Ruta Lee
Ruta Lee attending ceremony forLeslie Caron's star on theHollywood Walk of Fame, December 8, 2009
Born	Ruta Mary Kilmonis (1935-05-30)May 30, 1935 (age 90) Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Citizenship	Canada,United States,Lithuania
Alma mater	Los Angeles City College UCLA
Occupations	Actress, dancer
Years active	1952–present
Spouse	Webster B. Lowe Jr. ​ ​ (m. 1976; died 2020)​

Ruta Lee (bornRuta Mary Kilmonis; May 30, 1935) is a Canadian-born American actress and dancer of Lithuanian descent. She was born in Montreal, Canada, to Lithuanian immigrant parents. Ruta Lee appeared as one of the brides in the musicalSeven Brides for Seven Brothers. She had roles in films includingBilly Wilder's crime dramaWitness for the Prosecution andStanley Donen's musical comedyFunny Face, and also is remembered for her guest appearance in a 1963 episode ofRod Serling's sci-fi seriesThe Twilight Zone called "A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain".

Lee guest-starred on many television series, and was also featured on a number of game shows, includingHollywood Squares,What's My Line?, andMatch Game, and asAlex Trebek's co-host onHigh Rollers.

Ruta Lee was born on May 30, 1935, inMontreal,Quebec, the only child of Lithuanian Roman Catholicimmigrants.^[1][2] Her father was a tailor and her mother a homemaker.^[3]

On March 1, 1948, her family moved to the United States and ended up settling inLos Angeles, where she graduated in 1952 fromHollywood High School and began studying acting and appearing in school plays.^[3][4] She attended bothLos Angeles City College and theUniversity of California at Los Angeles.^[3] She worked as a cashier,^[3] usherette, and candy girl atGrauman's Chinese Theater, but when she was $40 short in her cash account at the end of her shift one night, she was fired.

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Lee then got a break as a guest on two episodes ofCBS'sThe George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.^[3] She soon found an agent, who landed her a job in an episode ofThe Roy Rogers Show, followed by a spot in 1953 on the seriesAdventures of Superman. That same year, while acting in a small theater production ofOn the Town,^[3] she landed a role as bride Ruth in theAcademy Award-nominated musicalSeven Brides for Seven Brothers, while still billed as Ruta Kilmonis.^[4] She appeared in several films, includingAnything Goes (1956),Funny Face (1957),Witness for the Prosecution (1957), andMarjorie Morningstar (1958). In 1962, she played the female lead in theRat Pack comedy/Western filmSergeants 3 starringFrank Sinatra,Dean Martin,Sammy Davis Jr.,Peter Lawford, andJoey Bishop. Lee then co-starred withAudie Murphy andDarren McGavin in a Western,Bullet for a Badman (1964).

In addition to films, Lee has appeared in dozens of guest-starring roles on television. For a number of years, she seemed to be everywhere on the small screen. From 1957 to 1959, she was cast in different roles in eight episodes of theCBS crime drama seriesThe Lineup, and also played the leading lady in three episodes ofMaverick: "The Comstock Conspiracy" (1957) withJames Garner, "The Plunder of Paradise" (1958), and "Betrayal" (1959) withJack Kelly. In 1959 and 1960, she was cast in four episodes ofJohn Bromfield'ssyndicated crime dramaU.S. Marshal.

She appeared as Ellen Barton in the 1960 episode "Grant of Land" of theABCWestern series,The Rebel, starringNick Adams. She also made five guest appearances on the CBS courtroom drama seriesPerry Mason between 1958 and 1965, including the roles of murderer Connie Cooper in "The Case of the Screaming Woman" (1958), defendant Millie Crest in "The Case of the Foot-Loose Doll" (1959), as Vita Culver in "The Case of the Prudent Prosecutor" (1960), Vivian Cosgrave in the episode "The Case of the Libelous Locket" (1963), and as Irene Prentice in "The Case of the Gambling Lady" (1965).

Lee was further cast onRichard Diamond, Private Detective,Alfred Hitchcock Presents,Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer,Sugarfoot,M Squad,Gunsmoke (as title character “Jenny” in 1962),77 Sunset Strip,The Alaskans,Colt .45,Wagon Train,Bat Masterson,Hawaiian Eye,Rawhide,The Wild Wild West,Ironside, "Yancy Derringer",The Fugitive, and three episodes ofHogan's Heroes. Lee appeared in two guest spots ofThe Andy Griffith Show, in 1962 and 1965.

