Dean Martin dubbed the young actress “Loudy” as her bright and sonorous voice rose above the spicy repartee of the Rat Pack out on the town. “Loudy” was Ruta Lee, one of the most versatile of Hollywood’s final generation of classy performers, a statuesque blond who could mesmerize with her dancing, rivet with her dramatic intensity, and delight with her comedic flair. Fans of Hollywood Westerns in particular are indebted to Ruta for her countless appearances in classic Westerns of both the big and little screen, beginning with the unforgettable musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
Ruta Lee was born Ruta Kilmonis in Montreal, Canada, in 1936, of Lithuanian-refugee parents. In a recent exclusive interview with Wildest Westerns, Ruta shared memories of her mother: “Motina—Mother—was the farthest thing from a showbiz mom in the world. She was a simple Lithuanian peasant girl who, as a child, carried her shoes to church so they wouldn’t get worn out and could be passed on to the next youngest girl, and to the next youngest girl after that.”
The Kilmonis family was fortunate enough to be able to emigrate from Lithuania on the eve of World War II and, because the American immigration quota had been filled, settled in Canada. There Ruta began elementary school and, even as a kindergartner, was recognized as a natural entertainer, so much so that even her unassuming mother began to envision her as “Lithuania’s answer to Shirley Temple.”
Finally, the family was able to move to the United States, and to Los Angeles, no less, thanks to the assistance of Monsignor John Kucingas, founder of St. Casimir’s Lithuanian National Parish, located at the foot of the Hollywood Hills. When Ruta found herself at Hollywood High School, the staging ground of many a screen siren’s career, stardom seemed to beckon; and, in fact, at a mere seventeen years of age, Ruta landed her first role as the youngest of the traipsing farm girl brides in Stanley Donen’s Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, released in 1954.
Ruta recalls how “they thought Seven Brides was just going to be a cutesy-pie, throwaway picture but then realized, ‘Wow, we really have something here.’” To publicize the new movie, the seven brides were sent out on tour throughout the country and Ruta remembers…………………….