Michelle Triola Marvin
{{short description|American actress (1932–2009)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{infobox person
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Michelle Triola
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1932|11|13}}
| birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2009|10|30|1932|11|13}}
| death_place = Malibu, California, U.S.
| alma_mater = University of California, Los Angeles
| occupation = Actress
| known_for = Suing Lee Marvin in 1977
| spouse = {{marriage|Skip Ward|1961|1962|end=divorced}}
| partner = {{ubl|Lee Marvin (1965–1970)|Dick Van Dyke (1976–2009; her death)}}
| children =
}}
Michelle Triola (November 13, 1932 – October 30, 2009) was an American actress who unsuccessfully sued actor Lee Marvin in 1977, having cohabited with him from 1965 to 1970. The trial, which brought about the concept of palimony, was widely covered in the media. During this time, she was Michelle Triola Marvin, having legally changed her name to add Marvin's surname to her own. She was represented by attorney Marvin Mitchelson.{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-michelle-triola-marvin31-2009oct31,0,2805574.story |title=Michelle Triola Marvin dies at 75; her legal fight with ex-lover Lee Marvin added 'palimony' to the language |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=October 31, 2009 |first=Elaine |last=Woo |access-date=December 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091103093518/http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-michelle-triola-marvin31-2009oct31,0,2805574.story |archive-date=November 3, 2009 |url-status=live }}
Personal life and career
Triola was born in Los Angeles and majored in theater arts at UCLA.
Triola was married to actor Skip Ward for six months from November 1961 to June 1962.{{Cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0911847/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm | title=Skip Ward | website=IMDb }} She lived with actor Dick Van Dyke from 1976 until her death in 2009.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/us/31marvin.html |title=Michelle Triola Marvin, of Landmark Palimony Suit, Dies at 76 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 30, 2009 |first=Anahad |last=O'Connor |author-link=Anahad O'Connor |access-date=December 23, 2018 }} She had no children.
Triola was a lounge singer and dancer. She danced in the original 1958 Broadway production of Flower Drum Song, directed by Gene Kelly. Her film acting career consisted of minor roles, including a stand-in in Lee Marvin's 1965 film Ship of Fools and a guest role on the Dick Van Dyke television series Diagnosis: Murder.
Suing Lee Marvin
Although she and Marvin never married, Triola sought financial compensation similar to that available to spouses under California's alimony and community property laws. The result was the landmark case Marvin v. Marvin, 18 Cal. 3d 660 (1976).{{cite web |url=http://online.ceb.com/calcases/C3/18C3d660.htm |title=Marvin v. Marvin (1976) 18 C3d 660 |date=December 27, 1976 |last1=Tobriner |first1=J. |last2=Wright |first2=C. J. |last3=McComb |first3=Mosk |last4=Sullivan |last5=Richardson |first4=JJ. |first5=JJ. |last6=Clark |first6=J. |access-date=December 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016155351/http://online.ceb.com/calcases/C3/18C3d660.htm |archive-date=October 16, 2007 |work=Online.ceb |url-status=live }} The Supreme Court of California held that Triola could proceed with her suit, as it did state a cause of action and the trial court erred in granting judgment to Marvin on the pleadings.
On April 18, 1979, Judge Arthur K. Marshall ordered Marvin to pay $104,000 to Triola for "rehabilitation purposes", but denied her community property claim for one half of the $3.6 million which Marvin had earned during their six years of cohabitation. The award was overturned in 1981 by the California Second District Court of Appeals, which ruled that the award was not proper but left intact the precedent, which permitted unmarried couples to sue for division of property when they separate. The appellate court found that there was no basis for the award.{{cite news |title='Palimony' Award Overturned |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-suffolk-edition-triola-palimon/161134245/ |access-date=18 December 2024 |work=Newsday (Suffolk Edition) |agency=Associated Press |date=13 August 1981 |pages=6|via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite web |url=http://www.palimony.com/7.html |title=California "Palimony" Law — An Overview |first=Jerry |last=Laskin |work=Goldman & Kagon Law Corporation |access-date=October 4, 2006}}{{cite web |url=http://www.peoples-law.org/node/487 |title=Unmarried Cohabitant's Right to Support and Property |access-date=December 23, 2018 |work=Peoples Law |publisher=Maryland State Law Library}}
Death
In April 2008, she underwent surgery for lung cancer. The cancer caused her death on October 30, 2009, at the home she shared with Van Dyke. She was 76 years old.{{cite news |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/01/palimony-figure-michelle-triola-marvin-dies/ |agency=Associated Press |title='Palimony' figure Michelle Triola Marvin dies |date=October 30, 2009 |newspaper=The Washington Times |access-date=December 23, 2018}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0873017}}
- {{Find a Grave|43747110}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Triola, Michelle}}
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:American film actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:Deaths from lung cancer in California
Category:Actresses from Greater Los Angeles
Category:UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni
Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Category:20th-century American singers