Lora Lee Michel: Movies & Box Office

Lora Lee Michel, born Virginia Joy Willeford on September 13, 1940, in La Grange, Texas, was an American child actress who rose to prominence during the Golden Age of Hollywood in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Adopted by Otto and Lorraine Michel in Schulenburg, Texas, after her birth mother Lena Smith Brunson gave her and two younger siblings up for adoption, Lora Lee began her acting career at a remarkably young age. By the time she was nine years old, she was earning $100 a day (equivalent to $1,400 in 2025) and claimed to have appeared in 19 feature films. Her career was marked by extraordinary highs and troubling lows, including a highly publicized 1950 custody dispute in Beverly Hills, California. During this dispute, Michel alleged that her adoptive mother Lorraine was starving her to keep her small and slim so she could continue getting screen roles. The resulting legal battle involved a fistfight in the courtroom between the parties involved and testimony from a clergyman who claimed to have seen bruises on Michel's body. The judge ultimately awarded custody to the Michels and ordered that she be taken back to Texas to live a normal life. Back in Texas, Michel was enrolled at Saint Agnes Academy in Houston and performed in local theatrical productions, marking the gradual end of her Hollywood career. After her acting career waned, Michel's personal life became increasingly tumultuous and troubled. She married Donald Mayo Ford in February 1958 at age 17, with whom she had a daughter named Donna Ann whom she put up for adoption, and their marriage ended in divorce later that year. She subsequently married Joe Wendel Owen in March 1960, but left him after just two weeks without legally divorcing him. In August 1960, she married Carey Hand Bray, a Houston pharmacist, though they reportedly separated in November 1961. While still legally married to Bray, Michel married Frank O'Neil Scott in July 1961. Scott, a former Marine sergeant who served in the Korean War, deserted the Army in February 1962, and the couple engaged in various criminal schemes. They were arrested in El Paso, Texas, in December 1962 and charged with driving a stolen 1957 Mercury across state lines. Michel was sentenced to 13 months at the Federal Women's Institution in Alderson, West Virginia, after which she vanished completely from public view. It is widely believed that she died of cancer in 1979, though her sister Barbara Wright Isaacs continued searching for her for decades, hoping to finally uncover the truth about her disappearance.