Lee Parry

Lee Parry, born Mathilde Charlotte Benz on 14 January 1901, was a German film actress, stage performer, and recording artist who built a career spanning silent cinema, operetta, Broadway, and South American theater. She died on 24 January 1977 in Bad Tölz.

Parry came from a performing family. Her father, Josef Friedrich Benz (1863–1928), was a stage actor, opera tenor, and variety director widely known as "Papa Benz," and her mother, Mathilde Benz (1880–1967), was a singer. She was discovered by director Richard Eichberg in 1919 and subsequently married him. Her screen debut came that same year in Jettatore, followed by Sins of the Parents and Nonne und Tänzerin, all three directed by Eichberg. Over the course of her film career she appeared in more than 40 productions between 1919 and 1939. A career high point came in 1922 when she starred in the historical drama Monna Vanna opposite Paul Wegener and Hans Sturm. She also co-starred with Bela Lugosi during his time in Germany, appearing alongside him in Hypnosis and The Curse of Man. Her final film appearance was in Adieu Vienne in 1939.

Alongside her screen work, Parry performed on stage and starred in several Viennese operettas. She additionally pursued a music career, recording popular songs including "Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt."

Her Broadway career ran from 1939 to 1949 and included appearances in Metropole, the comedy Pillar to Post, When We Are Married, and The American Way.

In 1956, Parry relocated to Buenos Aires with her second husband, Siegmund Breslauer, a director at the German exile theater Freie Deutsche Bühne. There she staged a theatrical comeback in the play Manon and continued performing on stages throughout South America for several years afterward.