Will Lee

Will Lee was an American actor whose career on stage and screen spanned decades, and his best-known part was Mr. Hooper, the shopkeeper he played on Sesame Street from its 1969 launch until his death in 1982. Early on he worked as a character actor in the theater, joining the Group Theater during the 1930s and appearing in Broadway productions such as The Time of Your Life, Johnny Johnson, Night Music and Boy Meets Girl; he also inherited the lead in Golden Boy after John Garfield. He helped found the Theater of Action and belonged to the Federal Theatre Project. His movie roles included Casbah, A Song Is Born, Saboteur and Little Fugitive (1953). He later taught acting at the American Theatre Wing and elsewhere. On Sesame Street he also appeared as Mr. Hooper in Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (1978), and he played the judge in Daniel.