Lee Orville Erwin (July 15, 1908 – September 21, 2000) was an American theatre organist who played an important part in a revival of interest in the silent film era.

[3] Both of Huntsville's theatres found out about his abilities as an organist, and at the age of twelve he was playing at both as a substitute and without pay, but it allowed him free entrance.

[1][3][5] While studying at the conservatory under Parvin Titus, Erwin earned sufficient funds to support himself by continuing to play organ at theatres.

[5] There he was greatly influenced by the main organist, Joseph Stoves, whose improvisational abilities and insistence on original composition was to profoundly affect Erwin's approach to film accompaniment.

[3] Erwin was not to stay in Birmingham for long, leaving for Paris, France, in 1930 to study with Nadia Boulanger, André Marchal and significantly with Jean Verd.

[3] Although still employed by WLW, he expanded to arranging and conducting for orchestras in a program entitled "Lee Erwin's Musical Troupe" which aired Sunday evenings on WCKY.

[1][2][4] He continued as organist at four disparate theatres in the New York City region and played for numerous soap operas on CBS and NBC until the demands on his time with the Arthur Godfrey shows precluded any possibility of other activity.

[1][7] The result was so successful that Erwin spent the next six months, and time intermittently after that, touring with Gloria Swanson while performing his score for the film.

[1][2] Thus began a career with silent film where Erwin found himself "doing the same things all over that I did when I was a kid", but this time with distinct advantages in experience and technology.

[13] He commented in 1989 that, contrary to a commonly held concept regarding piano accompaniment of silent films, many theatres had small orchestras to provide music.

[1] In his second career as a theatre organist he would watch the film on videocasette several times, denoting the exact length of each scene and making his own cue sheet accordingly.

[11] Musicians who have listed Erwin as a significant influence include Dennis James, David Missineo, Ben Model and Dorothy Papadakos.

[12][18] Erwin obtained a pilot's license in 1940, and regularly flew his own Taylorcraft Aircraft thereafter, a testament to his financially rewarding career at WLW.