Ralph Lee Dies: ‘SNL’ Land Shark Creator Was 87
deadline.comRalph Lee, one of the New York stage’s preeminent mask and puppetry designers perhaps most widely known for his “Land Shark” that ate various cast members of Saturday Night Live during the 1970s, died May 12 at his home in Manhattan following a months-long illness.
He was 87. His death was announced by the Westbeth Artists Housing and Center for the Arts, the Manhattan residential complex where he long resided.
His wife Casey Compton told The New York Times that he had been in declining health for several months. Among his other accomplishments, Lee is credited with having launched New York’s Greenwich Village Halloween Parade in 1974, an event that has grown to become one of the city’s largest and most cherished holiday events.
The parade – initially billed as a “pageant-parade” associated with the Off Off Broadway venue Theater for the New City – was created in part to spotlight Lee’s bizarre and lovely masks and puppets.
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