Lana Turner
Encyclopedia
Lana Turner was an American actress.
Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM
at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget
(1937). She played featured roles, often as the ingenue
, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy
(1938). During the early 1940s she established herself as a leading actress in such films as Johnny Eager
(1941), Ziegfeld Girl
(1941) and Somewhere I'll Find You
(1942). She is known as one of the first Hollywood scream queen
s thanks to her role in the 1941 horror film
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
, and her reputation as a glamorous femme fatale
was enhanced by her performance in the film noir
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). Her popularity continued through the 1950s, in such films as The Bad and the Beautiful
(1952) and Peyton Place
(1957), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress
.
In 1958, her daughter, Cheryl Crane, stabbed Turner's lover Johnny Stompanato
to death. A coroner's inquest brought considerable media attention to Turner and concluded that Crane had acted in self defense. Turner's next film, Imitation of Life
(1959), proved to be one of the greatest successes of her career, but from the early 1960s, her roles were fewer.
Turner spent most of the 1970s and early 1980s in semi-retirement, working only occasionally. In 1982 she accepted a much publicized and lucrative recurring guest role in the television series Falcon Crest
. She followed Falcon Crest with a two episode appearance on the series Love Boat
. Turner made her next, and final, television appearance in 1991, and died from throat cancer
in 1995.
, she was the daughter of John Virgil Madison Turner, a miner
from Hohenwald, Tennessee
(died December 14, 1930), and Mildred Frances Cowan, a sixteen-year-old native of Arkansas
(died February 22, 1982). A common and often repeated error is to add the given names of her mother Mildred Frances to her birth name. These names she used when she converted to Catholicism
.
Until her film career took off, young Julia Turner was known to family and friends as "Judy". Hard times eventually forced the family to re-locate to San Francisco, where her parents soon separated. On December 14, 1930, her father won some money at a traveling craps
game, stuffed his winnings in his left sock, and headed for home. He was later found dead on the corner of Minnesota and Mariposa Streets, on the edge of Potrero Hill
and the Dogpatch District in San Francisco, his left shoe and sock missing. The robbery and murder were never solved. Soon after, her mother developed health problems and was advised by her doctor to move to a drier climate. With her ten-year-old daughter, she moved to Los Angeles in 1931.
Mildred and Lana were very poor, and Turner was sometimes separated from her mother, living with friends or acquaintances so that the family could save money. Her mother worked as a beautician
to support them. After Turner was discovered, her mother became the overseer of Turner's career.
Turner's discovery at a Hollywood drug store
is a show-business legend. As a sixteen-year-old student at Hollywood High School
, Turner skipped a typing class and bought a Coke at the Top Hat Cafe located on the southeast corner of Sunset Boulevard
and McCadden Place (not Schwab's Pharmacy), where she was spotted by William R. Wilkerson
, publisher of The Hollywood Reporter
. Wilkerson was attracted by her beauty and physique, and referred her to the actor/comedian/talent agent Zeppo Marx
. Marx's agency immediately signed her on and introduced her to film director Mervyn LeRoy
, who cast her in her first film, They Won't Forget
(1937).
Turner earned the nickname "The Sweater Girl
" from her form-fitting attire in a scene in They Won't Forget. According to her daughter, this was a nickname Turner detested throughout her entire career. In late 1937, she signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
for $100 a week, and graduated from high school in between takes. According to LeRoy, it was thanks to him that she made the switch, for he left Warners to work at MGM and was advised by studio head Jack Warner
to take her with him, because Warner believed that she wouldn't "amount to anything." Her first starring role for MGM was scheduled to be an adaption of The Sea-Wolf
, co-starring Clark Gable
, but the project was eventually canned. Instead, she was assigned opposite teen idol Mickey Rooney
in the Andy Hardy
film Love Finds Andy Hardy
(1938). It was this appearance that convinced Louis B. Mayer
that LeRoy's protégée Turner could be the next Jean Harlow
, a sex symbol
who had died six months before Turner's arrival at MGM.
Mayer turned her into a glamorous star, mostly popular among college boys, and gave her the leads in several teen-oriented films in the late 1930s and early 1940s, such as Dramatic School (1938), These Glamour Girls (1939) and Dancing Co-Ed (1939). In early 1940, she was also set to star in a remake of Our Dancing Daughters
, but the film was never made. From the beginning of her career, Turner stood her ground on her beliefs and was one of the few actresses at MGM to go against Mayer's wishes.
Turner reached the height of her fame in the 1940s and 1950s. During World War II, Turner became a popular pin-up girl
due to her popularity in such films such as Ziegfeld Girl
(1941), Johnny Eager
(1942), and four films with Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer's "king of the lot", Clark Gable. The Turner-Gable films' successes were only heightened by gossip-column rumors about a relationship between the two. Turner even had a B-17 Flying Fortress—the Tempest Turner—named after her. Following the canned The Sea Wolf project, Turner and Gable were set to star in The Uniform in December 1940. Turner was eventually replaced by Rosalind Russell
and the film was released as They Met in Bombay
(1941).
Meanwhile, Turner was receiving much publicity for her personal life, and her career was one of the very few to be furthered by this. MGM boosted this by changing the title of her latest film to Slightly Dangerous
(1943).
After the war, Turner's career continued successfully with the release, in The Postman Always Rings Twice
(1946), which co-starred John Garfield
. As claimed in a documentary, Turner did not get along with him and when she found he was her male lead, she responded: "Couldn't they at least hire someone attractive?" The now-classic film noir
marked a turning point in her career, and it marked Turner's first femme fatale
role. Reviews of the film, and in particular, Turner's performance, were glowing, with a critic of The New York Times
writing it was "the role of her career." While not exactly giving up her pin-up credentials, Turner established herself as a skilled actress. The Postman Always Rings Twice was thus a turning point in her career. Turner commented on this:
She got the role after turning down "four pretty-pretty parts in a row." The film became a box office success, which prompted the studio to take more risks on the star. In August 1946, it was announced Turner was set to replace Katharine Hepburn
in the big budgeted historical drama Green Dolphin Street
(1947), a role for which she darkened her hair and lost 15 pounds. She was cast due to the persistence of producer Carey Wilson, who was overwhelmed by her performance in The Postman Always Rings Twice. Turner later recalled she was surprised about replacing Hepburn, saying: "And I guess I'm about the most un-Hepburnish actress on the lot. But it was just what I wanted to do." It was her first starring role that did not center on her looks. In an interview, Turner said: "I even go running around in the jungles of New Zealand in a dress that's filthy and ragged. I don't wear any make-up and my hair's a mess." Nevertheless, she insisted she would not give up her glamorous image.]
Later that year, Turner headlined Cass Timberlane
, a role that Jennifer Jones
, Vivien Leigh
and Virginia Grey
were previously considered for. As of early 1946, Turner was set for the role, but schedules with Green Dolphin Street almost prohibited her from taking the role, and by late 1946, she was almost recast. Production of Cass Timberlane was very exhausting for Turner, as it was shot in between retakes of Green Dolphin Street. Nevertheless, she took the female lead in Homecoming
(1948) in August 1947, only moments after finishing Cass Timberlane. She was the studio's first choice for the role, but they were reluctant to offer her the part, considering her overbooked schedule. Paired again with Clark Gable in Homecoming, their chemistry projected on the screen was well received by the audience, and they were nicknamed "the team that generates steam". By this period, Turner achieved the milestone of her film career, and was not only MGM's most popular star, but also one of the ten best paid women in the United States.
In 1948, Turner appeared in her first Technicolor
film, appearing as Lady de Winter in The Three Musketeers
, opposite Gene Kelly
, Van Heflin
and June Allyson
. In November 1947, she agreed to do the film, thereby giving up an unfinished film project called Bedeviled. However, in January 1948 it was reported that she had withdrawn from the film. Initially, Louis B. Mayer gave her permission for doing so because of her schedule, but she was later that month put on suspension. Eventually, Turner agreed to make the film, but did not start production until March due to having to lose weight. In 1949, she was to headline A Life of Her Own
(1950). The project was shelved for several months, and Turner insisted in December 1949 that she had nothing to do with it, saying: "Everybody agrees that the script is still a pile of junk. I'm anxious to get started. By the time this one comes out, it will be almost three years since I was last on the screen, in The Three Musketeers. I don't think it's healthy to stay off the screen that long."
During the 1950s, Turner starred in a series of films that failed to succeed at the box office, a situation MGM attempted to remedy by casting her in musicals. The first, Mr. Imperium
(1951), was a flop, while The Merry Widow
(1952) was more successful. She gave a widely praised performance in Vincente Minnelli
's film, The Bad and the Beautiful
(1952), and later starred with John Wayne
in the adventure film The Sea Chase
(1955). She was then cast in the epic
The Prodigal
(1955), but the film and her performance in general were not well received. After the film Diane
(1956), MGM opted not to renew her contract. This was a difficult time for Hollywood's major studios because a recent court decision forced them to divest themselves of their movie theaters. In addition, television had caught on in a big way; the public was staying home. Turner was just one of MGM's star roster to be let go.
Turner's career recovered briefly after she appeared in the hugely successful big-screen adaptation of Grace Metalious's best-selling novel, Peyton Place
(1957), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress
. Another few box-office failures followed (Another Time, Another Place (1958), for example) when the 1958 scandal
surrounding her daughter's killing of Stompanato threatened to derail her career completely.
In the trail of the related negative publicity, Turner accepted the lead role in Ross Hunter
's remake of Imitation of Life
(1959) under the direction of Douglas Sirk
. Universal Studios
capitalized on her new-found notoriety; the result was one of the biggest hits of the year, as well as the biggest hit of Turner's career: she owned 50% of the earnings of the picture and for only the first year of the film's career she earned $11 million. Critics and audiences couldn't help noticing that the plots of both Peyton Place and Imitation of Life had borrowed heavily from Turner's private life. Each film depicted the troubled, complicated relationship between a single mother and her teenage daughter.
She made her last film at MGM starring with Bob Hope
in Bachelor in Paradise
(1961). Other highlights of this era include two Hunter productions (for whom she did Imitation of Life), Portrait in Black
(1960) and Madame X
(1966), which proved to be her last major starring role.
