Florence Lee

Biography

Florence Dawson Lee was an actress who appeared in films during the silent era, playing older women characters. She was born Florence Dawson in 1864 in Florence, South Carolina, the daughter of Job and Julia Dawson. Her father, a native of Ireland, operated a grocery and liquor business in Charleston. Her mother was a native of South Carolina. Her family participated in amateur drama in Charleston. Florence settled in Savannah, Georgia, around 1885. She married John C Murrey in that city in 1888 and settled with him in Grand Island, Florida. She became a widow upon his death in 1893. She remarried in 1900, in Savannah, to Frank Keeling Lee (1863-1927). The couple relocated to Norfolk, Virginia, where Frank operated a saloon and a grocery business. Florence and Frank Lee left Norfolk sometime after 1916, and by 1918 were living in Los Angeles where they had both become film actors. This was their profession for many years. Her husband died in 1927 and she died in 1933. She had a son, John Alexander Murrey, by her first husband. He became a well-known architect working in North Hollywood. She also had a daughter, Florence McCoy Lee, by her second husband.