George Lee, Actor and radio personality, 67
deb...@comcast.net
He was active in radio and acting
By Mark Burger
JOURNAL ARTS REPORTER
George Lee, a noted actor and radio personality in Winston-Salem and
throughout the Piedmont Triad, died yesterday in hospice care in
Winston-Salem. He was 67.
Lee, who was born George Lee Bowermaster, found out that he had
pancreatic cancer in April and underwent chemotherapy treatment.
Although he maintained an upbeat attitude, his condition declined
earlier this month.
With his memorable voice and irreverent sense of humor, Lee found fame
in the 1960s as one of the popular "Good Guys" disc-jockey lineup on
WTOB, where he was remembered for his sign-off: "Drive safely. The life
you save may be your own. Myself, I'd rather be late than be the late
George Lee."
Lee was born March 12, 1939, in Wheeling, W.Va. He attended Marshall
College but never graduated, opting instead to take a full-time radio
job at a station in Huntington.
He visited Winston-Salem to attend a cousin's wedding and stopped by
WAIR to see if a job was open. There was, and Lee moved to
Winston-Salem in 1960.
He joined WSJS in 1968 and was promoted to program director of WSJS and
sister station WTQR in 1976. He would occasionally do local TV
newscasts and held several fundraisers for UNC-TV over the years.
Lee left full-time radio in 1982 to concentrate on free-lance acting
and voice-over work. He also appeared regularly onstage in
community-theater productions until the early 1990s, but never strayed
far from radio.
His voice-overs are still heard on commercials playing in regular
rotation throughout the region. He was also "the voice Behind the
Wheel" as the narrator of Beyond the Wheel, a popular program recapping
the week in NASCAR on The Speed Channel.
He appeared opposite Charlton Heston in the 1983 CBS-TV miniseries
Chiefs, and had roles in Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992), The
Program (1993) with James Caan, and the 1999 Robin Williams blockbuster
Patch Adams.
Lee was also a fixture at the School of Filmmaking at the N.C. School
of the Arts, appearing in many student films and establishing
friendships with students and faculty members alike.
"George was a vital and important part of the filmmaking program," said
Dale Pollock, the dean of the School of Filmmaking from 1998 until this
year. "He appeared in countless student films and gave some of the best
performances recorded on film and digital video by our students. He was
always collaborative, selfless and thoroughly entranced with the
artistic process. He will be missed in so many ways."
One of those student filmmakers was Mark Freiburger, who called on Lee
to appear in a pivotal scene opposite Will Patton and Richard Herd in
his feature debut, The Dog Days of Summer, which was filmed in Edenton
last year.
"It was an absolute pleasure working with George," Freiburger said. "I
am very thankful for the opportunity we had to collaborate at NCSA and
in the professional realm."
"George had one of those amazing voices that immediately turned heads,"
said Butter Birkas, a former faculty member at the School of Filmmaking
and the former director of the RiverRun International Film Festival,
where Lee was a volunteer.
"His persona will endure in celluloid at the School of the Arts, but
his heart and soul live on in so many of us who were lucky enough to
know him."
In a profile published last October in the Winston-Salem Journal, Lee
explained his lifelong romance with performing. "It's all about having
fun and taking chances - and vice versa," he said.
Lee is survived by his daughters, Kimberly Beth Bowermaster Brown and
Susan Brooke Bowermaster, both of Winston-Salem, five grandchildren and
a sister. The funeral will be 2 p.m. Monday at St. Paul's Episcopal
Church.
deb...@comcast.net
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0497304/
(I venture to guess that some of the early credits listed for him on
Imdb are incorrect)