Turner was well known inside Hollywood circles for dating often, changing partners often, and for never shying away from the topic of how many lovers she'd had in her lifetime.
Turner was married eight times to seven different husbands:
She later famously said, "My goal was to have one husband and seven children, but it turned out to be the other way around."
during the spring of 1957, shortly after ending her marriage to Barker. At first, Turner fell for Stompanato's good looks and prowess as a lover, but after she discovered his ties to the Los Angeles 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, they 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 (1958) costarring Sean Connery
. Afraid that Turner was having an affair with Connery, Stompanato stormed onto the set brandishing a gun. Connery punched Stompanato's jaw once 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 fourteen-year-old daughter, Cheryl, grabbed a kitchen knife and ran to Turner's defense. Many theories abound as to what happened afterward, but it appears the teenager 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.
's Harold Robbins' The Survivors
, but despite the presence of other big-name stars, the program fared badly opposite Mayberry R.F.D.
and The Doris Day Show
on CBS and The NBC Monday Movie
, and was cancelled
midway into the season.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Turner appeared in several television roles, most notably as a guest star for several episodes on the series Falcon Crest
as Jaqueline Perrault, but the majority of her final decade was spent out of the public eye.
She died at the age of 74 in 1995 of complications from throat cancer
, which was diagnosed in 1992 and which she had been battling ever since, at her home in Century City, Los Angeles, California
. She was, until her death, a very heavy smoker.
Turner was survived by Cheryl Crane, her only child, and Crane's life partner
Joyce "Josh" LeRoy, whom she said she accepted "as a second daughter". They inherited some of Turner's personal effects and $50,000 in Turner's will (her estate was estimated in court documents at $1.7 million [$2.4 million in 2011 USD]) with the majority of her estate was left to Carmen Lopez Cruz, her maid and companion for 45 years and the caregiver for her final illness. Crane challenged the will and Lopez claimed the majority of the estate was consumed by probate costs, legal fees, and Turner's final illness.
For her contribution to the motion-picture industry, Turner has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 6241 Hollywood Boulevard
.
In 1983, Turner suffered a heart attack but recovered. In the mid-1990s, Turner spoke of her belief in God.
"Lana Turner has collapsed" by the poet Frank O'Hara
.
Turner and Stompanato appear as minor characters in James Ellroy's novel L.A. Confidential
.
"Vogue" next to stars from the Golden Age era of Hollywood like Bette Davis
or Marilyn Monroe
and in Nina Simone's
"My Baby Just Cares for Me
".
Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget
They Won't Forget
They Won't Forget is a 1937 film directed by Mervyn LeRoy . It was based on a novel by Ward Greene called Death in The Deep South, which was in turn a fictionalized account of a real life case: the trial and subsequent lynching of Leo Frank after the murder of Mary Phagan in 1913...
(1937). She played featured roles, often as the ingenue
Ingenue (stock character)
See also Disingenuous, which is not quite the antonym that it may seem!The ingénue is a stock character in literature, film, and a role type in the theatre; generally a girl or a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome. Ingenue may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in...
, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy
Love Finds Andy Hardy
Love Finds Andy Hardy is a 1938 romantic comedy film which tells the story of a teenage boy who becomes entangled with three different girls all at the same time. It stars Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, Fay Holden, Cecilia Parker, Judy Garland, Lana Turner, Ann Rutherford, Mary Howard and Gene...
(1938). During the early 1940s she established herself as a leading actress in such films as Johnny Eager
Johnny Eager
Johnny Eager is a 1941 film noir starring Robert Taylor and Lana Turner. Van Heflin won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.The film is featured in the comedy spoof Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid .-Plot:...
(1941), Ziegfeld Girl
Ziegfeld Girl (film)
Ziegfeld Girl is a 1941 American film starring James Stewart, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, and Lana Turner, and co-starring Tony Martin, Jackie Cooper, Eve Arden, and Philip Dorn. Released by MGM, it was directed by Robert Z...
(1941) and Somewhere I'll Find You
Somewhere I'll Find You
Somewhere I'll Find You is a film released by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer in 1942. The film stars Clark Gable and Lana Turner. The film took almost two years to complete. This was the last film Gable starred in before he enlisted in World War II...
(1942). She is known as one of the first Hollywood scream queen
Scream queen
A scream queen is an actress who has become associated with horror films, either through an appearance in a notable entry in the genre as a frequent victim or through constant appearances as the female protagonist...
s thanks to her role in the 1941 horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941 film)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1941 horror film starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner. Rather than being a new film version of the novel, it is a direct remake of the 1931 film of the same name, which differs greatly from the novel. The movie was based on Robert Louis Stevenson's...
, and her reputation as a glamorous femme fatale
Femme fatale
A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...
was enhanced by her performance in the film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). Her popularity continued through the 1950s, in such films as The Bad and the Beautiful
The Bad and the Beautiful
The Bad and the Beautiful is a 1952 MGM melodramatic film that tells the story of a film producer who alienates all around him. It was directed by Vincente Minelli and stars Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan, Gloria Grahame and Gilbert Roland. The film was...
(1952) and Peyton Place
Peyton Place (film)
Peyton Place is a 1957 American drama film directed by Mark Robson. The screenplay by John Michael Hayes is based on the bestselling 1956 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious.-Plot:...
(1957), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
.
In 1958, her daughter, Cheryl Crane, stabbed Turner's lover Johnny Stompanato
Johnny Stompanato
John "Johnny" Stompanato , also known as "Handsome Harry", "Johnny Stomp", "John Steele", and "Oscar", was a former United States Marine who became a bodyguard/enforcer for gangster Mickey Cohen...
to death. A coroner's inquest brought considerable media attention to Turner and concluded that Crane had acted in self defense. Turner's next film, Imitation of Life
Imitation of Life (1959 film)
Imitation of Life is a 1959 American film directed by Douglas Sirk, produced by Ross Hunter and released by Universal Pictures, starring Lana Turner and John Gavin and features Sandra Dee, Dan O'Herlihy, Susan Kohner, Robert Alda and Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson. Gospel music star Mahalia Jackson...
(1959), proved to be one of the greatest successes of her career, but from the early 1960s, her roles were fewer.
Turner spent most of the 1970s and early 1980s in semi-retirement, working only occasionally. In 1982 she accepted a much publicized and lucrative recurring guest role in the television series Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest is an American primetime television soap opera which aired on the CBS network for nine seasons, from December 4, 1981 to May 17, 1990. A total of 227 episodes were produced....
. She followed Falcon Crest with a two episode appearance on the series Love Boat
Love Boat
The Overseas Compatriot Youth Formosa Study Tour to Taiwan, informally known as the Love Boat, is currently a four-week summer program for about 400–600 college-aged Overseas Chinese. In Chinese, it is also colloquially referred to as mei-jia-ying - America and Canada Camp, a reference to where...
. Turner made her next, and final, television appearance in 1991, and died from throat cancer
Head and neck cancer
Head and neck cancer refers to a group of biologically similar cancers that start in the upper aerodigestive tract, including the lip, oral cavity , nasal cavity , paranasal sinuses, pharynx, and larynx. 90% of head and neck cancers are squamous cell carcinomas , originating from the mucosal lining...
in 1995.
Early life
Born Julia Jean Turner in Wallace, IdahoWallace, Idaho
Wallace is a historic city in the Panhandle region of the U.S. state of Idaho and the county seat of Shoshone County in the Silver Valley mining district...
, she was the daughter of John Virgil Madison Turner, a miner
Miner
A miner is a person whose work or business is to extract ore or minerals from the earth. Mining is one of the most dangerous trades in the world. In some countries miners lack social guarantees and in case of injury may be left to cope without assistance....
from Hohenwald, Tennessee
Hohenwald, Tennessee
Hohenwald is a city in and the county seat of Lewis County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 3,754 at the 2000 census. The name "Hohenwald" is a German word that means "High Forest". The town was founded in 1878 and later merged with a town named "New Switzerland" to the south. New...
(died December 14, 1930), and Mildred Frances Cowan, a sixteen-year-old native of Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
(died February 22, 1982). A common and often repeated error is to add the given names of her mother Mildred Frances to her birth name. These names she used when she converted to Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
.
Until her film career took off, young Julia Turner was known to family and friends as "Judy". Hard times eventually forced the family to re-locate to San Francisco, where her parents soon separated. On December 14, 1930, her father won some money at a traveling craps
Craps
Craps is a dice game in which players place wagers on the outcome of the roll, or a series of rolls, of a pair of dice. Players may wager money against each other or a bank...
game, stuffed his winnings in his left sock, and headed for home. He was later found dead on the corner of Minnesota and Mariposa Streets, on the edge of Potrero Hill
Potrero Hill, San Francisco, California
Potrero Hill is a hilly neighborhood in San Francisco, California.-Location:Potrero Hill is located on the eastern side of the city, east of the Mission District and south of SOMA and the newly designated district . It is roughly bordered by 16th Street to the north, Potrero Avenue and U.S...
and the Dogpatch District in San Francisco, his left shoe and sock missing. The robbery and murder were never solved. Soon after, her mother developed health problems and was advised by her doctor to move to a drier climate. With her ten-year-old daughter, she moved to Los Angeles in 1931.
Mildred and Lana were very poor, and Turner was sometimes separated from her mother, living with friends or acquaintances so that the family could save money. Her mother worked as a beautician
Cosmetology
Cosmetology is the study and application of beauty treatment. Branches of specialty including hairstyling, skin care, cosmetics, manicures/pedicures, and electrology....
to support them. After Turner was discovered, her mother became the overseer of Turner's career.
Film career
Pharmacy
Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...
is a show-business legend. As a sixteen-year-old student at Hollywood High School
Hollywood High School
Hollywood High School is a Los Angeles Unified School District high school located at the intersection of North Highland Avenue and West Sunset Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California.-History:...
, Turner skipped a typing class and bought a Coke at the Top Hat Cafe located on the southeast corner of Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
and McCadden Place (not Schwab's Pharmacy), where she was spotted by William R. Wilkerson
William Wilkerson
William Richard Wilkerson was the founder of the Hollywood Reporter, Flamingo Hotel and owner of such nightclubs as Ciro's. He was also responsible for discovering actress Lana Turner across the street from Hollywood High School.-Early life:Born in Nashville, Tennessee on September 29, 1890...
