Daniel 'Danny' West Lee

Daniel (Danny) West Lee, 95, died Friday, Nov. 28, 2014. Born in Wisconsin on July 9, 1919, Danny was the son of Carl West Lee and Myrtle Smith Lee. The Lees moved to California in the 1920s, where Carl found work doing special effects for the budding movie industry. Danny followed in his father’s footsteps, working for many different studios as a free lancer for special effects and traveling all over the world on location for almost 100 movies, including Mary Poppins, On the Beach, The Great Race, Bonnie and Clyde, The Secret of Santa Vittoria, The Ten Commandments, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad Mad World and many more. In 1969, Danny joined Disney Studios as head of the Special Effects department. There he worked on another 50 some movies, including the Herbie series, Swiss Family Robinson, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, for which he won an “Academy Award®” and The Black Hole, for which he won an “Academy Award” nomination. He worked with many famous movie stars, and he was highly regarded in the motion picture industry for his skillful and creative work. None of his special effects were computer generated; he built automobiles, made explosions and blew up houses and cars, made rain, fires and wind, drove cars over cliffs, flew people and beds in the air, shot bad guys, built an army of coats-of-armor figures riding horseback, and many other special effects. Stunt men liked to work for him because they never got hurt in the stunts he devised. After he retired in 1981, Danny was asked to establish a special effects school to train young people in the profession. He and his wife, Jane, opened Danny Lee Studios in Chatsworth, California, and he taught classes for several years. Danny and Jane moved to Prescott from Glendale, CA, 13 years ago. They built a home in The Ranch and settled down to enjoy retirement in Arizona. They soon made warm friends here and enjoyed socializing with them. He loved fishing, feeding the birds and watching the wildlife in his backyard. He bought a computer, wrote an autobiography and learned to send e-mails. He died peacefully at Highgate Senior Living. Danny is survived by his wife, Catharyn Jane Lee; daughter, Dianne Stamatelos; granddaughter, Stephanie Stamatelos; grandson, James Stamatelos; great-granddaughter, Alexis Stamatelos; cousins, Marjorie Conder, Lory and Michael Conder, Karen Conder Durazo, and Rachel and Rebecca Durazo. A number of other cousins in California and Wisconsin also survive him.