Lora Lee Michel
Lora Lee Michel (born Virginia Joy Willeford, September 13, 1940) is an American former child actress. She appeared in several feature films during the Golden Age of Hollywood in the late 1940s and early 1950s. In 1950, she was the focus of a custody dispute in Beverly Hills, California, in which she alleged that her adoptive mother had beaten and starved her. She came to public attention again in 1963 when she and her third husband were sentenced in federal court for stealing a car and driving it across state lines. After her release from prison, she disappeared. It is believed she died from cancer in 1979. Early life and family Michel was born in La Grange, Texas, on September 13, 1940, to Willie Walker Willeford and Lena Smith Brunson. Brunson gave Michel and two other younger siblings up for adoption when Michel was five years old. She was adopted by Otto and Lorraine Michel in Schulenburg, Texas. As of 2014, Michel has one living sister, Barbara Michel Wright. Career Michel was a successful child actress in the late 1940s. By the age of 9, she was earning $100 a day (). By her own count, she appeared in 19 films. Custody trial In 1950, Michel told one of her friends that her adoptive mother Lorraine Michel was "starving her to keep her small and slim so that she could continue to get screen roles," leading to Lorraine's arrest. Lora Lee's birth mother, Lena Brunson, alerted by the resulting publicity, filed a countersuit in a Beverly Hills court to reclaim custody of her daughter. During the custody hearing, a widely publicized fist fight occurred between Mrs. Brunson and Lora Lee's former agent and drama coach Ona Wargin on one side and Mrs. Michel and her friend Mrs. Effie Forrest on the other, when Mrs. Brunson attempted to hug and physically hold Michel. At the trial, a clergyman testified that Michel appeared to him to have been "terribly bruised", which the girl claimed was from physical punishment administered by Lorraine. He said he had seen Michel at the home of her drama coach and that she had "black and blue marks on her arms, shoulders, buttocks and legs." However, Michel contradicted his testimony, saying she had not been physically punished but had only been sent to bed. The girl's drama coach backed the claim that Michel was being starved by her adopted parents, testifying that Lorraine had said, "I am determined to conquer her gluttonous appetite." But the judge, who questioned Michel's veracity, ruled the adoption was legal and awarded custody to the Michels and told them to take her back to Texas so she could live a "normal life." Later life Back in Texas, Michel was enrolled at Saint Agnes Academy in Houston and performed in some local theatrical productions. During one of these performances in 1952, she was bitten by a dog. Her adoptive father sued the American Automobile Insurance Company, claiming her career would be affected by facial