Michele Lee was born Michele Lee Dusick on June 24, 1942, in Los Angeles, California, to a premier makeup artist and the sister of a United States District Attorney. Growing up in the Hollywood entertainment industry, Lee was outgoing and had taken every chance to act in plays in front of her family and friends.
In junior high school, she continued acting in school plays and, in the 10th grade, she tried out for the band and became the lead singer. Prior to her graduation from Alexander Hamilton High School, she landed her first role in the Broadway revue "Vintage '60," launching her career.
Lee's musical talent was brought to the attention of Columbia Records, and she signed to the label. She appeared in Broadway shows and became a singer, making guest appearances on television, doing dancing, singing, and performing comedy routines.
Her movie debut came with the film "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" (1967),followed by "The Comic" (1969),co-starring Dick Van Dyke. After giving birth to her first child, she returned to work, starring as Secretary Carole Bennett on "The Love Bug" (1969),which became the best movie of 1970 and topped the box office.
Tragedy struck when her father passed away in 1970, and her mother died in 1974. Lee continued to work, accepting a role on Broadway in "Seesaw," earning a 1974 Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. She then accepted the leading role of Karen Fairgate MacKenzie in the prime-time soap opera "Knots Landing" (1979),which spun off from the popular serial "Dallas."
Lee remained the big asset of the series for 14 years, earning a Soap Opera Digest Award three times and a nomination for one Emmy Award. During her time on the show, she also became the series' director, directing several episodes.
When "Knots Landing" was cancelled in 1993, Lee was open to new opportunities, producing and developing her own television movies through her own production company. She earned her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999.
In the 1990s, Lee appeared in several television movies, including "Big Dreams & Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story" (1995),playing the character of Dottie West, and "Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac" (1997). She also starred in the Lifetime movie "Color Me Perfect" (1996),playing a retarded woman named Dina Blake, and was the first lady to star, write, and produce a movie for Cable Television.
In 2000, Lee starred opposite Valerie Harper in the Broadway play "Tale of the Allergist's Wife" in New York and returned to the big screen in 2004, playing Ben Stiller's mother in "Along Came Polly."
