24 Facts About Isabel Pell

Isabel Townsend Pell was an American socialite and member of the French Resistance during World War II.

Isabel Pell was decorated with the Legion of Honour.

The marriage was mentioned in the New York Times, but was short-lived; Isabel Townsend was granted a divorce in early February 1902, aged 20.

Isabel Pell remarried twice, initially to John Cotton Smith, descendant of politician John Cotton Smith.

Isabel Pell's father died in an automobile accident on the night of August 3,1913, when a train from the Long Island Railroad crashed into his car at a crossing.

Isabel Pell Townsend sued for $250,000, but both she and her daughter were left penniless.

Isabel Pell was cared for by her paternal uncle, Stephen Hyatt Isabel Pell and raised at Fort Ticonderoga, the family mansion on Lake Champlain.

Isabel Pell attended Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland, and the Spence School in New York City.

Isabel Pell made her debut in 1920, at the Piping Rock Club, and was known as a skilled horsewoman in Long Island, New York, and Virginia.

Isabel Pell was nicknamed "Pelly" and admired by contemporaries for being outspoken and athletic.

In 1921, Isabel Pell went to work in a dress shop, a position felt to be below her social standing.

In 1930, Isabel Pell worked for the real estate firm Isabel Pell and MacMillen in New York.

Isabel Pell collaborated with the fashion writer Lois Long and the interior decorator Elsie de Wolfe.

Isabel Pell moved inland into the mountains and served for four years, until September 1944, and was known among the resistance as "the girl with the blonde meche ".

Isabel Pell was captured by Italian soldiers and interned at Puget-Theniers, but continued to smuggle information to the resistance during her daily walks at the camp.

Isabel Pell was wearing the badge of Free France and came out from her hiding place, leading the men to safety.

In February 1924, Pell was briefly engaged to R Lorenzo Thomson; the marriage was supposed to take place on June 3,1924, but never happened.

Isabel Pell was friends with Eva Le Gallienne ; the pair spent time together driving in the country.

Isabel Pell had an affair with Renee Prahar, an American sculptor and actress with Bohemian ancestry.

Isabel Pell was forced to leave New York after an affair with a Metropolitan Opera soprano became public.

Isabel Pell moved to Paris, joining many other eccentric heiresses who sought freedom.

In France, Isabel Pell started a relationship with Claire Charles-Roux, Marquise De Forbin.

Isabel Pell became an attache of the Civil Affair Task Force of the US Army and liaised between the French and the Americans.

Isabel Pell died at the age of 51, collapsing while dining with her friend Anne Andrews at La Reine Restaurant, 139 East 52nd Street.