Los Angeles (AP) -- Joanna Lee, an actress and scriptwriter who wrote popular television programs like "Gidget" and "Gilligan's Island," has died of bone cancer. She was 72.
Lee died Oct. 24 at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
Lee won an Emmy in 1974 for writing the Thanksgiving episode of "The Waltons," the family drama she wrote for from 1972 to 1981. Lee also wrote and served as associate producer for the television movie "Babe," a film about pro golfer Babe Didrikson Zaharias, which won a Golden Globe in 1976.
Born in Newark, N.J., Lee moved to California at age 12 with her divorced mother. She began her acting career in the 1950s in television dramas such as "Death Valley Days" and movies, including 1959's "Plan 9 From Outer Space."
Lee often addressed social issues in her films. A divorced single-mother of two, she often did films that focused on women's issues. In a 1976 interview with the Los Angeles Times she said, "the women I write about are winners. I want women to win in life."
Lee wrote and produced "I Want to Keep My Baby" in 1976. It was the story of a teenage girl who decides to give up her child for adoption. She also wrote the script for 1975's "Cage Without a Key," about a girls' reform school.
Lee said that she related to unwed mothers because by age 20 she was a divorced single mother and had been a teenager when her son, Craig Lee, was born. Christopher Ciampa, the only child of her second marriage, was cast in her 1980 film "Children of Divorce," which she wrote, directed and executive produced.
"Chris didn't pull back. He's a courageous actor," Lee said in a 1980 interview with the Times. "I said, `Listen, we're not alone, we're not unique, so are you willing to share that? I am if you are. And he said, `Yeah.'"
Survivors include her son, Christopher, and one grandson. Her son Craig died of AIDS in 1992.
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