Lee Grant (New Zealand actress)

Not to be confused with Lee Grant.

Leonara Elizabeth Grant MBE (3 August 1931 – 22 July 2016), known professionally as Lee Grant or Miss Lee Grant, was an English-born New Zealand actress and singer.

Born in Carshalton, Surrey, England, on 3 August 1931, Grant moved to New Zealand in the 1960s and became a naturalised New Zealand citizen in December 1980.[1][2] She was best known as a stage actress in Auckland from the 1960s onwards—being particularly associated with the Mercury Theatre[3]—but also appeared with Chic Littlewood in cabaret performances,[4] and in New Zealand's first television sitcom, Buck House, in 1974.[5] Her film appearances included Trial Run (1984) starring Annie Whittle, and Arriving Tuesday (1986).[6]

Grant was also a singer, although she suffered a recurrent throat problem and underwent a minor throat operation in 1969.[7][8] She appeared in musicals at the Mercury including the 1975 production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,[9] and as Velma Kelly in Chicago.[10]

As well as singing and acting, Grant pursued a career as a choreographer, and was awarded a grant of $4000 by the Arts Council for a study trip to Canada.[11][12]

In the 1991 Queen's Birthday Honours Grant was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to the theatre.[13]

She moved to Perth, Western Australia, in 1994,[2] but returned to New Zealand on a number of occasions to appear on stage or in television productions, including Three Tall Women with the Auckland Theatre Company in 1996,[14] and the television drama, Coalface, in 1997, during which she was injured and subsequently required a hip replacement.[15]

Grant died in Perth on 22 July 2016.[16][17]

References

  1. ↑ "New Zealand, naturalisations, 1843–1981". Ancestry.com Operations. 2010. Retrieved 26 July 2016. (subscription required (help)).
  2. 1 2 Sunday Star Times. 30 October 1994. p. D2.
  3. ↑ "Mercury Theatre: records (1966–1992)". Auckland City Libraries. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  4. ↑ "Auckland at night". New Zealand Herald. 27 May 1967.
  5. ↑ "Lee Grant". NZOnScreen. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  6. ↑ Lee Grant at the Internet Movie Database
  7. ↑ "Satisfactory after minor operation". Auckland Star. 22 December 1969.
  8. ↑ "Voice trouble for singer". New Zealand Herald. 13 May 1970.
  9. ↑ "Old tale arrayed In sparkling modern guise". New Zealand Herald. 27 January 1975.
  10. ↑ De Boni, Dita (21 September 2001). "Sex, sin and all that jazz". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  11. ↑ "Grant Of $4000 for actress". New Zealand Herald. 9 January 1975.
  12. ↑ Harris, Roger (30 January 1975). "Singing, acting & choreography". Auckland Star.
  13. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 52564. p. 30. 15 June 1991. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  14. ↑ Herrick, Linda (3 March 1996). "Theresa and co's tall order". Sunday Star Times. p. 4.
  15. ↑ "Hard-bitten role trips up veteran". Sunday Star Times. 19 October 1997. p. 9.
  16. ↑ "Lee Grant death notice". New Zealand Herald. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  17. ↑ "Cemetery search". Metropollitan Cemeteries Board. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
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