Trivia

In 1999 he had a prominent role in protesting the decision by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to award director Elia Kazan a lifetime achievement Oscar. Kazan named names during the McCarthy era and continued to work while others were blacklisted.

He was blacklisted in Hollywood during the McCarthy era and so continued in the 1950s and 1960s to write for film and television under the name of "J.E. Selby", being credited for episodes of Rawhide (1959) and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955).

Frederic I. Rinaldo was his writing partner for 18 years until they were blacklisted in the early '50s.

He was found murdered in his apartment. He was decapitated. His murderer also killed his neighbor, a Mr. Engelson. Because this man was on the phone at the time, the police were alerted quickly. According to the Associated Press, Kevin Lee Graff, 27, was arrested for the murders on June 14, 2004.

He pleaded the 5th Amendment while testifying at the House Un-American Activities committee and was blacklisted as a result.

Grandfather of Tania Verafield.

When Lees found himself Black Listed for refusing to "name names" before the Congressional HUAC Committee in the 1950s, he began writing for television under the pseudonym Jay Selby, which kept him lucratively employed until he retired in 1983.