Sheila Kuehl
Kuehl was born Sheila Ann Kuehl in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her father, Arthur, was an airplane construction worker at Douglas Aircraft. He was Catholic and her mother, Lillian, was Jewish. As a child actress she performed under the stage name Sheila James.
Sheila Michaels
Her mother did not want to live with a young child, so three-year-old Michaels was sent to New York City to live with her maternal grandparents, Irving Weil and Frances (Feigela) Weil (née Sacks), in the Bronx. When she was about eight years old, she was returned to live with her mother and her mother's second husband, a wealthy metallurgist, Harry H. Kessler. She was also given the last name Kessler. Many years later, her mother and Harry Kessler, disapproving of her political activism, disowned her and asked her to stop using the Kessler name. As a result, she changed back to Michaels.