Edith Fellows, child actress of 1930s, dies at 88

[July 01, 2011]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Edith Fellows, a child actress who was the subject of a famous 1936 custody case, has died. She was 88.

Her daughter, Kathy Fields Lander, tells the Los Angeles Times that Fellows died of natural causes Sunday at the Motion Picture & Television Fund retirement home in Los Angeles.

Fellows' mother abandoned her as an infant, and she was raised by her grandmother, who brought her to Hollywood. She made about 50 movies in the 1930s, '40s and '50s, including the 1936 film "Pennies from Heaven." She later turned to the stage and TV.

Fellows was 13 when her mother sued for custody. Fellows testified that she wasn't "used to loving strangers" and remained with her grandmother.

Her childhood earnings were placed in trust, but most later mysteriously vanished.

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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com/

[Associated Press]

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