, publisher of The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
. Wilkerson was attracted by her beauty and physique, and referred her to the actor/comedian/talent agent Zeppo Marx
Zeppo Marx
Herbert Manfred "Zeppo" Marx was an American film star, musician, engineer, theatrical agent and businessman. He was the youngest of the five Marx Brothers. He appeared in the first five Marx Brothers feature films, from 1929 to 1933, but then left the act to start his second career as an...
. Marx's agency immediately signed her on and introduced her to film director Mervyn LeRoy
Mervyn LeRoy
Mervyn LeRoy was an American film director, producer and sometime actor.-Early life:Born to Jewish parents in San Francisco, California, his family was financially ruined by the 1906 earthquake...
, who cast her in her first film, They Won't Forget
They Won't Forget
They Won't Forget is a 1937 film directed by Mervyn LeRoy . It was based on a novel by Ward Greene called Death in The Deep South, which was in turn a fictionalized account of a real life case: the trial and subsequent lynching of Leo Frank after the murder of Mary Phagan in 1913...
(1937).
Turner earned the nickname "The Sweater Girl
Sweater girl
Sweater girl describes a fashion look made popular in the 1940s and 1950s by Hollywood actresses such as Lana Turner and Jane Russell which was exemplified by a tight sweater which emphasized the wearer's bustline...
" from her form-fitting attire in a scene in They Won't Forget. According to her daughter, this was a nickname Turner detested throughout her entire career. In late 1937, she signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
for $100 a week, and graduated from high school in between takes. According to LeRoy, it was thanks to him that she made the switch, for he left Warners to work at MGM and was advised by studio head Jack Warner
Jack Warner
Jack Leonard "J. L." Warner , born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, was a Canadian American film executive who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California...
to take her with him, because Warner believed that she wouldn't "amount to anything." Her first starring role for MGM was scheduled to be an adaption of The Sea-Wolf
The Sea-Wolf
The Sea-Wolf is a 1904 psychological adventure novel by American novelist Jack London about a literary critic, survivor of an ocean collision who comes under the dominance of Wolf Larsen, the powerful and amoral sea captain who rescues him...
, co-starring Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
, but the project was eventually canned. Instead, she was assigned opposite teen idol Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
in the Andy Hardy
Andy Hardy
Andy Hardy was a fictional character played by Mickey Rooney in an MGM film series from 1937 to 1958. Spanning over 20 years, the 16 movies were based on characters in the play Skidding by Aurania Rouverol....
film Love Finds Andy Hardy
Love Finds Andy Hardy
Love Finds Andy Hardy is a 1938 romantic comedy film which tells the story of a teenage boy who becomes entangled with three different girls all at the same time. It stars Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, Fay Holden, Cecilia Parker, Judy Garland, Lana Turner, Ann Rutherford, Mary Howard and Gene...
(1938). It was this appearance that convinced Louis B. Mayer
Louis B. Mayer
Louis Burt Mayer born Lazar Meir was an American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...
that LeRoy's protégée Turner could be the next Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde" , Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute...
, a sex symbol
Sex symbol
A sex symbol is a celebrity of either gender, typically an actor, musician, supermodel, teen idol, or sports star, noted for their sex appeal. The term was first used in the mid 1950s in relation to the popularity of certain Hollywood stars, especially Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte...
who had died six months before Turner's arrival at MGM.
Mayer turned her into a glamorous star, mostly popular among college boys, and gave her the leads in several teen-oriented films in the late 1930s and early 1940s, such as Dramatic School (1938), These Glamour Girls (1939) and Dancing Co-Ed (1939). In early 1940, she was also set to star in a remake of Our Dancing Daughters
Our Dancing Daughters
Our Dancing Daughters is a 1928 MGM silent drama film starring Joan Crawford and John Mack Brown , about the "loosening of youth morals" that took place during the 1920s. The film was directed by Harry Beaumont and produced by Hunt Stromberg...
, but the film was never made. From the beginning of her career, Turner stood her ground on her beliefs and was one of the few actresses at MGM to go against Mayer's wishes.
Turner reached the height of her fame in the 1940s and 1950s. During World War II, Turner became a popular pin-up girl
Pin-up girl
A pin-up girl, also known as a pin-up model, is a model whose mass-produced pictures see wide appeal as popular culture. Pin-ups are intended for informal display, e.g. meant to be "pinned-up" on a wall...
due to her popularity in such films such as Ziegfeld Girl
Ziegfeld Girl (film)
Ziegfeld Girl is a 1941 American film starring James Stewart, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, and Lana Turner, and co-starring Tony Martin, Jackie Cooper, Eve Arden, and Philip Dorn. Released by MGM, it was directed by Robert Z...
(1941), Johnny Eager
Johnny Eager
Johnny Eager is a 1941 film noir starring Robert Taylor and Lana Turner. Van Heflin won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.The film is featured in the comedy spoof Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid .-Plot:...
(1942), and four films with Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer's "king of the lot", Clark Gable. The Turner-Gable films' successes were only heightened by gossip-column rumors about a relationship between the two. Turner even had a B-17 Flying Fortress—the Tempest Turner—named after her. Following the canned The Sea Wolf project, Turner and Gable were set to star in The Uniform in December 1940. Turner was eventually replaced by Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Mame Dennis in the film Auntie Mame...
and the film was released as They Met in Bombay
They Met in Bombay
They Met in Bombay is a 1941 American drama film adventure directed by Clarence Brown. The film stars Clark Gable, Rosalind Russell and Peter Lorre.-Plot:...
(1941).
Meanwhile, Turner was receiving much publicity for her personal life, and her career was one of the very few to be furthered by this. MGM boosted this by changing the title of her latest film to Slightly Dangerous
Slightly Dangerous
Slightly Dangerous is a 1943 American romantic comedy film starring Lana Turner and Robert Young. A bored young woman in a dead-end job runs away to New York City and ends up impersonating the long-lost daughter of a millionaire. The film was directed by Wesley Ruggles and written by Charles...
(1943).
After the war, Turner's career continued successfully with the release, in The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946 film)
The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1946 drama-film noir based on the 1934 novel of the same name by James M. Cain. This adaptation of the novel is the best known, featuring Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway, Hume Cronyn, Leon Ames, and Audrey Totter...
(1946), which co-starred John Garfield
John Garfield
John Garfield was an American actor adept at playing brooding, rebellious, working-class character roles. He grew up in poverty in Depression-era New York City and in the early 1930s became an important member of the Group Theater. In 1937 he moved to Hollywood, eventually becoming one of Warner...
. As claimed in a documentary, Turner did not get along with him and when she found he was her male lead, she responded: "Couldn't they at least hire someone attractive?" The now-classic film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
marked a turning point in her career, and it marked Turner's first femme fatale
Femme fatale
A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...
role. Reviews of the film, and in particular, Turner's performance, were glowing, with a critic of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
writing it was "the role of her career." While not exactly giving up her pin-up credentials, Turner established herself as a skilled actress. The Postman Always Rings Twice was thus a turning point in her career. Turner commented on this:
- "I finally got tired of making movies where all I did was walk across the screen and look pretty. 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. I tried to persuade the studio to give me something different. But every time I went into my argument about how bad a picture was they'd say, 'well, it's making a fortune.' That licked me."
She got the role after turning down "four pretty-pretty parts in a row." The film became a box office success, which prompted the studio to take more risks on the star. In August 1946, it was announced Turner was set to replace Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
in the big budgeted historical drama Green Dolphin Street
Green Dolphin Street
Green Dolphin Street is a 1947 historic drama film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.-Plot summary:In the 1840s, two sisters fall in love with the same man...
(1947), a role for which she darkened her hair and lost 15 pounds. She was cast due to the persistence of producer Carey Wilson, who was overwhelmed by her performance in The Postman Always Rings Twice. Turner later recalled she was surprised about replacing Hepburn, saying: "And I guess I'm about the most un-Hepburnish actress on the lot. But it was just what I wanted to do." It was her first starring role that did not center on her looks. In an interview, Turner said: "I even go running around in the jungles of New Zealand in a dress that's filthy and ragged. I don't wear any make-up and my hair's a mess." Nevertheless, she insisted she would not give up her glamorous image.]
Later that year, Turner headlined Cass Timberlane
Cass Timberlane
Cass Timberlane is a novel written by Sinclair Lewis, published in 1945. It is Sinclair Lewis' nineteenth novel and one of his last.It was made into a romantic drama film starring Spencer Tracy and Lana Turner, directed by George Sidney, and released in 1947.Timberlane is a minor character in...
, a role that Jennifer Jones
Jennifer Jones
Phylis Lee Isley , better known by her stage name Jennifer Jones, was an American actress. A five-time Academy Award nominee, Jones won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Song of Bernadette .-Early life:Jones was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the daughter of Flora Mae and...
, Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier was an English actress. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire , a role she also played on stage in London's West End, as well as for her portrayal of the southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, alongside Clark...
and Virginia Grey
Virginia Grey
Virginia Grey was an American actress.She was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of director Ray Grey. One of her early babysitters was movie star Gloria Swanson. Grey debuted at the age of ten in the silent film Uncle Tom's Cabin as Little Eva...
were previously considered for. As of early 1946, Turner was set for the role, but schedules with Green Dolphin Street almost prohibited her from taking the role, and by late 1946, she was almost recast. Production of Cass Timberlane was very exhausting for Turner, as it was shot in between retakes of Green Dolphin Street. Nevertheless, she took the female lead in Homecoming
Homecoming (1948 film)
Homecoming is a 1948 romantic drama starring Clark Gable and Lana Turner.-Plot:Ulysses Johnson is a surgeon coming back from World War II. As he is sitting on the transport boat taking him back to America, he is asked by a reporter about his experiences during the war. Johnson begins to tell him...
(1948) in August 1947, only moments after finishing Cass Timberlane. She was the studio's first choice for the role, but they were reluctant to offer her the part, considering her overbooked schedule. Paired again with Clark Gable in Homecoming, their chemistry projected on the screen was well received by the audience, and they were nicknamed "the team that generates steam". By this period, Turner achieved the milestone of her film career, and was not only MGM's most popular star, but also one of the ten best paid women in the United States.
