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| Birth Name(s) : Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner |
Date of Birth: June 29, 1921 |
| Status:
N/A
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| Profession:
Actor |
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Full Lana Turner Biography
| MGM's "Sweater Girl" starred in many "women's pictures" fascinating men and women alike. Her glamour girl image belied her true acting talent, although many of her directors knew she was capable of greatness. Unfortunately, her private life -- 7 marriages, alcoholism, and a scandal involving the murder of Johnny Stompanato by Turner's daughter, Cheryl Crane -- often interfered with her advancing screen career. |
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Additional Lana Turner Biography
Lana Turner (February 8, 1921 – June 29, 1995) was an Academy Award-nominated American film actress. On-screen, she was well-known for the glamour and sensuality she brought to almost all her movie roles. Off-screen, she led a stormy and colorful private life which included seven husbands, numerous lovers, and a famous murder scandal.
Born Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner in Wallace, Idaho, she was the daughter of John Virgil Turner, a miner from Hohenwald, Tennessee, and Mildred Frances Cowan, a 16-year-old Alabama girl.
After the war, Turner's career hit a new high with the 1946 classic film noir The Postman Always Rings Twice, co-starring John Garfield.
Turner's career recovered briefly after appearing in the hugely-successful big-screen adaptation of Grace Metalious's best-selling novel, Peyton Place, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Another few box-office failures followed (Another Time, Another Place, for example) when the 1958 scandal surrounding the death of Johnny Stompanato threatened to derail her career completely. Fearing she would never work again, Turner accepted the lead role in Ross Hunter's re-make of Imitation of Life under the direction of Douglas Sirk. Universal Studios capitalized on her new-found notoriety. The result was one of the biggest hits of 1959, not to mention the biggest hit of Turner's career. Since Turner had accepted a percentage of the box-office receipts in lieu of salary, she was paid handsomely for the role. Critics and audiences couldn't help noticing that both Peyton and Imitation borrowed from Turner's private life — a single mother coping with a troubled teenage daughter.
In 1961, she made her last film appearance under her old contract with MGM, starring with Bob Hope in Bachelor in Paradise. Other highlights of this era include two Ross Hunter productions, Portrait in Black and Madame X, which proved to be her last major starring role.
Of her many love affairs, Turner reportedly once said "I liked the boys, and the boys liked me." Turner was married eight times to seven different husbands, and had many lovers, including; Joseph Wapner, her high school boyfriend who would later achieve fame on The People's Court, Tyrone Power (whom she calls the love of her life in her autobiography), Victor Mature, Fernando Lamas, Joe Louis, and a small-time hood named Johnny Stompanato.
Her husbands were:
- Bandleader Artie Shaw (1940) Married only four months, Turner was 19 when she and Shaw eloped on their first date. She later referred to their stormy and verbally abusive relationship as "my college education".
- Actor-restaurateur Josef Stephen Crane (1942-43, 1943-44) Turner and Crane's first marriage was annulled after she discovered that Crane's previous divorce had not yet been finalized. After a brief separation (during which Crane attempted suicide), they re-married to provide for their newborn daughter, Cheryl.
- Millionaire socialite Henry J. Topping, Jr. (1948-52) Topping proposed to Turner at the 21 Club in Los Angeles by dropping a diamond ring into her martini. Although worth millions when they married, Topping suffered heavy financial losses due to poor investments and excessive gambling. Turner finally divorced Topping when she realized she could no longer afford to keep them in the lavish lifestyle to which they had grown accustomed.
- Actor Lex Barker (1953-57), whom she divorced after her daughter Cheryl claimed that he repeatedly molested and raped her.
- Rancher Fred May (1960-62)
- Robert P. Eaton (1965-69); who later went on to write The Body Brokers, a behind-the-scenes look at the Hollywood movie world, featuring a character named Marla Jordan, based on Turner.
- Nightclub hypnotist Ronald Peller (aka Ronald Dante, 1969-72)
Turner met Johnny Stompanato during the spring of 1957, shortly after ending her marriage to Lex Barker. At first, Turner was susceptible to Stompanato's good looks and prowess as a lover, but after she discovered his ties to the LA underworld (in particular, his association with gangster Mickey Cohen), she tried to break off the affair out of fear of bad publicity. Stompanato was not easily deterred, however, and over the course of the following year, he and Turner carried on a relationship filled with violent arguments, physical abuse, and repeated reconciliations. In the fall of 1957, Stompanato followed Turner to England where she was filming Another Time, Another Place, costarring Sean Connery, later of James Bond fame. Fearful that Turner was having an affair with Connery, Stompanato stormed onto the set brandishing a gun. Connery managed to land a single punch to Stompanato's jaw and took away his gun. Stompanato was soon deported by Scotland Yard for the incident.
On the evening of April 4, 1958, Turner and Stompanato began a violent argument in Turner's house at 730 N. Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills. Fearing her mother's life was in danger, Turner's 14-year-old daughter, Cheryl Crane grabbed a kitchen knife and ran to Turner's defense. Many theories abound as to what happened afterward, but it appears Crane stabbed Stompanato, killing him. The case quickly became a media sensation. It was later deemed a justifiable homicide at a coroner's inquest, at which Turner provided dramatic testimony. Some observers have said her testimony that day was the acting performance of her life. |
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Lana Turner Quote(s)
| I planned on having one husband and seven children, but it turned out the other way around. |
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