The story gorgery a down-on-her-luck author who turned to a life of crime to survive sounds like a plot fit only for the movies. And while it is the subject of an upcoming film, there is a real-life figure who inspired the story: author Lee Israel. Israel was a successful writer and biographer throughout the s, 70s, and 80s. However, the launch of her third biography was a complete flop and her career descended into a downward spiral. Israel found forgery and theft to be the ways amke. Over less than two years, Israel forged hundreds of fake letters supposedly written by celebrities.