic Analytics & Market Share". Similarweb. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  22. ^ "BoomerBabes".
  23. ^ Kent, Stephen A.; Raine, Susan (2017). Scientology in Popular Culture. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 144. ISBN 9798216142621.
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Media related to Lee Purcell at Wikimedia Commons