Lee Freeson; Dealer in Rare Books About Theater

Lee Freeson, 96, an actor who became a pioneering dealer in rare books about the theater. Working without a store, he sold his “finds” from a series of more than 50 catalogs he issued from his Los Angeles home over six decades. He was a known scholar of theatrical books and helped build the theater libraries of major universities from UCLA to Harvard. Born in New York City, Freeson studied acting at the Clare Tree Major School of Theater of the Walter Hampden Theatre and won bit parts on Broadway. He moved to Los Angeles in 1929 and taught and acted at what was then the Pasadena Community Playhouse. As manager for his wife, dancer Carmelita Maracci, Freeson traveled extensively, collecting and studying books wherever he went. From the 1930s to 1950s, he particularly inspected university theater library collections, recommending appropriate additions and then finding the books for the schools to purchase. Freeson also bought duplicate books from the universities, another source for his highly respected catalogs. On Jan. 5 in Los Angeles of pneumonia.