---
name: "Bill Lee"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/bill-lee"
fi1m_id: "bill-lee"
imdb_id: "nm0496881"
tmdb_id: 15520
wikidata_id: "Q862263"
roles: ["Composer"]
born: "23 July 1928"
died: "24 May 2023"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-26T01:16:47.403230+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Bill Lee

## Identity

Bill Lee

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/bill-lee
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** bill-lee
- **IMDb ID:** nm0496881
- **TMDB ID:** 15520
- **Wikidata ID:** Q862263
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Lee_(musician), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q862263, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0496881/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/15520

Composer. Born 23 July 1928 in Snow Hill, Alabama, USA. Died 24 May 2023.

## Details

- **Work:** Composer
- **Born:** 23 July 1928, Snow Hill, Alabama, USA
- **Died:** 24 May 2023
- **Active:** 1986–1989
- **Also known as:** William Lee
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 2: 1 acting, 1 crew
- **Frequently works with:** [Spike Lee](https://film.one/person/spike-lee.md)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Lee_(musician), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q862263, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0496881/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/15520

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Do the Right Thing*](https://film.one/film/do-the-right-thing.md) (93)
- **Netflix:** [*She's Gotta Have It*](https://film.one/film/shes-gotta-have-it.md) (68)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Bill Lee (also credited as William Lee) was an American jazz bassist and composer. Born William James Edwards Lee on 23 July 1928 in Snow Hill, Alabama, he died on 24 May 2023 in Brooklyn, New York.

He played double bass as a session musician for artists including Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Simon and Garfunkel, Duke Ellington and Harry Belafonte. Lee composed original scores for several of his son Spike Lee’s early films, including *She’s Gotta Have It* (1986), *School Daze* (1988), *Do the Right Thing* (1989) and *Mo’ Better Blues* (1990), and also scored the short *Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads* (1983).

*Sources: nytimes.com, en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

### Performed in (1)

- *She's Gotta Have It* (1986), Fi1m 68, as Sonny Darling — [page](https://film.one/film/shes-gotta-have-it.md)

### Crew (1) — the average rests on these

- *Do the Right Thing* (1989), Fi1m 93, Original Music Composer, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/do-the-right-thing.md)

## Complete filmography (6)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Never Met Picasso* (1997), Original Music Composer
- *Mo' Better Blues* (1990), as Father of the Bride · Original Music Composer
- *Do the Right Thing* (1989), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 93, [page](https://film.one/film/do-the-right-thing.md)
- *School Daze* (1988), as Phil Hyman Quartet - Bass · Original Music Composer
- *She's Gotta Have It* (1986), as Sonny Darling · Original Music Composer — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/film/shes-gotta-have-it.md)
- *Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads* (1983), Original Music Composer

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/bill-lee