In 1948, Turner appeared in her first Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
film, appearing as Lady de Winter in The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers (1948 film)
The Three Musketeers is a Technicolor adventure film adaptation of the classic novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père which starred Gene Kelly and Lana Turner...
, opposite Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...
, Van Heflin
Van Heflin
Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin, Jr. was an American film and theatre actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man...
and June Allyson
June Allyson
June Allyson was an American film and television actress, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was a major MGM contract star. Allyson won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance in Too Young to Kiss . From 1959–1961, she hosted and occasionally starred in her own CBS anthology...
. In November 1947, she agreed to do the film, thereby giving up an unfinished film project called Bedeviled. However, in January 1948 it was reported that she had withdrawn from the film. Initially, Louis B. Mayer gave her permission for doing so because of her schedule, but she was later that month put on suspension. Eventually, Turner agreed to make the film, but did not start production until March due to having to lose weight. In 1949, she was to headline A Life of Her Own
A Life of Her Own
A Life of Her Own is a 1950 American melodrama film directed by George Cukor. The screenplay by Isobel Lennart focuses on an aspiring model who leaves her small town in the Midwest to seek fame and fortune in New York City.-Plot:...
(1950). The project was shelved for several months, and Turner insisted in December 1949 that she had nothing to do with it, saying: "Everybody agrees that the script is still a pile of junk. I'm anxious to get started. By the time this one comes out, it will be almost three years since I was last on the screen, in The Three Musketeers. I don't think it's healthy to stay off the screen that long."
Mr. Imperium
Mr. Imperium is a 1951 romantic drama film made by MGM. It was directed by Don Hartman who co-wrote the screenplay with Edwin H. Knopf, based on a play by Edwin H. Knopf. The music score is by Bronisław Kaper....
(1951), was a flop, while The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow (1952 film)
The Merry Widow is a 1952 film adaptation of the operetta of the same name by Franz Lehár. It starred Lana Turner and Fernando Lamas.The film received two Academy Award nominations: for Best Art Direction - Set Decoration, Color and Best Costume Design, Color...
(1952) was more successful. She gave a widely praised performance in Vincente Minnelli
Vincente Minnelli
Vincente Minnelli was an American stage director and film director, famous for directing such classic movie musicals as Meet Me in St. Louis, The Band Wagon, and An American in Paris. In addition to having directed some of the most famous and well-remembered musicals of his time, Minnelli made...
's film, The Bad and the Beautiful
The Bad and the Beautiful
The Bad and the Beautiful is a 1952 MGM melodramatic film that tells the story of a film producer who alienates all around him. It was directed by Vincente Minelli and stars Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan, Gloria Grahame and Gilbert Roland. The film was...
(1952), and later starred with John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
in the adventure film The Sea Chase
The Sea Chase
The Sea Chase is a 1955 World War II drama film starring John Wayne and Lana Turner. It was directed by John Farrow and written by James Warner Bellah. The plot is basically a nautical cat and mouse game, with Wayne determined to get his German freighter home during the first few months of the war,...
(1955). She was then cast in the epic
Epic film
An epic is a genre of film that emphasizes human drama on a grand scale. Epics are more ambitious in scope than other film genres, and their ambitious nature helps to differentiate them from similar genres such as the period piece or adventure film...
The Prodigal
The Prodigal
The Prodigal is a 1955 Biblical epic film made by MGM. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Charles Schnee.The Maurice Zimm screenplay was adapted by Joseph Breen, Jr. and Samuel James Larsen from the New Testament story of the selfish son who leaves his family in search of riches...
(1955), but the film and her performance in general were not well received. After the film Diane
Diane (film)
Diane is a 1956 American historical film drama about the life of Diane de Poitiers, produced by MGM. It was directed by David Miller and produced by Edwin H. Knopf from a screenplay by Christopher Isherwood based on a story by John Erskine. The music score was composed by Miklós Rózsa, Robert H....
(1956), MGM opted not to renew her contract. This was a difficult time for Hollywood's major studios because a recent court decision forced them to divest themselves of their movie theaters. In addition, television had caught on in a big way; the public was staying home. Turner was just one of MGM's star roster to be let go.
Turner's career recovered briefly after she appeared in the hugely successful big-screen adaptation of Grace Metalious's best-selling novel, Peyton Place
Peyton Place (film)
Peyton Place is a 1957 American drama film directed by Mark Robson. The screenplay by John Michael Hayes is based on the bestselling 1956 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious.-Plot:...
(1957), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
. Another few box-office failures followed (Another Time, Another Place (1958), for example) when the 1958 scandal
Scandal
A scandal is a widely publicized allegation or set of allegations that damages the reputation of an institution, individual or creed...
surrounding her daughter's killing of Stompanato threatened to derail her career completely.
In the trail of the related negative publicity, Turner accepted the lead role in Ross Hunter
Ross Hunter
Ross Hunter was a Hollywood film producer.-Biography:Hunter was born in Cleveland, Ohio as Martin Fuss. After serving in Army intelligence during World War II, he signed a movie contract with Columbia Pictures and acted in a number of B-movie musicals...
's remake of Imitation of Life
Imitation of Life (1959 film)
Imitation of Life is a 1959 American film directed by Douglas Sirk, produced by Ross Hunter and released by Universal Pictures, starring Lana Turner and John Gavin and features Sandra Dee, Dan O'Herlihy, Susan Kohner, Robert Alda and Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson. Gospel music star Mahalia Jackson...
(1959) under the direction of Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk was a Danish-German film director best known for his work in Hollywood melodramas in the 1950s.-Life and work:...
. Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
capitalized on her new-found notoriety; the result was one of the biggest hits of the year, as well as the biggest hit of Turner's career: she owned 50% of the earnings of the picture and for only the first year of the film's career she earned $11 million. Critics and audiences couldn't help noticing that the plots of both Peyton Place and Imitation of Life had borrowed heavily from Turner's private life. Each film depicted the troubled, complicated relationship between a single mother and her teenage daughter.
She made her last film at MGM starring with Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
in Bachelor in Paradise
Bachelor in Paradise
Bachelor in Paradise is a 1961 Metrocolor romantic comedy film starring Bob Hope and Lana Turner. It was directed by Jack Arnold, and written by Valentine Davies and Hal Kanter, based on story by Vera Caspary....
(1961). Other highlights of this era include two Hunter productions (for whom she did Imitation of Life), Portrait in Black
Portrait in Black
Portrait in Black is a thriller released by Universal International. Produced by Ross Hunter, who also produced Airport and other films for Universal, the film starred Lana Turner and Anthony Quinn...
(1960) and Madame X
Madame X (1966 film)
Madame X is a 1966 drama film directed by David Lowell Rich and starring Lana Turner.-Plot:A lower class woman, Holly Parker , marries into the rich Anderson family. Her husband's mother looks down on her and keeps a watchful eye on her activities...
(1966), which proved to be her last major starring role.
Personal life
Turner was married eight times to seven different husbands:
- BandleaderBandleaderA bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
Artie ShawArtie ShawArthur Jacob Arshawsky , better known as Artie Shaw, was an American jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. He was also the author of both fiction and non-fiction writings....
(1940). Married only four months, Turner was 19 when she and Shaw eloped on their first date. The sudden marriage was highly publicized, and there was even talks of MGM releasing her from her contract. She later referred to their stormy and verbally abusive relationship as "my college education". - Actor and restaurateurRestaurateurA restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of the restaurant business.-Etymology:The word...
Joseph Stephen CraneJoseph Stephen CraneJoseph Stephen Crane was an American actor and restaurateur. A Columbia Pictures actor in the early 1940s, Crane opened the Luau, a popular celebrity restaurant, in 1953 and established a successful 25-year career in the restaurant industry...
(1942–1943, 1943–1944). 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. - MillionaireMillionaireA millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. It can also be a person who owns one million units of currency in a bank account or savings account...
socialiteSocialiteA socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
Henry J. Topping Jr. (1948–1952). A brother of Dan ToppingDan ToppingDaniel Reid Topping was a part owner and president of the New York Yankees baseball team from 1945 to 1964. Daniel Reid Topping was the son of Rhea Reid and Henry J. Topping. Rhea Reid, the daughter of Daniel G. Reid, known as the "Tinplate King" for his vast wealth in the tin industry, was the...
, owner of the New York YankeesNew York YankeesThe New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
, and a grandson of tin-plate magnate Daniel G. ReidDaniel G. ReidDaniel Gray Reid was an American industrialist and philanthropist known as the "Tinplate King".He was born in Richmond, Indiana, and in 1892 bought a nearby tin plate mill, with which he eventually combined every tin plate company in the country to form the American Tin Plate Company, with Reid as...
, "Bob" 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—the ceremony occurred three days after Topping was divorced from his third wife, actress Arline JudgeArline JudgeArline Judge was an American actress who worked mostly in low-budget B movies, but gained some fame for marrying and divorcing seven times.-Career:...
, who had been previously married to his brother Dan—Topping suffered heavy financial losses due to poor investments and excessive gambling. The couple's marriage resulted in a church trial for the officiant because the marriage took place less than a year after Topping's divorce from Judge. - Actor Lex BarkerLex BarkerLex Barker was an American actor best known for playing Tarzan of the Apes and leading characters from Karl May's novels.-Early life:...
(1953–1957), whom she divorced. In a book written by Cheryl Crane, Crane claimed that he repeatedly molested and raped her, and that it was after she told her mother this that they divorced. - Rancher Frederick "Fred" May (1960–1962), who was a member of the May department-store family.
- Robert P. Eaton (1965–1969);. A movie producer, he 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.
- NightclubNightclubA nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
hypnotist Ronald PellarRonald PellarRonald Pellar is an American hypnotist and fraudster who performed under the stage names Ronald Dante and Dr. Dante, and who was briefly married to actress Lana Turner...
, also known as Ronald Dante or Dr. Dante (1969–1972). The couple met in 1969 in a Los Angeles discotheque and married that same year. After about six months of marriage, Pellar disappeared a few days after Turner had written a $35,000 check to him to help him in an investment; he used the money for other purposes. In addition, she later accused him of stealing $100,000 worth of jewelry.
