Michelle Triola Marvin, who waged precedent-setting palimony case, dies at 76

‘Palimony’ figure Michelle Triola Marvin dies

LOS ANGELES — Michelle Triola Marvin, who waged a landmark palimony case against former lover actor Lee Marvin of “The Dirty Dozen” fame, died Friday at age 76.

She underwent surgery for lung cancer last year and died at the Malibu home of actor Dick Van Dyke, her partner of 30 years, said family spokesman Bob Palmer.

Michelle Marvin’s birth name was Triola and she met Lee Marvin — who died in 1987 — while working as an extra in his 1964 movie “Ship of Fools.” They lived together for six years and she took his last name but 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.

“She had a lot of friends in the (show) business,” he said.

In 1979, after his support checks stopped, Marvin sued her former lover for half of the estimated $3.6 million he had earned during their relationship. She claimed 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 Marvin’s community property request but granted her $104,000 for “rehabilitation.” The award was later overturned on appeal.

Although 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 Marvin didn’t dwell on the case and wasn’t bitter, even though she was forever associated with it. Many said she came up with the concept of palimony, but it was really Mitchelson, he said.

“She just shrugged it off,” Palmer said. “If Lee Marvin’s name came up, she said he was a great guy.

Her relationship with Van Dyke began in the late 1970s and they moved to Malibu in 1986.

In addition to Van Dyke, Marvin is survived by her sister, Diane Triola Johnson of Los Angeles; a niece and a nephew.