Also in 1965, she was cast as a movie star named Gloria Morgan in the episode "Gomer Dates a Movie Star" on the sitcomGomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.. In 1963, she was cast in CBS'sThe Twilight Zone in the episode "A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain" as a cold, callous golddigger whose elderly husband undergoes a scientific experiment to make himself younger and more attractive to her, aging "backward" a bit more than he anticipated. In 1967, Lee appeared in two episodes ofThe Lucy Show, “Lucy’s Substitute Secretary” which aired on January 2; and “Lucy Meets the Berles” which aired on September 11.

Lee also began appearing regularly on game shows such asHollywood Squares,You Don't Say, andMatch Game. In the early 1970s, Lee continued to perform in both film and television roles onLove, American Style andThe Mod Squad, and had a role in the filmThe Doomsday Machine (1972). By 1974, Lee had grown frustrated by an increasing lack of roles, and took a job co-hosting the daytime game showHigh Rollers.^[4] She remained with the show until 1976.

During the 1980s, she lent her voice to episodes ofThe Flintstone Comedy Show andThe Smurfs, in addition to guest roles onCHiPs,Fantasy Island,The Love Boat, andCharles in Charge. Lee also performed extensively in the mid-1980s on stage, including the title character in the musicalPeter Pan.^[5]

From 1988 to 1989, Lee played a recurring role on the CBS sitcomComing of Age. In 1989, she played the role of Sally Powers in the television movieSweet Bird of Youth withElizabeth Taylor. In the 1990s, Lee continued to appear in episodic television, most notably on the sitcomRoseanne. Lee appeared as the girlfriend of Bev Harris (Estelle Parsons), whose character had inadvertently "outed" herself.^[6]

She played the wife ofJerry Lewis's character in the British comedy-dramaFunny Bones (1995), in which they play the parents of theOliver Platt's character. In 2002, Lee was presented with one of theGolden Boot Awards for her work in Western television and cinema.

In 2006, Lee received a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to the television industry.^[7] In 1995, a Golden Palm Star on thePalm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to Lee.^[8]

In February 2008, Lee appeared as Clairee in a production ofSteel Magnolias withSally Struthers at theCasa Mañana theatre inFort Worth, Texas. In October 2010, Lee played the role of Miss Mona inThe Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, also at the Casa Mañana.^[9]

In 2024, Lee appeared as a guest judge on season nine, episode six ofRuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.

In 1976, Lee married Texan restaurant executive Webster B. "Webb" Lowe Jr.^[4] They divided their time between their homes in Hollywood,Palm Springs, Fort Worth, and Las Hadas,Mexico.^[10] Webb died July 1, 2020. They had no children. Lee describes her political views as "conservative"^[11] and she appeared at the1972 Republican National Convention.^[12] On August 24, 2013, Lee was inducted into the National Lithuanian American Hall of Fame.^[13][14]

In February 2019, Lee was granted Lithuanian citizenship.^[15][16]

In 1964, Lee called then-Soviet PremierNikita Khrushchev, asking him to pardon her octogenarian grandmother Ludvise Kamandulis,^[4] who had been sent to aninternment camp inSiberia. The pardon was granted, and Lee's grandmother came to live with her in California later that same year. Kamandulis died two years later.^[17] Lee again rescued a relative from the former Soviet Union when she secured custody of her 18-year-old cousin, Maryte Kaseta, from Lithuania in 1987.^[18]

Lee has been involved with the charitable organizationThe Thalians for over 50 years.^[4] In addition to raising money and providing services for troubled youth and mental-health organizations, Lee, who is also the board chairman, co-produced the annual Ball of the Thalians with the lateDebbie Reynolds throughout these five decades.^[19] In 2011, after 55 years of involvement with The Thalians, she stepped down and is now a memberemerita.^[20] In 2025, Lee announced that she would no longer be able to honor autograph requests both in person and through standard postal mail anymore due in part to her advanced age.^[21]

• List of Canadian actors
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• Official website
• Ruta Lee discography atDiscogs
• Ruta Lee atIMDb 
• Interview, September, 2015
• Interview with Ruta Lee at Classic Film & TV Cafe, 14 April 2019
• Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen

• 1935 births
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