Dana Andrews, whose film portrayals ranged from a sensitive, tough-talking detective in the 1944 movie "Laura" to a bombardier returning to a . [262] She filed for divorce in January 1970,[97] after which she claimed to be celibate for the remainder of her life. [153] Suffering from depression over her career and financial problems, she attempted suicide in September 1951 by slitting her wrists in a locked bathroom. [223], Released in the spring of 1959, Imitation of Life was among the year's biggest successes, and the biggest of Turner's career; by opting to receive 50% of the film's earnings rather than receiving a salary, she earned more than two million dollars. "[131], In August 1947, immediately upon completion of Cass Timberlane, Turner agreed to appear as the female lead in the World War II-set romantic drama Homecoming (1948), in which she was again paired with Clark Gable, portraying a female army lieutenant who falls in love with an American surgeon (Gable). "[310] She also likened her to Clara Bow, adding: "Both of them, trusting and lovable, use their hearts instead of their heads. [218], Turner has been noted by historians as a sex symbol, a popular culture icon[4][314] and "a symbol of the American Dream fulfilled Because of her, being discovered at a soda fountain has become almost as cherished an ideal as being born in a log cabin. [199][200] Stompanato got wind of the plan and showed up on the set with a gun, threatening her and Connery. [35][36][e] One version of the story erroneously has her discovery occurring at Schwab's Pharmacy,[39] which Turner claimed was the result of a reporting error that began circulating in articles published by columnist Sidney Skolsky. Nevertheless, she insisted she would not give up her glamorous image. He was 59. [192] After a friend informed her of who Stompanato actually was, she confronted him and tried to break off the affair. Lana Turner dating history, 2023, 2022, list of Lana Turner relationships. [240] Upon completing filming, Turner collected the remaining $92,000 from her pension fund with MGM. [186] Though grateful for the nomination, Turner would later state that she felt it was not "one of my better roles". [263][264] Turner married a total of eight times to seven different husbands,[212] and later famously said: "My goal was to have one husband and seven children, but it turned out to be the other way around. [42][48] Turner always detested the nickname,[49] and upon seeing a sneak preview of the film, she recalled being profoundly embarrassed and "squirming lower and lower" into her seat. [147] On May 24, 1950, Turner left her handprints and footprints in cement in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Lana Turner denied any romantic involvement with Clark Gable, but that did not stop her from making several more movies with him after Lombard's death. [119] Life magazine named the film its "Movie of the Week" in April 1946, and noted that both Turner and Garfield were "aptly cast" and "take over the screen, [creating] more fireworks than the Fourth of July". [232][233] She was replaced by Lee Remick. "[38] With her mother's permission, Turner was referred by Wilkerson to the actor/comedian/talent agent Zeppo Marx. She was 74 years old. [11] She was an admirer of Bette Davis, whom she cited as her favorite actress. [29], While baptized a Protestant at birth,[32] Turner attended Mass with the Hislops, a Catholic family with whom her mother had temporarily boarded her in Stockton, California. [155] The Merry Widow proved more commercially successful than Turner's previous musical, Mr. Imperium, despite receiving unfavorable critical reviews. California state prison officials said Spector died Saturday at age 81 of natural causes at a hospital. Lana Turner had an affair with Howard Hughes Lana Turner had an affair with Paul Newman Lana Turner had an affair with Tyrone Power Lana Turner's former husband was Artie Shaw Lana Turner . Turner spent most of the 1970s in semi-retirement, making her final film appearance in 1980. [176] Turner gleefully told a reporter at the time that she was "walking around in a daze. [100] After discovering she was pregnant in November 1942, Turner remarried Crane in Tijuana in March 1943. [28] They also frequently moved, for a time living in Sacramento and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Turner suffered through many personal tragedies and failed marriages in her quest to find happiness. On the evening of April 4, 1958, 14-year-old Cheryl Crane stabbed 32-year-old Johnny Stompanato, the boyfriend of her mother, actress Lana Turner, at Turner's rented home in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California. [316] Columnist Dorothy Kilgallen took note of the intersections between Turner's life and screen persona early in her career, writing in 1946: Lana Turner is a super-star for many reasons but chiefly because she is the same off-screen as she is on. [269], In the early 1970s, Turner transitioned to theater, beginning with a production of Forty Carats, which toured various East Coast cities in 1971. [141][142] The Three Musketeers went on to become a box-office success, earning $4.5 million ($54,610,283 in 2021 dollars [43]),[143] but Turner's contract was put on temporary suspension by Mayer after production finished. Throughout much of her life, Lana Turner was a heavy smoker. Despite being a comedian, May had a serious side to him. [212][213] Cheryl remained a temporary ward of the court until April 24, when a juvenile court hearing was