From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Rowland Vance Lee (born September 6, 1891, Findlay, Ohio — died December 21, 1975, Palm Desert, California) was a U.S. film actor, director, writer, and producer. His acting profession was fairly short lived. His main profession was directing, but he would write scripts on occasion. He worked at Fox, Paramount , Warners and RKO. Lee directed the 1940 black-and-white film The Son of Monte Cristo, starring Louis Hayward, Joan Bennett and George Sanders. He w ...