She later famously said, "My goal was to have one husband and seven children, but it turned out to be the other way around."
The Stompanato killing
Turner met Johnny StompanatoJohnny Stompanato
John "Johnny" Stompanato , also known as "Handsome Harry", "Johnny Stomp", "John Steele", and "Oscar", was a former United States Marine who became a bodyguard/enforcer for gangster Mickey Cohen...
during the spring of 1957, shortly after ending her marriage to Barker. At first, Turner fell for Stompanato's good looks and prowess as a lover, but after she discovered his ties to the Los Angeles underworld (in particular, his association with gangster Mickey Cohen
Mickey Cohen
Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen was a gangster based in Los Angeles and part of the Jewish Mafia, and also had strong ties to the American Mafia from the 1930s through 1960s.-Early life:...
), 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, they 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 (1958) costarring Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
. Afraid that Turner was having an affair with Connery, Stompanato stormed onto the set brandishing a gun. Connery punched Stompanato's jaw once and took away his gun. Stompanato was soon deported by Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
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 fourteen-year-old daughter, Cheryl, grabbed a kitchen knife and ran to Turner's defense. Many theories abound as to what happened afterward, but it appears the teenager 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.
Later life
In 1969, Turner appeared in her only lead starring role on television in ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Harold Robbins' The Survivors
Harold Robbins' The Survivors
The Survivors was a prime time soap opera aired by the ABC television network as part of its Fall 1969 lineup.This program is probably most noted now for having been the only appearance as a regular series character of major Hollywood actress Lana Turner, and also starred other "big names" such as...
, but despite the presence of other big-name stars, the program fared badly opposite Mayberry R.F.D.
Mayberry R.F.D.
Mayberry R.F.D. is a spin-off and direct continuation of The Andy Griffith Show under a new title, for the same sponsor, General Foods...
and The Doris Day Show
The Doris Day Show
The Doris Day Show is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 1968 until September 1973. In addition to showcasing Doris Day, the show is remembered for its many abrupt format changes over the course of its five-year run...
on CBS and The NBC Monday Movie
The NBC Monday Movie
The NBC Monday Movie was a television anthology series of films scheduled every Monday night from 1963 to 1999 on NBC. It was referred to as NBC Monday Night at the Movies prior to the mid-1980s...
, and was cancelled
Cancellation (television)
In television, cancellation refers to the termination of a program by a network, typically because of low viewership and/or unfavourable critical reviews. Another reason why television programs can be cancelled is to make room for new television programs...
midway into the season.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Turner appeared in several television roles, most notably as a guest star for several episodes on the series Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest is an American primetime television soap opera which aired on the CBS network for nine seasons, from December 4, 1981 to May 17, 1990. A total of 227 episodes were produced....
as Jaqueline Perrault, but the majority of her final decade was spent out of the public eye.
She died at the age of 74 in 1995 of complications from throat cancer
Esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes, primarily squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma . Squamous cell cancer arises from the cells that line the upper part of the esophagus...
, which was diagnosed in 1992 and which she had been battling ever since, at her home in Century City, Los Angeles, California
Century City, Los Angeles, California
Century City is a 176-acre commercial and residential district on the Westside of the city of Los Angeles. It is bounded by Westwood on the west, Rancho Park on the southwest, Cheviot Hills and Beverlywood on the southeast, and the city of Beverly Hills on the northeast...
. She was, until her death, a very heavy smoker.
Turner was survived by Cheryl Crane, her only child, and Crane's life partner
Life partner
A life partner is a romantic or otherwise very close friend for life. The partners can be of the same or opposite sexes, married or unmarried, and monogamous or polyamorous....
Joyce "Josh" LeRoy, whom she said she accepted "as a second daughter". They inherited some of Turner's personal effects and $50,000 in Turner's will (her estate was estimated in court documents at $1.7 million [$2.4 million in 2011 USD]) with the majority of her estate was left to Carmen Lopez Cruz, her maid and companion for 45 years and the caregiver for her final illness. Crane challenged the will and Lopez claimed the majority of the estate was consumed by probate costs, legal fees, and Turner's final illness.
For her contribution to the motion-picture industry, Turner has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 6241 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard
-Revitalization:In recent years successful efforts have been made at cleaning up Hollywood Blvd., as the street had gained a reputation for crime and seediness. Central to these efforts was the construction of the Hollywood and Highland shopping center and adjacent Kodak Theatre in 2001...
.
In 1983, Turner suffered a heart attack but recovered. In the mid-1990s, Turner spoke of her belief in God.
In literature
Turner is the subject of the poemPoetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
"Lana Turner has collapsed" by the poet Frank O'Hara
Frank O'Hara
Francis Russell "Frank" O'Hara was an American writer, poet and art critic. He was a member of the New York School of poetry.-Life:...
.
Turner and Stompanato appear as minor characters in James Ellroy's novel L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential is a 1997 American film based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same title, the third book in his L.A. Quartet. Both the book and the film tell the story of a group of LAPD officers in the 1950s, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity...
.
In music
Turner appears mentioned on the rap section of Madonna'sMadonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
"Vogue" next to stars from the Golden Age era of Hollywood like Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
or Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
and in Nina Simone's
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
"My Baby Just Cares for Me
My Baby Just Cares for Me
"My Baby Just Cares for Me" is a jazz standard written by Walter Donaldson with lyrics by Gus Kahn. It was written for the 1930 film version of the 1928 Ziegfeld musical comedy Whoopee!, starring Eddie Cantor. It is known as the signature tune of singer and pianist Nina Simone.-Nina Simone...
".
Filmography
| Title | Year | Role | Co-stars | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| They Won't Forget They Won't Forget They Won't Forget is a 1937 film directed by Mervyn LeRoy . It was based on a novel by Ward Greene called Death in The Deep South, which was in turn a fictionalized account of a real life case: the trial and subsequent lynching of Leo Frank after the murder of Mary Phagan in 1913... |
1937 | Mary Clay | Claude Rains Claude Rains Claude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 66 years. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them the title role in The Invisible Man , a corrupt senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Mr... , Gloria Dickson Gloria Dickson Gloria Dickson was an American stage and screen actress of the 1930s and 1940s.-Life and career:Born in Pocatello, Idaho, Dickson began acting during high school in amateur theatre productions. Encouraged by her acting coaches, she moonlighted doing dramatic readings at social clubs and on KFOX... |
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| Topper Topper (film) Topper is a 1937 American comedy film which tells the story of a stuffy, stuck-in-his-ways man who is haunted by the ghosts of a fun-loving married couple. It was adapted by Eric Hatch, Jack Jevne and Eddie Moran from the novel by Thorne Smith. The film was directed by Norman Z. McLeod, produced by... |
1937 | Uncredited | Constance Bennett Constance Bennett -Early life:She was born in New York City, the daughter of actor Richard Bennett and actress Adrienne Morrison, whose father was the stage actor Lewis Morrison , a wealthy performer of English and Spanish ancestry... , Cary Grant Cary Grant Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship... , Roland Young Roland Young Roland Young was an English actor.-Early life and career:Born in London, England, Young was educated at Sherborne School, Dorset and the University of London before being accepted into Royal Academy of Dramatic Art... , Billie Burke Billie Burke Mary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke was an American actress. She is primarily known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the musical film The Wizard of Oz. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live... |
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| 1937 | Mademoiselle Auber | Brian Aherne Brian Aherne Brian Aherne was a British actor of both stage and screen, who found success in Hollywood.-Early life and stage career:... , Olivia de Havilland Olivia de Havilland Olivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland... |
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| 1938 | Nazama'a Maid | Gary Cooper Gary Cooper Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made... , Sigrid Gurie Sigrid Gurie Sigrid Gurie was a Norwegian American motion picture actress from the late 1930s to early 1940s.- Early life :... , Basil Rathbone Basil Rathbone Sir Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt was an English actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films... |
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| Love Finds Andy Hardy Love Finds Andy Hardy Love Finds Andy Hardy is a 1938 romantic comedy film which tells the story of a teenage boy who becomes entangled with three different girls all at the same time. It stars Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, Fay Holden, Cecilia Parker, Judy Garland, Lana Turner, Ann Rutherford, Mary Howard and Gene... |
1938 | Cynthia Potter | Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award... , Judy Garland Judy Garland Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage... |
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| 1938 | Miss Rutherford (scenes deleted) | Dennis O'Keefe Dennis O'Keefe Dennis O'Keefe was an American actor. Born as Edward Vance Flanagan he was the son of Irish vaudevillians working in the United States... , Ann Morriss, Lewis Stone Lewis Stone Lewis Shepard Stone was an American actor.Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, son of Bertrand Stone and Philena Heald Ball. Stone's hair grew gray by the time he was twenty. He fought in the Spanish-American War, then returned to a career as a writer. He soon began acting... |
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| Four's a Crowd Four's a Crowd Four's a Crowd is a romantic comedy directed by Michael Curtiz and released by Warner Brothers.-Cast:* Errol Flynn .... Robert Kensington 'Bob' Lansford* Olivia de Havilland.... Lorri Dillingwell* Rosalind Russell .... Jean Christy... |
1938 | Passerby (uncredited) | Errol Flynn Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:... , Olivia de Havilland Olivia de Havilland Olivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland... , Rosalind Russell Rosalind Russell Rosalind Russell was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Mame Dennis in the film Auntie Mame... , Patric Knowles Patric Knowles Reginald Lawrence Knowles was an English film actor who renamed himself Patric Knowles, a name which reflects his Irish descent. He appeared in films of the 1930s through the 1970s... |
