Perky brunette stage and TV actor, whose career began in her late teens, Lee made her Broadway debut in David Merrick's "Vintage '60" (1960) at age 18 and went on to plum roles in such long-running hits as "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" (1962), reprising her role in the 1967 screen version, and "Seesaw" (1973), the musical adaptation of "Two for the Seesaw", for which she received Drama Desk and Outer Circle Critics Awards and a Tony nomination.
On the big screen, Lee had leads in Disney's slapstick fantasy "The Love Bug" (1969), about a Volkswagen with a mind of its own, and "The Comic" (1969), an uneven serio-comedy about a destructive comedian co-starring Dick Van Dyke and Mickey Rooney. In the late 1970s, Lee landed a regular role on the CBS nighttime soap opera "Knots Landing" playing Karen MacKenzie and appeared in every episode until the series folded at the end of the 1992-1993 season.
Lee has guested or starred on numerous TV variety shows and has made dramatic appearances in several TV-movies. She has also maintained a busy singing career appearing in nightclubs around the country and cutting a number of singles and albums for Columbia Records. Lee directed episodes of "Knots Landing" during the show's final seasons. She co-wrote, executive produced, directed and starred in the 1996 Lifetime telefilm "Color Me Perfect".