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LOS ANGELES — Michelle Triola Marvin, whose 1979 suit against her lover, actor Lee Marvin, led to the coining of the word palimony, died Friday at age 76.
She had surgery for lung cancer last year. She died at the Malibu home she shared with actor Dick Van Dyke, her partner of 30 years, family spokesman Bob Palmer said.Michelle Triola met Lee Marvin while working as an extra on his movie Ship of Fools. They lived together for six years, but they never married. The relationship ended in 1970.Afterward, she went to work as an agent’s secretary at the William Morris talent agency, Palmer said.In 1979, after his support checks stopped, Ms. Marvin sued for half of the estimated $3.6 million that Lee Marvin had earned during their relationship. She said he had promised her lifetime support.Famed attorney Marvin Mitchelson represented her and dubbed the request "palimony," equating it to the alimony legally available to divorcing spouses. A judge rejected Ms. Marvin’s community property request but granted her $104,000 for "rehabilitation." The award was later overturned on appeal.Although Ms. Marvin came away with no money, the sensational case spurred similar trials and, through a state Supreme Court ruling, established in California law the right of unmarried partners to sue for joint property on grounds that their partners had violated a relationship contract.Palmer said Ms. Marvin didn’t dwell on the case and wasn’t bitter, though she was forever associated with it."She just shrugged it off," Palmer said. "If Lee Marvin’s name came up, she said he was a great guy." He died in 1987.Her relationship with Van Dyke began in the late 1970s, and they moved to Malibu in 1986.Other survivors include a sister, Diane Triola Johnson of Los Angeles.If Lee Marvin’s name came up, she said he was a great guy."
Bob Palmer,family spokesman
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