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| Rich Man, Poor Girl | 1938 | Helen Thayer | Robert Young Robert Young (actor) Robert George Young was an American television, film, and radio actor, best known for his leading roles as Jim Anderson, the father of Father Knows Best and as physician Marcus Welby in Marcus Welby, M.D. .-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Young was the son of an Irish immigrant father... , Lew Ayres Lew Ayres Lew Ayres was an American actor, best known for starring as Paul in All Quiet on the Western Front and for playing Dr... , Ruth Hussey Ruth Hussey Ruth Carol Hussey was an American actress best known for her Academy Award-nominated role as photographer Elizabeth Imbrie in The Philadelphia Story.-Early life:... |
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| Dramatic School | 1938 | Mado | Luise Rainer Luise Rainer Luise Rainer is a former German film actress. Known as The "Viennese Teardrop", she was the first woman to win two Academy Awards, and the first person to win them consecutively. She was discovered by MGM talent scouts while acting on stage in Austria and Germany and after appearing in Austrian... , Paulette Goddard Paulette Goddard Paulette Goddard was an American film and theatre actress. A former child fashion model and in several Broadway productions as Ziegfeld Girl, she was a major star of the Paramount Studio in the 1940s. She was married to several notable men, including Charlie Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich... |
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| Calling Dr. Kildare | 1939 | Rosalie Lewett | Lew Ayres Lew Ayres Lew Ayres was an American actor, best known for starring as Paul in All Quiet on the Western Front and for playing Dr... , Lionel Barrymore Lionel Barrymore Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul... , Laraine Day Laraine Day Laraine Day was an American actress and a former MGM contract star.-Career:Born La Raine Johnson in Roosevelt, Utah, to an affluent Mormon family, she later moved to California where she began her acting career with the Long Beach Players... |
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| These Glamour Girls These Glamour Girls These Glamour Girls is a 1939 comedy-drama film directed by S. Sylvan Simon. It stars Lana Turner and Ann Ruthford.-Plot summary:A drunken college student invites a dance hostess to the big college dance and then forgets he asked her. When she shows up at school, he tries to get rid of her, but she... |
1939 | Jane Thomas | Lew Ayres Lew Ayres Lew Ayres was an American actor, best known for starring as Paul in All Quiet on the Western Front and for playing Dr... |
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| Dancing Co-Ed Dancing Co-Ed Dancing Co-ed is a 1939 romantic comedy film starring Lana Turner, Richard Carlson, and Artie Shaw as himself.-Plot:When a dancer's partner becomes pregnant, a nation-wide search is instituted to find a replacement from among college women... |
1939 | Patty Marlow | Richard Carlson Richard Carlson Richard Carlson was an American actor, television and film director, and screenwriter.-Career:Born in Albert Lea, Minnesota, Carlson graduated from the University of Minnesota with an M.A. degree, Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa. He later appeared on the Broadway stage in the 1930s after studying... , Artie Shaw Artie Shaw Arthur Jacob Arshawsky , better known as Artie Shaw, was an American jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. He was also the author of both fiction and non-fiction writings.... |
Turner met her future husband Artie Shaw on this film and they married soon after |
| Two Girls on Broadway Two Girls on Broadway Two Girls on Broadway is a 1940 musical film directed by S. Sylvan Simon, and starring Lana Turner and Joan Blondell. The film is a remake of The Broadway Melody .-Plot:... |
1940 | Patricia 'Pat' Mahoney | Joan Blondell Joan Blondell Rose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career... , George Murphy George Murphy George Lloyd Murphy was an American dancer, actor, and politician.-Life and career:He was born in New Haven, Connecticut of Irish Catholic extraction, the son of Michael Charles "Mike" Murphy, athletic trainer and coach, and Nora Long. He was educated at Peddie School, Trinity-Pawling School, and... |
Remake of the 1929 hit film The Broadway Melody |
| We Who Are Young | 1940 | Marjorie White Brooks | John Shelton | |
| Ziegfeld Girl Ziegfeld Girl (film) Ziegfeld Girl is a 1941 American film starring James Stewart, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, and Lana Turner, and co-starring Tony Martin, Jackie Cooper, Eve Arden, and Philip Dorn. Released by MGM, it was directed by Robert Z... |
1941 | Sheila Regan | James Stewart James Stewart (actor) James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime... , Judy Garland Judy Garland Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage... , Hedy Lamarr Hedy Lamarr Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-American actress celebrated for her great beauty who was a major contract star of MGM's "Golden Age".Lamarr also co-invented – with composer George Antheil – an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping, necessary to wireless... |
Turner's breakthrough role |
| Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941 film) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1941 horror film starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner. Rather than being a new film version of the novel, it is a direct remake of the 1931 film of the same name, which differs greatly from the novel. The movie was based on Robert Louis Stevenson's... |
1941 | Bea Emery | Spencer Tracy Spencer Tracy Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951... , Ingrid Bergman Ingrid Bergman Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute... |
Turner was originally to play Ivy Pearson the prostitute, with Bergman playing Bea. However the roles were switched. |
| Honky Tonk Honky Tonk (1941 film) Honky Tonk is a 1941 black-and-white western film starring Clark Gable and Lana Turner.-Plot:Con man "Candy" Johnson and his friend "Sniper" flee town using quick wits and magic tricks. They catch a train to Yellow Creek, Nevada, where a gold rush is in progress. Aboard, he meets Elizabeth Cotton... |
1941 | Elizabeth Cotton | Clark Gable Clark Gable William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh... , Claire Trevor Claire Trevor Claire Trevor was an Academy Award-winning American actress. She was nicknamed the "Queen of Film Noir" because of her many appearances in "bad girl” roles in film noir and other black-and-white thrillers... |
Turner's first of four films with Clark Gable |
| Johnny Eager Johnny Eager Johnny Eager is a 1941 film noir starring Robert Taylor and Lana Turner. Van Heflin won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.The film is featured in the comedy spoof Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid .-Plot:... |
1942 | Lisbeth Bard | Robert Taylor Robert Taylor (actor) Robert Taylor was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Spangler Arlington Brugh in Filley, Nebraska, he was the son of Ruth Adaline and Spangler Andrew Brugh, who was a farmer turned doctor... , Van Heflin Van Heflin Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin, Jr. was an American film and theatre actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man... |
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| Somewhere I'll Find You Somewhere I'll Find You Somewhere I'll Find You is a film released by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer in 1942. The film stars Clark Gable and Lana Turner. The film took almost two years to complete. This was the last film Gable starred in before he enlisted in World War II... |
1942 | Paula Lane | Clark Gable Clark Gable William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh... , Robert Sterling Robert Sterling Robert Sterling, born William Sterling Hart was an American film and television actor.-Early life:... |
Second film starring Turner and Gable |
| 1943 | Herself (guest star) | Virginia Weidler Virginia Weidler Virginia Weidler was an American child actress, popular in Hollywood films during the 1930s and 1940s.-Early life and career:... , John Carroll John Carroll -People:*John Carroll , American actor*John Carroll , Australian neoconservative writer*Sir John Carroll , British scientist*John Carroll -People:*John Carroll (actor) (1906–1979), American actor*John Carroll (author) (born 1944), Australian neoconservative writer*Sir John Carroll (astronomer)... |
Cameo role | |
| Slightly Dangerous Slightly Dangerous Slightly Dangerous is a 1943 American romantic comedy film starring Lana Turner and Robert Young. A bored young woman in a dead-end job runs away to New York City and ends up impersonating the long-lost daughter of a millionaire. The film was directed by Wesley Ruggles and written by Charles... |
1943 | Peggy Evans/Carol Burden | Robert Young Robert Young (actor) Robert George Young was an American television, film, and radio actor, best known for his leading roles as Jim Anderson, the father of Father Knows Best and as physician Marcus Welby in Marcus Welby, M.D. .-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Young was the son of an Irish immigrant father... , Walter Brennan Walter Brennan Walter Brennan was an American actor. Brennan won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor on three separate occasions, which is currently the record for most wins.-Early life:... |
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| Du Barry Was a Lady | 1943 | Cameo | Red Skelton Red Skelton Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton was an American comedian who is best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while pursuing... , Lucille Ball Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy... , Gene Kelly Gene Kelly Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer... |
Uncredited guest star |
| Marriage Is a Private Affair | 1944 | Theo Scofield West | John Hodiak John Hodiak John Hodiak was an American actor who worked in radio and film.-Early life:He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Walter Hodiak and Anna Pogorzelec . He was of Ukrainian and Polish descent... , James Craig James Craig (actor) James Craig was an American actor.After graduating from the Rice Institute, Craig began appearing in films in 1937, most often in B-movies and serials... |
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| Keep Your Powder Dry Keep Your Powder Dry Keep Your Powder Dry is a 1945 drama film starring Lana Turner, Susan Peters, and Laraine Day. The film was directed by Edward Buzzell and written by George Bruce and Mary C... |
1945 | Valerie 'Val' Parks | Laraine Day Laraine Day Laraine Day was an American actress and a former MGM contract star.-Career:Born La Raine Johnson in Roosevelt, Utah, to an affluent Mormon family, she later moved to California where she began her acting career with the Long Beach Players... , Susan Peters Susan Peters Susan Peters was an American stage, film and television actress.-Early life:Peters was born Suzanne Carnahan in Spokane, Washington. First contracted by Warner Brothers, she subsequently began working for MGM Studios after completing high school. Her first job was to read with potential actors in... |
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| Week-End at the Waldorf Week-End at the Waldorf Week-End at the Waldorf is a 1945 American comedy drama film directed by Robert Z. Leonard. The screenplay by Samuel and Bella Spewack is based on Guy Bolton's adaptation of the Vicki Baum novel Menschen im Hotel, which was filmed as Grand Hotel in 1932.-Plot:The film focuses on various guests... |
1945 | Bunny Smith | Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century.... , Walter Pidgeon Walter Pidgeon Walter Davis Pidgeon was a Canadian actor, who starred in many motion pictures, including Mrs... , Van Johnson Van Johnson Van Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during and after World War II.... |
Remake of the 1932 film Grand Hotel. Turner played the role similar to Joan Crawford's in that film |