held, during which the judge expressed concerns over her receiving "proper parental supervision". "That, and a sense of loss and of growing up too fast. Getty Images The murder of mobster Johnny Stompanato was ultimately ruled a "justifiable homicide.". [300][301], Cheryl and her partner Joyce LeRoy, whom Turner said she accepted "as a second daughter",[302] inherited some of Turner's personal effects and $50,000 in Turner's will. Lana Turner Age: 74 (age at death) years Birthday: 8th February, 1921 Birthplace: Wallace, Idaho, USA Died: 29th June, 1995 Place of Death: Century City, California, USA Cause of Death: Throat cancer Height: 5' 3" (160 cm) Weight . "[81], Turner was then cast in the Western Honky Tonk (1941), the first of four films in which she would star opposite Clark Gable. But every time I went into my argument about how bad a picture was, they'd say, "well, it's making a fortune". [284] In December 1981, it was announced that Turner would appear as the mysterious Jacqueline Perrault in an episode of Falcon Crest,[285] marking her first television role in 12 years. Her tempestuous personal life -- seven marriages, a stable of lovers, and a very public murder scandal -- only increased her reputation as a larger-than-life screen and sex goddess. [293][294] In a press release, she stated that the cancer had been detected early and had not damaged her vocal cords or larynx. [191] Turner was "thoroughly intrigued" and began casually dating him. [235][236] Ray Duncan of the Independent Star-News wrote that Turner "suffers prettily through it all, like a fashion model with a tight-fitting shoe". [244] In September of that year,[245] Turner and May separated, divorcing shortly after in October. I tried to persuade the studio to give me something different. Nittolo and Liotta got engaged in December of 2020. Advertisement More from Distractify All but One of the Ninja Turtles Are Dead in 'The Last Ronin' Comic [77], Following the success of Ziegfeld Girl, Turner took a supporting role as an ingnue in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), a Freudian-influenced horror film, opposite Spencer Tracy and Ingrid Bergman. [70], In 1940, Turner appeared in her first musical film, Two Girls on Broadway, in which she received top billing over established co-stars Joan Blondell and George Murphy. On September 28, 1964 the date of his 28th wedding anniversary with wife Susan Flemming - Harpo Marx died at the age of 75 after undergoing an open-heart procedure. [294] She underwent exploratory surgery to remove the cancer,[294] but it had metastasized to her jaw and lungs. Her acting skills were more than adequate, but first and foremost, how the camera loved her. "Bob" Topping Jr., a millionaire socialite and brother of New York Yankees owner Dan Topping, and a grandson of tin-plate magnate Daniel G. Lana Turner was married to seven men, including bandleader Artie Shaw. [247], In 1966, Turner had her last major starring role in the courtroom drama film Madame X, based on the 1904 play by Alexandre Bisson, in which Turner portrayed a lower-class woman who marries into a wealthy family. The star of films such as The Postman Always Rings Twice, Peyton's Place, and The Bad and The Beautiful took the world by storm. Atty. [206][207] The two began arguing heatedly in the bedroom, during which Stompanato threatened to kill Turner, her daughter Cheryl and her mother. [172][173] The production was rushed to accommodate a Christmas release and was completed in only three months, but it received unfavorable reviews from critics. [308] 1941's Ziegfeld Girl was the first film to showcase Turner with platinum blonde hair, which she wore for much of the remainder of her life and for which she came to be known. Lana Turner spoke these words as aspiring actress Lora Meredith in Imitation of Life (1959), but they could have been uttered by almost any of her characters over her 4 decades in Hollywood. [202] Turner and Armstrong later returned with two Scotland Yard detectives to the rented house where she and Stompanato were staying. [121] In August 1946, it was announced she would replace Katharine Hepburn in the big-budget historical drama Green Dolphin Street (1947), a role for which she darkened her hair and lost 15 pounds. [303] Cheryl challenged the will, and Cruz said that the majority of the estate was consumed by probate costs, legal fees and medical expenses.[304]. Lana was 74 years old at the time of death. [322][325] Film historians Joe Morella and Edward Epstein have observed that, unlike many female stars, Turner "wasn't resented by female fans", and that women made up a large part of her fan base in later years. Published on July 3, 2018 06:50 PM. With her film career launched in earnest by the dawn of the forties, she became a top pin-up . [225] Reviews were mixed,[226] although Variety praised her performance, writing: "Turner plays a character of changing moods, and her changes are remarkably effective, as she blends love and understanding, sincerity and ambition. [21][25] His robbery and homicide were never solved,[21] and his death had a profound effect on Turner. Article. [137][138] Turner's wedding celebrations interfered with her filming schedule for The Three Musketeers, and she arrived to the set three days late. Lana Turner, 75, the sweater girl-turned-glamorous film star whose discovery at a soda fountain became the stuff Hollywood dreams are made of, died June 29 at her home in Century City, Calif. She . Contents. [38], By Turner's own account, she was a junior at