Sammy Lee
Born 1890 (age 77) · New York, USA
Appears in 37 titles

Sammy Lee will best be remembered for his great contributions as Dance Director of many important musicals during Hollywood's golden age. He first achieved fame in New York as dance director of the highly successful Ziegfeld Follies of 1927. After contributing dance routines for Ziegfeld's famous productions "Showboat", "Rio Rita", and the last of the "Midnight Frolics", he signed with MGM studios early in 1929. His imaginative dance routines included overhead shots a year before Buzby Berkeley's work in "Whoopee". He brought the prestige of the Ziegfeld image to MGM's early musical talkies. Sammy Lee was nominated twice for an academy award for best dance direction, in 1935 for "King Of Burlesque", and 1937 for "Ali Baba Goes To Town", both at 20th Century Fox. He would return to MGM after a stint at RKO (1937) and directed shorts and choreographed war time musicals. Smaller studios benefited from his talents in 1944 and 1945. During this time he choreographed Columbia's "Carolina Blues" and Republic's "Earl Carroll's Vanities" before he retired with Paramount's 1945 release, "Out Of This World". Sammy Lee's productive career spanned an impressive sixteen years in Hollywood, and gave us many of cinema's most entertaining moments!

Filmography

Stairway to Light
7.2
Stairway to Light
1945
Director
Soak the Old
6.5
Soak the Old
1940
Director
Rodeo Dough
6.5
Rodeo Dough
1940
Director
The Woman in the House
6.6
The Woman in the House
1942
Director
The Song Writers' Revue
4.7
The Song Writers' Revue
1929
Director
The Greener Hills
6.3
The Greener Hills
1939
Director
Who's Superstitious?
7.0
Who's Superstitious?
1943
Director
Rhumba Rhythm at the Hollywood La Conga
The Film That Was Lost
7.5
The Film That Was Lost
1942
Director
Forgotten Treasure
8.0
Forgotten Treasure
1943
Director
New Shoes
6.0
New Shoes
1936
Director
Out of Darkness
7.0
Out of Darkness
1941
Director
Strange Testament
7.5
Strange Testament
1941
Director
The Doll Shop
8.0
The Doll Shop
1929
Director
9.0
Portrait of a Genius
1943
Director
7.0
Somewhat Secret
1939
Director
4.0
Manhattan Serenade
1929
Director
The Hidden Master
10.0
The Hidden Master
1940
Director
7.0
Men of Steel
1938
Director
Beyond Our Own
9.0
Beyond Our Own
1947
Director