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Learn about the life and crimes of Lee Israel, who wrote biographies of famous people and forged letters of celebrities. She was caught by the FBI and served time in prison before publishing a memoir about her deceptions.
Jan 8, 2015 · Ms. Israel, who died in Manhattan on Dec. 24 at 75, was a reasonably successful author in the 1970s and ’80s, writing biographies of the actress Tallulah Bankhead, the journalist Dorothy...
- Lee Israel’s Pre-Crime Life
- From Biographer to Forger and Thief
- The Memoir and Movie of Lee Israel
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Leonore Carol Israel was bornin New York City on Dec. 3, 1939. She attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn and graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College in 1961. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Lee Israel made a decent living as a writer for publications such as the New York Times and Soap Opera Digest. She eventually transitioned i...
After the poor reception of her 1985 biography, Lee Israel fell on hard times. But she refused to work a normal 9-5 job and found herself desperate for money. In a 2008 interview with NPR, Israel described her transition into forgery, saying, “[It] happened incrementally, like most evil things do.” Her sick cat needed help so, in 1991, Israel enter...
In 2008, Israel caused quite a stir in the literary community, once again, when she released her own memoir. In the book, Israel detailed her forgeries and thefts and how she sold countless numbers of the items to memorabilia and autograph dealers. The book was met with some criticism from people who were outraged that Israel was once again profiti...
Learn about the true story of Lee Israel, a former biographer who turned to forgery and theft to survive. Find out how she forged hundreds of letters by celebrities, how she was caught, and how her memoir inspired a movie.
Oct 19, 2018 · 5 fascinating stories about Lee Israel, the real person behind Can You Ever Forgive Me? Melissa McCarthy plays the biographer turned literary forger in the new film based on Israel’s memoir.
Feb 22, 2019 · Lee Israel came late to a life of crime. Though her forgeries of letters from luminaries like Louise Brooks, Dorothy Parker, and Ernest Hemingway would ultimately become a far more enduring...
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- Writer
Oct 19, 2018 · For Lee Israel, a celebrity biographer by trade and the subject of Melissa McCarthy’s new movie Can You Ever Forgive Me?, the best way to acquire such letters was to buy an old typewriter, do a...
Oct 17, 2018 · Unfortunately, Lee Israel passed away on Dec 24, 2014 at the age of 75 after a battle with myeloma, according to her New York Times obituary. But before her life ended, Israel left quite an...
