Peggy Lee plays with the puppets from the first edition of the George
Pal movie tom thumb, for which she composed various numbers.
Another children's film for which she famously wrote lyrics (and did the
voices of 4 characters) was Walt Disney's classic Lady And The
Tramp. Lee also received an Oscar nomination, as well as awards
from critics and movie audiences, for her dramatic role in Jack Webb's
prohibition-era film Pete Kelly's Blues.
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Peggy Lee poses next to a pressing of one of her many hits for Capitol
Records. Under contract for 23 years, she ranks as the female artist
who was signed to Capitol the longest. During six decades of
professional singing, Lee recorded well over one thousand masters and
performed frequently in concert, on radio and on television. She also
wrote nearly 300 songs, of which dozens were recorded by other artists
and a fair number became hits for her. Among her many other honors are
12 Grammy nominations (plus a Lifetime Achievement Award) and an
induction in the Songwriters' Hall of Fame.
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Peggy Lee sculpts a bust of Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Schweitzer,
whom she counted among the men she most admired. (Others: Buddha, Jesus,
Einstein, Cary Grant.) Also by Lee: the sculpted hand on the desk,
modeled after one of her musicians'. Lee dabbled in various visual arts
(most notably, oil painting), published poetry, and even wrote greeting
cards. Her business ventures included one film production unit and two
music publishing firms.
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