Ruta Lee Shares Memories of Alex Trebek and Her Many Friends Among the Stars

Ruta Lee, Canadian-American actress and philanthropist, published her cheeky memoir (*sorry, Miss Ruta, I couldn’t resist), “Consider Your Ass Kissed” in April 2021. I’ve always liked the lovely and personable actress with the unusual first name. Her very first movie “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” (1954) is one of my family’s favorite musicals.

I found out about her memoir last week when I was looking up a 1962 Gunsmoke episode entitled “Jenny” where Ruta guest stars as the girlfriend of bad boy Zel played by Ron Hayes. That wasn’t on YouTube but a video about the memoir was. Ruta mentioned that Alex Trebek continued to be a dear friend of hers, long after their High Roller Days and he wrote the foreword to her memoir.

Ron Hayes, one of my fav character actors, was also one of the founders of Earth Day. That’s why today seemed like a great day to publish this article so, before we shine a spotlight on Alex, let’s finish up with the Gunsmoke episode: After killing the man who won his money in a poker game, Zel persuades Jenny to get him off the hook by seducing Marshal Dillon. The Marshal is of course immune to Jenny’s charms and unimpressed with her attempt to blackmail him. That really pisses Jenny off and her taunts are just funny as all hell.

In her memoir, Ruta Lee recalled the scene (right after this still) where Dillon covers her head with a blanket and throws her over his shoulder. As he hauled Ruta into Miss Kitty’s room, she was knocked unconscious when he accidentally banged her head on the door frame. In her memoir, Ruta quipped: “James Arness — he knocked me out in more ways than one.” Ruta also tried to seduce Dillon in an earlier episode of Gunsmoke called “Carmen”. Ruta Lee and Ron Hayes were in many of the Old West series, though this is the only episode I ever saw them in together.

Ruta Lee was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1935 as Ruta Maria Kilmonis. She is in fact credited as Ruta Kilmonis in “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” although she got her stage name while on a promotional tour for the film. Ruta says that for most of her life, people thought the “u” in Ruta was a misprint. She was called Rita, Rhoda, Rhonda but mostly Ruth. Proud of her Lithuanian roots, Ruta chose to keep her first name but then the publicity people came up with “Lee” as a surname she could adopt. “Rutaleh” rang a bell because it is a real diminutive of her given name. “Let’s go with it,” she decided and became Ruta Lee ever after, except in the credits of her first film!

In the foreword to her memoir, Alex Trebek says he first met Ruta in 1975 when she began to co-host “High Rollers”. Ruta was already an established name in Hollywood, both as an artist and as a tireless worker raising money for troubled youth through the Thalians charity with her best friend, Debbie Reynolds. Ruta introduced newbie Trebek to many of her well-known friends and Alex acknowledged how helpful this was in his early career. Ruta remained friends with Alex, as well as his first and second wives, forever. I put it that way because one of the things I found touching about Ruta’s memoir is when she talks about people who have passed on. She feels that their love survives death and that is in keeping with her sunny outlook on life and all the wonderful memories she shares about her experiences with a veritable Who’s Who in show business.

Here are two real Jeopardy! clues mentioning Ruta Lee:

04-08-1988 ACTRESSES ($1000) Ruta Lee played Tyrone Power’s secret lover in this 1957 film based on a play by Agatha Christie – This was a Daily Double that a contestant whose first name was Ruta could not answer. Alex Trebek said: “My friend Ruta Lee will never forgive you, Ruta, for not getting this…. It’s an amazing coincidence.”

6-15-2011 ICONS OF DAYTIME TELEVISION ($1000) Ruta Lee & Elaine Stewart rolled the giant dice on this game show; whatever happened to that debonair fellow? (This one came with a picture that Alex Trebek was in)

If you were a big fan of Alex Trebek but you don’t know who Ruta Lee is, you’re missing out on someone who was very important to him. Look up Ruta on IMDB and pick up a copy of her memoir. “You’ll love it,” Alex wrote. The title of her memoir, by the way, is in no way disrespectful but reflects Ruta’s quirky sense of humor, a trait she shared with Alex Trebek. It’s no wonder they forged a lasting friendship.

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