Lee Pelty was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 musical theatre actor, best-known for his performances in numerous productions of Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...

, especially at the Old Candlelight Dinner Playhouse in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

.

Career

Pelty played a variety of lead roles including in the theatrical production of Man of La Mancha

Man of La Mancha

Man of La Mancha is a musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay I, Don Quixote, which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes's seventeenth century masterpiece Don Quixote...

, Zorba

Zorba

Zorba may refer to:*Zorba the Greek, a 1946 novel by the Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis**Zorba the Greek , a 1964 movie based on the novel**Zorba , a musical based on the novel and film...

, and Mack and Mabel. Beginning in 1971, he appeared as Tevye in four separate productions of Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...

, the first of which earned a him Joseph Jefferson Award. Over the course of his career, he performed the role of Tevye over 2000 times

Death

Lee Pelty died at his Lincoln Park home on November 29, 2009, aged 74, after a battle with lung cancer.