'80s Star Michele Lee Once Turned Down A Date With Frank Sinatra

As sparkling as they may have been, '80s star Michele Lee was apparently immune to the charms of Frank Sinatra's ol' blue eyes. The "Knots Landing" actor appeared on a September 2026 episode of "The Tom & Mickey Show" and recalled the time when she turned down a date with the crooner who wasn't known for having trouble with the ladies. Sinatra was married four times; in fact, snaps from his and Mia Farrow's big day are among the throwback pics from Old Hollywood star weddings that are beyond captivating. Lee said she was at a party at Sinatra's house, and, at one point, he had everyone gather around to marvel at his newfangled telephone in a box. The other guests fawned while Lee was unimpressed. "I was ... very unexcitable," she said. As it tends to happen, Sinatra was intrigued by her disinterest.

As she was leaving the party, already outside and ready to pull off, Ed McMahon stopped her. "So, Ed McMahon comes to the door of my car and says, 'Uh, Frank would like you to go to the ball game with him tomorrow,'" Lee recalled. To be sure, there's no shortage of first date myths everyone falls for, but the benefits of asking the person you're interested in out yourself are hard to dispute. "I said, 'Oh, I'm so sorry, but I'm going with Jim Farentino,'" Lee said, declining. Farentino was a fellow actor. He and Lee met in the early '60s when Lee was starring in the Broadway musical "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," and they got married in February 1966.

Michele Lee and James Farentino were married for 17 years before divorcing in 1983. Lee remarried television producer Fred Rappoport in September 1987 and they're still married today, but when she spoke on the "Tom & Mickey Show," she shared that she never completely moved on from Farentino, who died in 2012. She made it a point to befriend his girlfriends and wives. "I made sure he didn't get away too far from me. Is that wild? I always felt I was married to him," Lee explained. "I always felt in my life up 'til the time he died that he was — I know this sounds awful — he was mine."

Lee alluded to problems with alcohol and other "bad stuff" going on in their marriage, saying she didn't want to live with Farentino. "He was my soulmate, but we could not be together," she said. We could certainly add her words to our list of the most candid remarks from celebrities about divorce. Lee said she was there when Farentino passed away at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. His then-wife lay in bed with him, and, Lee explained, "I was on the other side of the floor on my knees holding his other hand, because I didn't want to take focus from her ... But I had to hold his hand when he died."