Gypsy Rose Lee: American Actress and Infamous Burlesque Stripper
© Debbie Legare
Gypsy Rose Lee, one of the world's most famous burlesque dancers and strippers, is considered the inventor of the strip tease. Gypsy was born as Rose Louise Hovick on February 9, 1911 in Seattle, Washington. Her mother Rose pushed her daughters Louise and June into vaudeville performances.
Gypsy Debuts as a Burlesque Dancer
In 1929, Gypsy made her debut as a burlesque dancer. It was her sense of humor and innocent teasing that caught the eye of H.K. Minski in 1931. She changed her name to Gypsy Rose Lee and went to work in Minski's New York club.
Gypsy was frequently arrested and had some very controversial relationships with thugs like Rags Ragland and Eddy Braun. During one of her arrests she famously said, “I wasn’t naked, I was completely covered by a blue spotlight.”
Gypsy danced for Minski for 4 years and then headlined as a Ziegfeld Girl. She made her way to Hollywood in 1935. Gypsy married Arnold Bob Mizzy in 1937 at the studio's insistance. She traveled back to New York and invested in business with Mike Todd while starring in Streets of Paris, Theater Cafe, Gay New Orleans and Star and Garter.
Gypsy's Novels and Marriages
Gypsy wrote a bestselling book called G String Murders in 1941, which stayed on the charts for 10 weeks. Her follow-up book in 1942 was called Mother Finds a Body. Around this time she divorced Mizzy.
In 1942, even though in love with Mike Todd, she married William A Kirkland in an attempt make Todd jealous; it ended in divorce in 1944. Her only son, Erik Lee, was the son of Otto Preminger. She married Julio de Diego in 1948, but divorced again a few years later.
Gypsy's Conflict with Mother Rose
In the early 1950s, Mother Rose took money from her daughters to open a gay 10-room boarding house on West End Avenue in New York City. Mother Rose allegedly shot and killed one of her guests, known to be her lover, for flirting with Gypsy. The police made it out to be a suicide.
In 1956, Gypsy retired from stripping. She wrote her memoir Gypsy in 1957, which later became a Broadway smash. Lee starred in My Lucky Star and Stripper, and on TV in Batman, The Over the Hill Gang and The Gypsy Rose Lee Show.
In 1969, Gypsy was diagnosed with lung cancer. She died on April 26, 1970 and was buried in Inglewood Memorial Cemetery in California.
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