Trivia

Although she was a "stripper," she never actually got undressed.

After she was diagnosed with lung cancer she reconciled with sister June Havoc.

Started dancing and stripping at burlesque houses at age 15 with the assistance of fellow dancer "Tessie The Tassel Twirler." Retired from burlesque eight years later to appear in films but documented her rise to fame and adventurous relationship with her mother in the autobiographical book, "Gypsy.".

Played by Natalie Wood in Gypsy (1962) and even appeared on set to give Wood advice on how to perform the stripper dance routines. In real life Wood was actually eight inches shorter than Lee.

The walls of her Los Angeles home were adorned with pictures by Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, and Dorothea Tanning, all of which were reportedly gifts to her by the artists themselves.

In the 1940s she was in love with theatrical impresario Mike Todd, who produced two Broadway shows starring her ("Star and Garter" and "The Naked Genius"). She married Alexander Kirkland in 1942 in an attempt to make the already-married Todd jealous. They divorced in 1944. While married to Kirkland, she had a brief fling with Otto Preminger. The fruit of their affair was a boy named Erik Lee, who has been known successively as Erik Kirkland, Erik de Diego and Erik Lee Preminger.

When she was diagnosed with cancer in 1969, she called it "a present from mother".

At one of her weddings she had a chimpanzee as a ring bearer.

Had many pets, including cats, turtles, guinea pigs and Chinese crested dogs.

In Gypsy (1962), Rosalind Russell portrayed Gypsy Rose Lee's mother. In The Trouble with Angels (1966), Russell appeared with Lee.

Mother of Erik Lee Preminger.

Older sister of June Havoc.

Like her mother, she was married three times.

Her mother Rose died from colon cancer in 1954.

Her father was of Norwegian descent. Her mother was of British Isles and German ancestry.

She is referenced in The Simpsons Season 32, Episode 5, "The 7 Beer Itch".

Aunt of April Kent.

Mentioned in The Princess and the Pirate (1944).

Parents: John Hovick and Rose Thompson Hovick.

Sister-in-law of William Spier.