Joan Boocock Lee

Joan Boocock Lee
Joan B. Lee with husband Stan and daughter Joan "J. C." Lee in the 1950s
Born Joan Boocock[1]
(1922-02-05)5 February 1922
Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Died 6 July 2017(2017-07-06) (aged 95)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation Voice actress, model
Years active 1981–2016
Spouse(s)
Sanford Weiss
(m. 1944; div. 1947)

Stan Lee
(m. 1947; d. 2017)
Children 2

Joan Lee (née Boocock; 5 February 1922 – 6 July 2017)[2] was a British-American hat model and voice actress. She was also notable for her nearly 70-year marriage to comic book writer Stan Lee. She met him in New York City in the 1940s, while working as a hat model. In her later years, she became a voice actress and provided her voice in Spider-Man and Fantastic Four both in the 1990s.

Early life

Joan Boocock's birth was registered in the first quarter of 1922 in Castle Ward Rural District (now part of Newcastle's Metropolitan Borough) according to her birth register records.[3] Her mother's maiden name was Clayton.[3] In one interview, she said she was born in Gosforth, Newcastle, and grew up both there and in Fawdon.[4] After World War II, she left for the United States after marrying an American serviceman,[4] New Yorker Sanford Dorf Weiss.[5] She had only known him for 24 hours before getting married in 1943.[6]

Marriage to Stan Lee

In her early years, Joan Boocock was a well-known hat model in the New York City-area[7] until she met Stan Lee in New York.[8] She was bored in her marriage to Weiss when she met Lee,[6] who had been set up on a blind date with another model. When Lee went to the modeling agency to meet his intended date, Boocock answered the door, he immediately professed his love for her and told her he had been drawing her face since childhood.[9]

Stan proposed after two weeks of dating, and she went to Reno, Nevada to get a quick divorce. On December 5, 1947, she divorced her first husband and promptly married Lee in the room next door. The judge who had granted her divorce just an hour before performed the ceremony.[4][6][8][10] Together, they had two daughters, Joan Celia "J. C." Lee (b. 1950), and Jan Lee, who died three days after delivery in 1953.[11][12] In 1949, the couple bought a two-story, three-bedroom home in Woodmere, Long Island, New York, living there through 1952.[13]

In some versions of the origin of the Fantastic Four, Lee credits Joan with inspiring him.[7] He was depressed about his career and contemplated leaving the business. Lee told her husband: "why don’t you write one comic you'd be proud of?"[14] Afterward, Stan Lee created the Fantastic Four.

Career

In 1981, Stan and Joan Lee moved from New York City to Los Angeles, California. She did voice work on two 1990s animated Marvel shows, Fantastic Four as Miss Forbes in four episodes in 1994.[15] She provided her voice as a computer voice in the Iron Man television series for three episodes in 1994.[15] She appeared in Spider-Man as Madame Web.[16] She appeared as Madame Web in eight episodes spanning from 1996 through 1998.[15]

In 2002, she appeared as herself alongside Stan Lee and Kevin Smith in Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters & Marvels.[15] In 2003, she appeared as herself in the documentary Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked.[15] In 2010, she appeared in a documentary about her husband in With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story.[15] Lee made her last appearance in a cameo in the 2016 film X-Men: Apocalypse alongside her husband.[17]

Writing

Joan Lee wrote a 1987 novel, The Pleasure Palace.[18] It was about a man striving to build the most luxurious ocean liner ever while romancing several women at once. According to her daughter Joan, she had three more unpublished but finished novels at home.[8]

Death

Lee died on 6 July 2017, in Los Angeles from stroke-related complications after being hospitalized for a week. She was survived by her husband of almost 70 years, and their daughter, Joan.[19] Although multiple sources cited her age as 93 at the time of her death, British birth records show she was, in fact, 95 years old.[3][8]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes Ref
1994 Iron Man Computer Voice Voice [20]
1994 Fantastic Four Miss Forbes Voice [20]
1996–1998 Spider-Man Madame Web Voice [20]
2002 Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters & Marvels Herself Documentary [15]
2003 Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked Herself Documentary [15]
2010 With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story Herself Documentary [15]
2016 X-Men: Apocalypse Joanie Lee Live-action, cameo [20]

References

  1. ↑ "Lee, Stan 1922–". Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  2. ↑ "Joan Lee profile". Ancestry Library. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 "Profile". freebmd.org.uk. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 "Comic book legend Stan Lee inspired by Newcastle-born wife". Chronicle Live. 23 February 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  5. ↑ "Ancestry Library Edition". search.ancestrylibrary.com.
  6. 1 2 3 "Stan Lee, Creator of Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk, Is America's Biggest Mythmaker". People. 29 January 1979. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  7. 1 2 "Joan Lee, wife of comics legend Stan Lee, dies at age 93". ABC News. 6 July 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Andy Lewis (6 July 2017). "Joan Lee Dead: Wife of Comics Legend Stan Lee Dies at 95". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  9. ↑ Batchelor, Bob (2017). Stan Lee: The Man behind Marvel. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 51. ISBN 9781442277823. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  10. ↑ Lovece, Frank (3 August 1994). "Lee's work a marvel to behold". The Daily Chronicle. DeKalb, Illinois. p. 33. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  11. ↑ "Stan & Joan Lee's Love Story". Daily Entertainment News. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  12. ↑ Lee, Mair, p. 69
  13. ↑ Lewine. "Images 4–5". Archived from the original on 24 April 2009. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  14. ↑ Rebecca Rubin (6 July 2017). "Stan Lee's wife, Joan Lee, Dead at 93 [sic]". Variety. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Jenna Busch (6 July 2017). "RIP Joan Lee, Wife of Stan Lee, Dead at 93". Comic Soon.net. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  16. ↑ Patrick Hipes. "Joan Lee Dies: Wife Of Comics Icon Stan Lee Was 93 [sic]". Deadline. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  17. ↑ Corey Chichizola. "Stan Lee's X-Men: Apocalypse Cameo Had a Very Special Guest". CinemaBlend. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  18. ↑ Kate Feldman (6 July 2017). "Joan Lee, wife of Marvel legend Stan Lee, dead at 93 [sic]". The New York Daily News. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  19. ↑ Abigail Abrams (6 July 2017). "Joan B. Lee: Wife of Comics Legend Stan Lee, Dies at 93 [sic]". TIME. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  20. 1 2 3 4 "Joan Lee, wife of comics legend Stan Lee, dies at age 93". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
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