Mary Lee transitioned to acting in 1939, making her debut in the Warner Bros. film Nancy Drew...Reporter, in which she played Mary Nickerson and performed in a nursery rhyme medley. Later that same year, she joined Republic Pictures and appeared in South of the Border, released on December 15, 1939.
In 1940, she signed a five-year contract with Republic Pictures and went on to appear in nine Gene Autry films, often portraying the younger sister of the female lead. Her final collaboration with Autry was in The Singing Hill, released on April 26, 1941. Following her Autry series, she acted in nine additional Republic feature films.
Mary Lee ventured into B musicals during the early 1940s. Notable among these were Shantytown (April 20, 1943), Nobody’s Darling (August 27, 1943), and Three Little Sisters (July 31, 1944). Her final motion picture appearance came in Song of Nevada, released on August 5, 1944. Afterward, she stepped away from her film career entirely.
Mary Lee married First Sergeant Harry J. Banan of the United States Army on November 12, 1943. The couple had two children: Harry Philip and Laura Lee. Her husband passed away in 1990.
Mary Lee died on June 6, 1996, in Sacramento, California, at the age of 71. While documentation of her net worth remains limited, her contributions to early American cinema and popular music during the Big Band era remain noteworthy. Her achievements as a young singer and actress continue to be appreciated by film and music historians.
Return to the previous page| Birth Date: | 24 Oct, 1924 |
| Age: | 95 yrs |
| Occupations: | Actor Film actor |
| Citizenship: | United States of America |
| Birth Place: | Centralia |
| Gender: | Female |
| Description: | 1924-1996 American actress |
| Net Worth 2021: | 500 thousand |
