The BAFTA winner enjoyed a six decade stage and screen career and was a familiar face around South End Green where he lived for 65 years.
But the avid Arsenal fan was best known locally as the saviour of Keats Library.
In recognition he was made President for Life and over the years he wrote numerous scripts which he performed as library fundraisers with fellow actors, Michael Palin, Robert Powell, Simon Callow and Janet Suzman.
Responding to news of his death Michael Palin said: “Very sad to hear that I shall not see Lee again. He was such good company, wise, experienced, empathetic, funny. It was always a pleasure to share a stage with him.”
Robert Lindsay who played a boxer in 1981 TV series Seconds Out opposite Lee as his manager said: “I’m devastated as I regarded Lee as my theatrical Dad and I have kept in touch with him over many years.”
Hampstead playwright Sir David Hare said Lee was: “a consummate gentleman,” while author Deborah Moggach said: “I absolutely loved how he was always up for a chat, down at the shops, and how terribly interesting he was, and fun. He was such a lovely lovely man.”
Lee was born Leonard Goldberg in Bow in 1927 and in 2014 he told the Ham&High about an early inspirational figure: “Mamie Watson was a drama teacher at Toynbee Hall who saw something in this boy from the East End and urged him on”.
He trained at the Old Vic theatre school and made his stage debut there in 1950. In his early career he worked at the RSC, Old Vic with Laurence Olivier, Manchester Royal Exchange, and Bristol Old Vic among other venues.
His screen career got off to a flying start in 1952 in John Huston’s Moulin Rouge and he became known for playing tough, menacing, often foreign characters.
Over the years he played Karl Marx, Lenin, Charles Darwin and Mahler and his films ranged from The Silent Enemy to Bill Budd directed by Peter Ustinov, Brother Sun, Sister Moon and Jesus of Nazareth both directed by Franco Zeffirelli, and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence with Tom Conti and David Bowie.
In the 70s he had long runs in The Sweeney, Bergerac and Seconds Out and in 1965 he became the first storyteller on the BBC children’s programme Jackanory – going on to narrate 15 episodes.
A formidable bridge and tennis player he was married to fellow actor Ruth Goring for 67 years until her death in 2023 and had two children.
Stephen Bobasch, Chair of Keats Community Library said: “Lee was a lovely person and modest about his career, and he was so well read. He did so much for the community. We were touched by the lovely comments we have received from distinguished performers and writers as well as his friends and neighbours. He will be greatly missed.”
In an interview with the Ham&High in 2014, Lee praised the village atmosphere around South End Green: “’I’m just popping out for five minutes’ becomes 45 minutes due to the neighbourly chats. Mind you, I am talkative,” he confessed.
Asked who would play him in a film about his life, he replied: “A resurrected Walter Matthau. My idol. I loved his brand of humour.”
And to the question of what it would say on his epitaph his typically wry response was: “God knows, he tried.”