| 1946 | Cora Smith | John Garfield John Garfield John Garfield was an American actor adept at playing brooding, rebellious, working-class character roles. He grew up in poverty in Depression-era New York City and in the early 1930s became an important member of the Group Theater. In 1937 he moved to Hollywood, eventually becoming one of Warner... |
Considered to be Turner's greatest performance and her signature film. Turner herself regarded this as one of her personal favorites | |
| Green Dolphin Street Green Dolphin Street Green Dolphin Street is a 1947 historic drama film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.-Plot summary:In the 1840s, two sisters fall in love with the same man... |
1947 | Marianne Patourel | Van Heflin Van Heflin Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin, Jr. was an American film and theatre actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man... , Donna Reed Donna Reed Donna Reed was an American film and television actress.With appearances in over 40 films, Reed received the 1953 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the tramp Lorene in the war drama From Here to Eternity. She is also noted for her role in the perennial Christmas... , Richard Hart Richard Hart (actor) Richard Comstock Hart was an American actor. Hart appeared in film and on TV, but his chief love was the stage.... |
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| Cass Timberlane Cass Timberlane Cass Timberlane is a novel written by Sinclair Lewis, published in 1945. It is Sinclair Lewis' nineteenth novel and one of his last.It was made into a romantic drama film starring Spencer Tracy and Lana Turner, directed by George Sidney, and released in 1947.Timberlane is a minor character in... |
1947 | Virginia Marshland | Spencer Tracy Spencer Tracy Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951... |
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| Homecoming Homecoming (1948 film) Homecoming is a 1948 romantic drama starring Clark Gable and Lana Turner.-Plot:Ulysses Johnson is a surgeon coming back from World War II. As he is sitting on the transport boat taking him back to America, he is asked by a reporter about his experiences during the war. Johnson begins to tell him... |
1948 | Jane 'Snapshot' McCall | Clark Gable Clark Gable William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh... , Anne Baxter Anne Baxter Anne Baxter was an American actress known for her performances in films such as The Magnificent Ambersons , The Razor's Edge , All About Eve and The Ten Commandments .-Early life:... , John Hodiak John Hodiak John Hodiak was an American actor who worked in radio and film.-Early life:He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Walter Hodiak and Anna Pogorzelec . He was of Ukrainian and Polish descent... |
Third film starring Turner and Gable |
| 1948 | Milady de Winter | Gene Kelly Gene Kelly Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer... , Vincent Price Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St... , June Allyson June Allyson June Allyson was an American film and television actress, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was a major MGM contract star. Allyson won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance in Too Young to Kiss . From 1959–1961, she hosted and occasionally starred in her own CBS anthology... , Van Heflin Van Heflin Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin, Jr. was an American film and theatre actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man... , Angela Lansbury Angela Lansbury Angela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins... |
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| 1950 | Lily Brannel James | Ray Milland Ray Milland Ray Milland was a Welsh actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend , a sophisticated leading man opposite a corrupt John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind , the murder-plotting... , Louis Calhern Louis Calhern Louis Calhern was an American stage and screen actor.- Early life :Louis Calhern was born Carl Henry Vogt on February 19, 1895 in Brooklyn, New York. His family left New York City while he was still a child and moved to St. Louis, Missouri where he grew up... , Ann Dvorak Ann Dvorak Ann Dvorak was an American film actress.Asked how to pronounce her adopted surname, she told The Literary Digest: "My name is properly pronounced vor'shack. The D remains silent... |
The only film Turner made with George Cukor as director | |
| Mr. Imperium Mr. Imperium Mr. Imperium is a 1951 romantic drama film made by MGM. It was directed by Don Hartman who co-wrote the screenplay with Edwin H. Knopf, based on a play by Edwin H. Knopf. The music score is by Bronisław Kaper.... |
1951 | Fredda Barlo | Ezio Pinza Ezio Pinza Ezio Pinza was an Italian basso opera singer with a rich, smooth and sonorous voice. He spent 22 seasons at New York's Metropolitan Opera, appearing in more than 750 performances of 50 operas... |
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| 1952 | Crystal Radek | Fernando Lamas Fernando Lamas Fernando Álvaro Lamas was an Argentine-born actor and director, and the father of actor Lorenzo Lamas.-Early life and career:... |
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| 1952 | Georgia Lorrison | Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K... , Walter Pidgeon Walter Pidgeon Walter Davis Pidgeon was a Canadian actor, who starred in many motion pictures, including Mrs... , Dick Powell Dick Powell Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.Despite the same last name he was not related to William Powell, Eleanor Powell or Jane Powell.-Biography:... , Gloria Grahame Gloria Grahame Gloria Grahame was an American Academy Award–winning actress.Grahame began her acting career in theatre, and in 1944 she made her first film for MGM. Despite a featured role in It's a Wonderful Life , MGM did not believe she had the potential for major success, and sold her contract to RKO Studios... |
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| Latin Lovers Latin Lovers (1953 film) Latin Lovers is a Technicolor 1953 romantic musical comedy film made by MGM. It was directed by Mervyn LeRoy, and written by Isobel Lennart... |
1953 | Nora Taylor | Ricardo Montalbán Ricardo Montalbán Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles... |
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| Flame and the Flesh Flame and the Flesh Flame and the Flesh is a 1954 drama film made by MGM. It was directed by Richard Brooks and produced by Joe Pasternak from a screenplay by Helen Deutsch based on the novel by Auguste Bailly... |
1954 | Madeline | Pier Angeli Pier Angeli Pier Angeli was an Italian-born television and film actress. Her American cinematographic debut was in the starring role of the 1951 film Teresa, in which she won a Golden Globe Award... , Carlos Thompson Carlos Thompson Juan Carlos Mundin-Schaffter, known as Carlos Thompson, was an Argentinian actor.- Career :Of German Swiss parentage, he played leading roles on stage and in films in Argentina. He went to Hollywood in the 1950s and was typically cast as a European womanizer... |
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| Betrayed Betrayed (1954 film) Betrayed is a 1954 war drama film made by MGM. It was directed by Gottfried Reinhardt, from a screenplay by Ronald Millar and George Froeschel. The music score was by Walter Goehr and Bronislau Kaper, the cinematography by Freddie Young.... |
1954 | Carla Van Oven | Clark Gable Clark Gable William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh... , Victor Mature Victor Mature Victor John Mature was an American stage, film and television actor.-Early life:Mature was born in Louisville, Kentucky to an Italian-speaking father from the town Pinzolo, in the Italian part of the former County of Tyrol , Marcello Gelindo Maturi, later Marcellus George Mature, a cutler,... |
Fourth and final film starring Turner and Gable |
| 1955 | Samarra | Edmund Purdom Edmund Purdom Edmund Anthony Cutlar Purdom was a British actor.-Early life:Purdom was born in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England and educated at St. Augustine's Abbey School, Ramsgate, then by the Jesuits at St. Ignatius Grammar School and Welwyn Garden City Grammar School... , Louis Calhern Louis Calhern Louis Calhern was an American stage and screen actor.- Early life :Louis Calhern was born Carl Henry Vogt on February 19, 1895 in Brooklyn, New York. His family left New York City while he was still a child and moved to St. Louis, Missouri where he grew up... |
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| 1955 | Elsa Keller | John Wayne John Wayne Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height... |
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| 1955 | Lady Edwina Esketh | Richard Burton Richard Burton Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid... , Fred MacMurray Fred MacMurray Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s.... |
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| Diane Diane (film) Diane is a 1956 American historical film drama about the life of Diane de Poitiers, produced by MGM. It was directed by David Miller and produced by Edwin H. Knopf from a screenplay by Christopher Isherwood based on a story by John Erskine. The music score was composed by Miklós Rózsa, Robert H.... |
1956 | Diane de Poitiers Diane de Poitiers Diane de Poitiers was a French noblewoman and a prominent courtier at the courts of kings Francis I and his son, Henry II of France. She became notorious as the latter's favourite mistress... |
Roger Moore Roger Moore Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London... , Marisa Pavan Marisa Pavan Marisa Pavan is an Italian-born actress who first became famous as the twin sister to movie star Pier Angeli before achieving movie stardom on her own... , Pedro Armendáriz Pedro Armendáriz Pedro Armendáriz was a Mexican actor of the cinema of Mexico and Hollywood.-Early life:Born Pedro Gregorio Armendáriz Hastings in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico to Pedro Armendáriz García-Conde and Adela Hastings . He was also the cousin of actress Gloria Marín... |
Turner's last film under her 18 year contract with MGM. |
| Peyton Place Peyton Place (film) Peyton Place is a 1957 American drama film directed by Mark Robson. The screenplay by John Michael Hayes is based on the bestselling 1956 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious.-Plot:... |
1957 | Constance MacKenzie Constance MacKenzie Constance MacKenzie is a fictional character in the 1956 novel Peyton Place by Grace Metalious. In the subsequent film adaptation, she was played by Lana Turner; in the sequel Return to Peyton Place, by Eleanor Parker; in the primetime television series, by Dorothy Malone ; and in daytime soap... |
Lee Philips Lee Philips Lee Philips was an actor and director.Philips' acting career started on Broadway, and peaked with a starring role as Michael Rossi in the film adaptation of Peyton Place opposite Lana Turner.... , Hope Lange Hope Lange Hope Elise Ross Lange was an American stage, film, and television actress.- Early life :Lange was born into a theatrical family in Redding, Connecticut... , Diane Varsi Diane Varsi Diane Marie Antonia Varsi was an American film actress best known for her performances in Peyton Place – her film debut, and for which she was nominated for an Academy Award – and the cult film Wild in the Streets... , Russ Tamblyn Russ Tamblyn Russell Irving "Russ" Tamblyn is an American film and television actor, who is arguably best known for his performance in the 1961 movie musical West Side Story as Riff, the leader of the Jets gang.... , Arthur Kennedy Arthur Kennedy (actor) Arthur Kennedy was an American stage and film actor known for his versatility in supporting film roles and his ability to create "an exceptional honesty and naturalness on stage" especially in the original casts of Arthur Miller plays on Broadway.- Early life and education :Kennedy was born John... |
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress Academy Award for Best Actress Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry... |
