Stan (I) Lee filmography and biography
Date of birth: 28 December 1922, New York City, New York, USA
Stan (I) Lee trivia
- He is credited as creating the Marvel Comics characters in the 1960s
which introduced more complex characterizations for super-heroes. He
also is credited for popularizing continuity to give the various series
a sense of narrative flow and an interrelated common world for the
characters.
- Apart from his participation in the creation of the classic Marvel
Comics characters, he also helped weaken censorship in the mainstream
comics field. This happened when he decided to do a story about the
problem of drug abuse. The story he wrote in 1971 for "The Amazing
Spider-Man" concerned Peter Parker's friend Harry Osborne having a bad
trip on LSD and nearly dying from it. The Comics Code Authority
declared that they would not give their seal of approval to the
three-issue arc on the grounds that the code, which was notorious for
being draconian, would not allow the depiction of drug use even when it
is portrayed negatively. Lee decided to defy the CCA and published the
story as is without the seal and received healthy sales and a positive
public reaction for his efforts in portraying the social problem. Soon
after, the CCA changed their rules to allow for anti-drug messages in
comics.
- Brother of Larry Lieber.
- Disliked the 1970s live-action Spiderman TV series (for which he was a
script consultant), deeming it "too juvenile." He also felt that
Spiderman was being treated on the show as a "cardboard character."
- He ended his weekly "Stan's Soapbox" column (which appeared in every
Marvel comic book) with the phrase "Excelsior."
- Daughter is model/actress Joan Celia "J.C." Lee (b. 1950). His other
daughter, Jan, died shortly after birth (1953).
- He first began to work on comics in 1941 on the 3rd issue of Captain
America.
- His 3 most famous comic book creations are: Fantastic Four (Debut
November 1961), the Incredible Hulk (Debut May 1962) and the Amazing
Spiderman (Debut August 1962 in 'Amazing Fantasy' # 15).
- Entered the comic book scene at 17 as assistant editor for the Timely
comics group. In 1942, he was promoted to editor.
- 1972 becomes publisher and editorial director of Marvel
- Admitted he'd always hoped to play the character of J. Jonah Jameson in
a film adaptation of Spider-Man, though he conceded he was too old to
even be considered by the time the film was actually made and praised
J.K. Simmons for his performance in the role.
- Has it written into his contract that he appears in any movie based upon
a Marvel character that he is credited with. So far he has appeared as
the Hot Dog Vendor in X-Men, Man in Fair in
Spider-Man, Old Man at Crossing in
Daredevil, Security Guard in Hulk, Man
Dodging Debris in Spider-Man 2, Willie Lumpkin in
Fantastic Four, Waterhose Man in
X-Men: The Last Stand, Man in Times Square in
Spider-Man 3, Rejected Wedding Guest in
4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, the man whom Tony Stark
mistakes for Hugh Hefner in Iron Man and an uncredited
appearance as the man who drinks the soft drink contaminated with Bruce
Banner's blood in The Incredible Hulk. The only one he
has not appeared in was X2.
- Judy Garland (I)'s daughter, Lorna Luft, lived with Lee
and his family for a period of time while her mother was in rehab in
the 1960s. Stan's daughter and Luft were friends and Lorna stayed with
the family for about a month until she went to California to live with
her father.
- He was awarded the 2008 American National Medal of the Arts for his
services to comic books and production.
- Was a longtime friend of comic writer and artist
Carmine Infantino, who was also president of DC Comics for
several years.
- After his retirement from work at Marvel he was invited to do a limited
edition series for DC Comics, Marvel's principal rival. The series,
titled 'Just Imagine', presented the feature DC characters -- Superman,
Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash -- with different backgrounds and stories,
as Stan Lee would have written them.
- Despises the idea of sidekicks, which is why virtually none of the
Marvel characters had them.
- He was a juror in a dream sequence in
The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989) (TV).
- Pow! Entertainment chairman and founder.
Stan (I) Lee quotes
- "I felt someday I'd write the Great American Novel and I didn't want to
use my real name on these silly little comics" [about why he changed
his name to Stan Lee to begin with.]
- "If a character had the first initial in both names, I could at least
remember one of the names" [his reason for creating characters with the
same initial... bad memory]
- I've had the same thing for years. I have orange juice and then I have
cereal. I have granola with berries and sliced bananas and a cup of
coffee and man it's great. I'm a creature of habit. [When asked about
what he has for breakfast.]
- The X-Men are basically just me being really lazy. If I said that their
powers came from a mutation that would be it. I wouldn't have to
explain it any further.