Hollywood High School when she skipped a typing class and bought a Coca-Cola at the Top Hat Malt Shop[34][40] located on the southeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and McCadden Place. Born to working-class parents in northern Idaho, Turner spent her childhood there before her family relocated to San Francisco. [246] The two married in June of that year at his family's home in Arlington, Virginia. Stompanato's rage reportedly reached its boiling point on the night of the 1958 Academy Awards when Turner refused to bring him as her date. Some sources claim Turner's birth name to be Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner. Cause of death: esophageal cancer. "[4] Michael Gordon, who directed Turner in Portrait in Black, remembered her as "a very talented actress whose chief reliability was what I regarded as impoverished taste Lana was not a dummy, and she would give me wonderful rationalizations why she should wear pendant earrings. The detectives advised Stompanato to leave and escorted him out of the house and to the airport, where he boarded a plane back to the U.S.[203], On the evening of March 26, 1958, Turner attended the Academy Awards to observe her nomination for Peyton Place and present the award for Best Supporting Actor. [270] A review in The Philadelphia Inquirer noted: "Miss Turner always could wear clothes well, and her Forty Carats is a fashion show in the guise of a frothy, little comedy. "[152], During this period, Turner's personal finances were in disarray, and she was facing bankruptcy. It's the Lana Turner Story, Told by the Sweater Girl Herself Turner's private life drew in the public eye from her many marriages and romances, hitting its sensational peak when her lover,. He was replaced by Ricardo Montalbn. [154] The following year, she began filming her second musical, The Merry Widow. [252] One critic deemed Turner's acting in the film "strained and amateurish", and declared it "one of her poorest performances". [82] The Turner-Gable films' successes were often heightened by gossip-column rumors about a relationship between the two. [160], In the spring of 1953, Turner relocated to Europe for 18 months to make two films under a tax credit for American productions shot abroad. [52] Warner obliged, as he believed Turner would not "amount to anything". Lana Turner was born Julia Jean Turner[6][7][b] on February 8, 1921,[c] at Providence Hospital[13] in Wallace, Idaho, a small mining community in the Idaho Panhandle region. The biography is as colorful as any plot she has ever romped through on screen. [215] Stompanato's family sought a wrongful death suit of $750,000 in damages against both Turner and her ex-husband, Steve Crane. "I'm getting close to that point, honey. [228] Both films depicted the troubled, complicated relationship between a single mother and her teenage daughter. [122] Turner later recalled she was surprised about replacing Hepburn, saying: "I'm about the most un-Hepburnish actress on the lot. [251], In late 1968, she began filming the low-budget thriller The Big Cube, in which she portrayed a glamorous heiress being dosed with LSD by her stepdaughter in hopes of driving her insane and receiving the family estate. "[4] Critic Leonard Maltin noted in 2005 that Turner "came to crystallize the opulent heights to which show business could usher a small-town girl, as well as its darkest, most tragic and narcissistic depths". Johnny Stompanato Is Killed By Lana Turner's Daughter. That licked me. [60] She was then cast in a supporting part as a "sympathetic bad girl" in Calling Dr. Kildare (1939), MGM's second entry in the Dr. Kildare series. "[330], Defenders of Turner's acting ability, such as Jessica Hope Jordan[331] and James Robert Parish,[332] cite her performance in The Postman Always Rings Twice as an argument for the value of her work. Mildred was four days shy of her 17th birthday when she gave birth to her only child. [346] Turner has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6241 Hollywood Boulevard. [272] From 1976 to 1978, she starred in a touring production of Bell, Book and Candle, playing Gillian Holroyd. The project was shelved for several months, and Turner told journalists in December 1949: "Everybody agrees that the script is still a pile of junk. I got a big chance to do some real acting in The Postman Always Rings Twice, and I'm not going to slip back if I can help it. In the 1980s she had a recurring role on the TV series Falcon Crest. Turner, who disclosed in May 1992 that she had been treated for throat cancer, died at her Century City home with her daughter Cheryl Crane at her side, police Officer Sonia Monaco said. [92], Throughout the war, Turner continued to make regular appearances at U.S. troop events and area bases, though she confided to friends that she found visiting the hospital wards of injured soldiers emotionally difficult. Groucho Marx wept at the funeral. According to his son, Arthur Marx, it was the only time he ever saw his father cry. [210] More than 100 reporters and journalists attended the April 12, 1958 inquest, described by attendees as "near-riotous". [326] Turner maintained her glamorous image into her late career; a 1966 film review characterized her as "the glitter and glamour of Hollywood". They were married on July 3, 2005, and had two kids, a daughter and a son. In her early 60s, Turner reportedly took a photo of herself at 27 to a plastic surgeon, Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, and said, "This is what I want to look like." .