Nell Theobald

Nell Theobald was an American actress and model whose life took a dramatic turn at age 21, when she was attacked by a lion during a BMW photo shoot at the International Automobile Show in New York. Born on October 5, 1944, in Atlanta, Georgia, she initially gained fame from that harrowing incident, which nearly cost her a leg. She underwent surgery at Roosevelt Hospital and later sought $3 million in a lawsuit against several parties, but settled for $250,000 in 1971.

After the attack, Theobald's life became defined by an obsessive nine-year stalking of opera singer Birgit Nilsson, which began in 1968 at the Bayreuth Festival. She sent Nilsson daily flowers and followed her around the world, though Nilsson didn't learn her identity until 1971, when she read about the lawsuit settlement. The settlement gave Theobald more money to continue her behavior, which ended only with her suicide on August 20, 1977, in New York City.

As an actress, Theobald appeared on the New York stage, in television commercials, and in minor film and TV roles. She was straight and Caucasian. Her brief life, marked by a bizarre accident and a tragic obsession, remains a stark example of how fame and trauma can intersect.