In its most recent episode, which aired on February 25, SNL paid tribute to the late production designer Eugene Lee, know his cause of death
The show’s tribute to Lee, who died on February 6 at the age of 83, talked about his work on SNL and how well he did in the theatre.
On the most recent episode of SNL, the cast and crew paid tribute to both Lee and Richard Belzer. Belzer used to be the warm-up comedian on the late-night comedy show. In the early seasons, he also had small roles. Belzer died when he was 78 years old.
Who was set designer Eugene Lee and his cause of death as SNL pays tribute to him in latest episode
Not sure about this but felt like … I don’t wanna say it in case I misunderstood, but … Eugene Lee from SNL #diedsuddenly pic.twitter.com/wCvrCKVWzo
— Raina Fortini (@rainafortini) February 26, 2023
Both Belzer and Lee were given title cards. People who didn’t know Eugene Lee before he died were likely curious about his work on SNL after hearing about the tribute. Lee had been a part of the SNL team from the beginning. Since the show’s first episode in 1975, he had been in charge of the show’s set design. This made him the person who had worked on the show the longest.
Eugene Lee had a glorious career with many awards to his name
Lee got a lot of praise for his work on SNL. He was nominated for 18 Emmys and won six, including one for Outstanding Art Direction for Variety or Nonfiction Programming. Lee also worked as a production designer on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon from 2014 to 2018.
Allow me to nerd out. If you didn’t see, tonight’s SNL briefly showed a diagram of Studio 8H as a tribute to recently deceased scene designer Eugene Lee. Every scene of every episode of SNL since 1975 has been staged in this space. Mr. Lee was the genius behind that. Miraculous. pic.twitter.com/waBXLweDvx
— HotDog Larry (@HotDogLarry1) February 26, 2023
In addition to his work on TV, Eugene Lee also did well in the theatre. He was in 27 shows on Broadway and won several Tony Awards for the sets he designed. Candide (1974), Sweeney Todd (1979), and Wicked are some of his best-known Broadway plays (2004). Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Show Boat (1994), A Streetcar Named Desire (2012), and Bright Star are some of Lee’s other plays (2016). Lee was given a place in the American Theater Hall Of Fame in 2006.
After the SNL tribute to Eugene Lee aired, people took to social media to share their sadness and honour him. Many people called him a “legend” of the show and said he was a “one-of-a-kind talent.” The episode was a fitting tribute to a man whose work on SNL and in theatre will be remembered for years to come.
His family announced the death, after a short illness that was not specified.
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