Eugene Lee, 'SNL' set designer and Trinity Rep fixture, dies at 83 years old

Eugene Lee, a set designer for "Saturday Night Live," Broadway shows and the Trinity Repertory Company, died Tuesday. He was 83 years old.

The Providence resident was one of the most celebrated and innovative set designers in America, drafting hundreds of worlds for stories to unfold on. His first love was live theater — from Trinity Rep to the stages of Broadway — but in 1975 he moved into television when he was asked to do the sets for a brand-new show: "Saturday Night Live."

“I was living out of a sailboat in Rhode Island. They just called me, and the next thing you know: 40 years,” Lee said in an interview with Vox in 2017.

At "SNL," Lee was part of creating iconic sets such as Wayne’s World, Putin’s office and the More Cowbell set. Whatever the writers dreamed up, whether it was a podium Melissa McCarthy could ride out on or updating the Weekend Update news desk, he found a way to make it happen.

"On a typical show, we probably do 10 or 12 sets and cut 4 or 5," Lee told The Journal in 2014. "And it never matters whether it's good."

He was nominated for 18 Emmys and won six of them. He was also the person "SNL" stars Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers turned to when they needed their own sets designed.

He was equally recognized on Broadway, where he won three Tonys: "Candide" in 1974, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" in 1979, and "Wicked" in 2004.

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“The WICKED community mourns the loss of Eugene Lee, the three-time Tony Award-winning and six-time Emmy Award-winning set designer who created the world of Oz on stage. His legacy and contribution to the theater and television communities will always be cherished,” the musical franchise tweeted out.

Lee, ever the tinkerer, was still working at the time of his death. He was scheduled to work on the set for Trinity Rep’s upcoming production of "Sweeney Todd" and was still working for "SNL." He liked any project that allowed him to be creative, including in 2019 working on designing the interiors of marijuana dispensaries.

"I've never gone out looking. I've never had a resumé. The phone just rings," Lee told The Providence Journal in 2014 when asked about how he stays busy.

But beyond just doing what he loved, his work is noted for helping to evolve what theater could be. He was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2006.

“Eugene Lee was a once-in-a-generation theater artist, one of the greatest minds to ever answer the question ‘What is theater?’” Curt Columbus, the artistic director of Trinity Rep, said in a statement. “He was simultaneously playful and profound, childlike and rigorous, a genius who sees the world in ways that others only dream. Every time I worked with Eugene as a designer, my work as a director became more bold, more expansive and more true.  It is one of the greatest honors of my life in the theater that I could call Eugene Lee my collaborator and my friend. Words cannot express how much he will be missed.”

Lee’s death comes just days after that of Adrian Hall, Trinty Rep’s first creative director. The pair were a well-known team that changed theatre and helped to establish Providence as a cultural center.

Lee was recruited to Trinity Rep in 1967 and made his debut with the set for "The Importance of Being Earnest." He went on to create dozens of sets and develop the aesthetic of Trinity Rep. His work pushed the boundaries of how the audience, the actors and the stage interacted.

“His contribution to the arts and our culture, at both a local and national level, is massive and he will forever be remembered as one of the giants of the field," said Lee's longtime co-designer and assistant Patrick Lynch. "The loss is tremendous, but his enormous and varied body of work will stand as a reflection of a life lived to the fullest.”

Lee is survived by his wife, Brooke, and their two sons.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Eugene Lee, set designer for 'SNL,' Trinity Rep and Broadway, dies