| 1958 | Maggie Colby | Jeff Chandler Jeff Chandler (actor) Jeff Chandler was an American film actor and singer in the 1950s.-Early life:Chandler was born Ira Grossel to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, the only child of Anna and Phillip Grossel. He attended Erasmus Hall High School, the alma mater of many stage and film personalities... |
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| Another Time, Another Place | 1958 | Sara Scott | Sean Connery Sean Connery Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy... , Barry Sullivan Barry Sullivan (actor) Barry Sullivan was an American movie actor who appeared in over 100 movies from the 1930s to the 1980s.Born in New York City, Sullivan fell into acting when in college playing semi-pro football... |
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| Imitation of Life Imitation of Life (1959 film) Imitation of Life is a 1959 American film directed by Douglas Sirk, produced by Ross Hunter and released by Universal Pictures, starring Lana Turner and John Gavin and features Sandra Dee, Dan O'Herlihy, Susan Kohner, Robert Alda and Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson. Gospel music star Mahalia Jackson... |
1959 | Lora Meredith | John Gavin John Gavin John Gavin is an American film actor and a former United States Ambassador to Mexico. Gavin is half Mexican and fluent in Spanish.... , Sandra Dee Sandra Dee Sandra Dee was an American actress. Dee began her career as a model and progressed to film. Best known for her portrayal of ingenues, Dee won a Golden Globe Award in 1959 as one of the year's most promising newcomers, and over several years her films were popular... , Juanita Moore Juanita Moore Juanita Moore is an American film and television actress. She is the fifth African American to be nominated for an Academy Award in any category, and the third in the Supporting Actress category.-Career:... , Susan Kohner Susan Kohner Susan Kohner is an American actress.-Early life and career:Born as Susanna Kohner in Los Angeles, Kohner is the daughter of Mexican actress Lupita Tovar and Jewish film producer Paul Kohner who was born in Bohemia part of Austria-Hungary... |
Turner's most successful film. The last film directed by Douglas Sirk |
| Portrait in Black Portrait in Black Portrait in Black is a thriller released by Universal International. Produced by Ross Hunter, who also produced Airport and other films for Universal, the film starred Lana Turner and Anthony Quinn... |
1960 | Sheila Cabot | Anthony Quinn Anthony Quinn Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer... , Richard Basehart Richard Basehart John Richard Basehart was an American actor. He starred in the 1960s television science fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in the role of Admiral Harriman Nelson.-Career:... , Sandra Dee Sandra Dee Sandra Dee was an American actress. Dee began her career as a model and progressed to film. Best known for her portrayal of ingenues, Dee won a Golden Globe Award in 1959 as one of the year's most promising newcomers, and over several years her films were popular... , John Saxon John Saxon (actor) John Saxon is an American actor who has worked on over 200 projects during the span of sixty years. Saxon is most known for his work in horror films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Black Christmas, both of which feature Saxon as a policeman in search of the killer... , Virginia Grey Virginia Grey Virginia Grey was an American actress.She was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of director Ray Grey. One of her early babysitters was movie star Gloria Swanson. Grey debuted at the age of ten in the silent film Uncle Tom's Cabin as Little Eva... , Ray Walston Ray Walston Ray Walston was an American stage, television and film actor best known as the title character on the 1960s situation comedy My Favorite Martian. In addition, he is also remembered for his roles as Luther Billis in South Pacific , Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees , J.J... , Anna May Wong Anna May Wong Anna May Wong was an American actress, the first Chinese American movie star, and the first Asian American to become an international star... |
Directed by Michael Gordon |
| By Love Possessed By Love Possessed (film) By Love Possessed is a 1961 drama film distributed by United Artists. The movie was directed by John Sturges, and written by Charles Schnee, based on the novel by James Gould Cozzens... |
1961 | Marjorie Penrose | Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Jason Robards Jason Robards Jason Nelson Robards, Jr. was an American actor on stage, and in film and television, and a winner of the Tony Award , two Academy Awards and the Emmy Award... |
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| Bachelor in Paradise Bachelor in Paradise Bachelor in Paradise is a 1961 Metrocolor romantic comedy film starring Bob Hope and Lana Turner. It was directed by Jack Arnold, and written by Valentine Davies and Hal Kanter, based on story by Vera Caspary.... |
1961 | Rosemary Howard | Bob Hope Bob Hope Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel... , Janis Paige Janis Paige Janis Paige is an American film, musical theatre and television actress. Born Donna Mae Tjaden in Tacoma, Washington, she began singing in public from the age of five in local amateur shows... , Paula Prentiss Paula Prentiss Paula Ragusa , better known by her stage name Paula Prentiss, is an American actress well-known for her film roles in Where the Boys Are, Man's Favorite Sport?, The Stepford Wives, What's New Pussycat?, The Black Marble, and The Parallax View and her co-starring role in the television situation... , Jim Hutton Jim Hutton Dana James Hutton , usually credited as Jim Hutton, was an American actor in film and television probably best remembered for his role as Ellery Queen in the 1970s TV series of the same name.-Early life and career:... , Virginia Grey Virginia Grey Virginia Grey was an American actress.She was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of director Ray Grey. One of her early babysitters was movie star Gloria Swanson. Grey debuted at the age of ten in the silent film Uncle Tom's Cabin as Little Eva... , Agnes Moorehead Agnes Moorehead Agnes Robertson Moorehead was an American actress. Although she began with the Mercury Theatre, appeared in more than seventy films beginning with Citizen Kane and on dozens of television shows during a career that spanned more than thirty years, Moorehead is most widely known to modern audiences... |
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| Who's Got the Action? Who's Got the Action? Who's Got the Action? is a comedy film about a man suffering from an addiction to gambling starring Dean Martin, Lana Turner, Eddie Albert, and Walter Matthau... |
1962 | Melanie Flood | Dean Martin Dean Martin Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"... |
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| Love Has Many Faces Love Has Many Faces Love Has Many Faces is a 1965 drama film made by Columbia Pictures. The movie was directed by Alexander Singer, and written by Marguerite Roberts. Nancy Wilson sings the title song whilst Edith Head designed Lana Turner's clothes.-Plot:... |
1965 | Kit Jordan | Cliff Robertson Cliff Robertson Clifford Parker "Cliff" Robertson III was an American actor with a film and television career that spanned half of a century. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film PT 109, and won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie Charly... , Ruth Roman Ruth Roman Ruth Roman was an American actress. One of her most memorable roles was in the Alfred Hitchcock 1951 thriller Strangers on a Train.... |
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| Madame X Madame X (1966 film) Madame X is a 1966 drama film directed by David Lowell Rich and starring Lana Turner.-Plot:A lower class woman, Holly Parker , marries into the rich Anderson family. Her husband's mother looks down on her and keeps a watchful eye on her activities... |
1966 | Holly Parker | John Forsythe John Forsythe John Forsythe was an American stage, television and film actor. Forsythe starred in three television series, spanning four decades and three genres: as single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the sitcom Bachelor Father ; as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the crime drama Charlie's... , Constance Bennett Constance Bennett -Early life:She was born in New York City, the daughter of actor Richard Bennett and actress Adrienne Morrison, whose father was the stage actor Lewis Morrison , a wealthy performer of English and Spanish ancestry... , Burgess Meredith Burgess Meredith Oliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director... , Ricardo Montalbán Ricardo Montalbán Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles... |
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| 1969 | Adriana Roman | George Chakiris George Chakiris George Chakiris is an American-Greek dancer, singer and actor.-Early life:Chakiris was born in Norwood, Ohio, to Steven and Zoe Chakiris, immigrants from Greece. Chakiris studied at the American School of Dance.... , Karin Mossberg, Richard Egan Richard Egan (actor) Richard Egan was an American actor. In some films he is credited as Richard Eagan.-Career:Born in San Francisco, California, Egan served in the United States Army as a judo instructor during World War II... |
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| Persecution Persecution (film) Persecution is a 1974 British thriller film directed by Don Chaffey. The dialogue was written by Frederick Warner, based on story & screenplay by Robert Hutton and Rosemary Wootten... |
1974 | Carrie Masters | Trevor Howard Trevor Howard Trevor Howard , born Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith, was an English film, stage and television actor.-Early life:... |
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| Bittersweet Love Bittersweet Love Bittersweet Love is a 1976 drama film directed by David Miller, and written by D.A. Kellogg and Adrian Morrall.-Cast:*Lana Turner as Claire*Robert Lansing as Howard*Celeste Holm as Marian*Robert Alda as Ben*Scott Hylands as Michael... |
1976 | Claire | Robert Lansing Robert Lansing Robert Lansing served in the position of Legal Advisor to the State Department at the outbreak of World War I where he vigorously advocated against Britain's policy of blockade and in favor of the principles of freedom of the seas and the rights of neutral nations... , Celeste Holm Celeste Holm Celeste Holm is an American stage, film, and television actress, known for her Academy Award-winning performance in Gentleman's Agreement , as well as for her Oscar-nominated performances in Come to the Stable and All About Eve... |
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| Witches' Brew Witches' Brew (film) Witches' Brew is a 1980 horror comedy film directed by Herbert L. Strock and Richard Shorr who co-wrote screenplay with Syd Dutton. It was based on Fritz Leiber Jr.'s novel Conjure Wife... |
1980 | Vivian Cross | Teri Garr Teri Garr -Early life:Garr was born in Lakewood, Ohio in 1947. Her father, Eddie Garr , was a vaudeville performer, comedian and actor whose career peaked when he briefly took over the lead role in the Broadway drama Tobacco Road... , Richard Benjamin Richard Benjamin Richard Benjamin is an American actor and film director. He has starred in a number of productions, including Goodbye, Columbus , based on the novella by Philip Roth, and Westworld .-Life and career:... |
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| Thwarted | 1991 | Margo Lane | William Hauckes, Victor Helou | Turner's last film appearance |
Further reading
- Crane, Cheryl; with Jahr, Cliff (1988). Detour: A Hollywood Story. Arbor House/William Morrow, New York. ISBN 0-87795-938-2.
- Crane, Cheryl; with Cindy De La Hoz (2008). "LANA: The Memories, the Myths, the Movies". Running Press, Philadelphia. ISBN 978-0-7624-3316-2.
- Lewis, Brad (2007). Hollywood's Celebrity Gangster. The Incredible Life and Times of Mickey Cohen Enigma Books, New York. ISBN 978-1-929631-65-0.
- Bernier, Michelle (2010). "Did these stories really happen?". Createspace.
- Turner, Lana (1982) "Lana: The Lady, the Legend, the Truth". Dutton, New York. ISBN 0-671-46986-X
- Basinger, Jeanine (1976) "Lana Turner, A Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies". Pyramid Books, New York.