Cosette Lee
| Cosette Lee | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Mable Cosette LeGassicke 10 July 1910 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | 19 September 1976 (aged 66) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1919–1976 |
| Spouse(s) | Charles Fryer |
Cosette Lee (10 July 1910 – 19 September 1976) was a Toronto stage, radio, television and film actress. Though she was a stalwart character doyenne, prominent in every arena of the theatre arts in Canada, she is best remembered for her roles as Raxl, Daughter of the Priestess of the Serpent on Strange Paradise (1969-70), and as Ma Cobb in Deranged (1975).
Cosette Lee began acting at a very young age; she grew up in the midst of a decided theatrical atmosphere at home. Born Mabel Cosette LeGassicke, she stated in a 1966 interview that her ancestors were of Normandy French stock. Cosette recalled: "My mother gave me the name Cosette, thinking it couldn't be shortened. My grandmother once remarked I looked 'cosy' in my crib, and I've been Cosy ever since. It sounds like a fan dancer." (Cosette was often billed as Cosy Lee in her earlier years.) She further stated: "My first professional appearance was with the Von Glazer Players, a Toronto stock company, in Peter Pan. I was Toodles, the leader of the gang of children, and it was at the Uptown Theatre." This was apparently sometime around 1916-19 (she was vague about the date in interviews).
Her mother, a milliner, made hats for some of the celebrated actresses of the World War I period in Toronto. Her father acted in "minstrel" shows at the YMCA, and also appeared in church theatricals. Asked when she had known she was going to be an actress, Cosette cited a family atmosphere in which she was encouraged to do little performances at home for the entertainment of the adults:
"They encouraged me. They knew I loved it. My aunt used to say: 'Cosy, tell us about your trip to New York,' and I'd put on my father's hat and my mother's shoes and carry a briefcase for a valise, and I'd go on and on about my New York trip. I was three or four and had never been to New York."
After Peter Pan, the young Cosy continued to participate in other productions. She took a secretarial course as a young woman and graduated from it, but acting work remained steady and she remained in the theatre. Her mother had taught her to sew and she often made her own costumes. Besides plays, she also had a career as a "character elocutionist," performing mostly comic monologues in a style that in some ways anticipates the stand-up comedy boom of the present era.
This was the story as Cosette told it in a 1966 interview, and was one that is found in other interviews she gave over the course of the final decade of her life. Interestingly, in a 1963 interview, she gave rather a less rosy-coloured image of her early life:
"Born Cosette Le Gassicke, the oldest of five daughters, Miss Lee had no encouragement from her parents in her acting aspirations. Too precarious a living, they said; take a business course. She took one, and loathed it.
"[Cosette remembered:] 'Then at 16 I got a part in "The Trial of Mary Duggan" at the Grand Opera House. And I knew I could not turn back.'
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