Lana Turner's most memorable film is 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' (1946) , which marked the first time she was cast as a femme fatale, opposite John Garfield. Lana Turner denied any romantic involvement with Clark Gable, but that did not stop her from making several more movies with him after Lombard's death. [14][15] She was the only child of John Virgil Turner, a miner from Montgomery, Alabama, of Dutch descent, and Mildred Frances Cowan from Lamar, Arkansas, who had English, Scottish and Irish ancestry. Article. October 1968 203. The 1958 stabbing death of Johnny Stompanato, a reputed mobster, was definitely a homicide, but what may never be known is whether it was committed by film star, Lana Turner, who had been his girlfriend, or Turner's 14-year-old daughter, Cheryl Crane. Humor has been the balm of my life, but it's been reserved for those closest to me. [251], In late 1968, she began filming the low-budget thriller The Big Cube, in which she portrayed a glamorous heiress being dosed with LSD by her stepdaughter in hopes of driving her insane and receiving the family estate. [7] Shortly after completing They Won't Forget, she made an appearance in James Whale's historical comedy The Great Garrick (1937), a biographical film about British actor David Garrick, in which she had a small role portraying an actress posing as a chambermaid. [157] The Bad and the Beautiful was both a critical and commercial success, and earned her favorable reviews. "[69] By the mid-1940s, Turner had been married and divorced three times, had given birth to her daughter Cheryl and had numerous publicized affairs. Date of death. [222] When she returned to the set, "her face was so swollen, she couldn't work", Moore said. Lana Turner (1921 - 1995) They Won't Forget (1937) [Mary Clay]: Beaten to death (off-screen) by an unknown assailant in the school building; her body is shown afterwards (barely visible in the darkness) when the police investigate in the basement. Lana Turner was married to seven men, including bandleader Artie Shaw. [218], In the wake of negative publicity related to Stompanato's death, Turner accepted the lead role in Ross Hunter's remake of Imitation of Life (1959) under the direction of Douglas Sirk. Shaq accuses Ron of making Lana his . She died in Los Angeles and buried in California . Turner played women who wanted things: money, status, a successful man. In 1958, during an intense argument between Ms. Tuner and Johnny Stompanato, Lana's 14-year-old daughter Cheryl came to her mother's defense and, according to court records, stabbed, and killed Stompanato. Johnny Stompanato Is Killed By Lana Turner's Daughter. [209], Because of Turner's fame and the fact that the killing involved her teenage daughter, the case quickly became a media sensation. [9] She became "thrilled" by the ritual practices of the church,[9] and when she was seven, her mother allowed her to formally convert to Roman Catholicism. California state prison officials said Spector died Saturday at age 81 of natural causes at a hospital. "[89], At the advent of US involvement in World War II, Turner's increasing prominence in Hollywood led to her becoming a popular pin-up girl,[90] and her image appeared painted on the noses of U.S. fighter planes, bearing the nickname "Tempest Turner". "I fought against doing the picture, but I lost. Lana has always acted hastily and been guided more by her own ideas than by any advance any studio gave her. [33] In 1965, she met Hollywood producer and businessman Robert Eaton, who was ten years her junior, through business associates. [97] They remained friends throughout her later life. San Sebastin International Film Festival, "A star was born in Idaho; Wallace folks remember Turner's early years. Many of the aircraft had dedications or nose art honoring MGM's Stars. "[271] In 1975, Turner gave a single performance as Jessica Poole in The Pleasure of His Company opposite Louis Jourdan at the Arlington Park Theater in Chicago. [170], MGM then gave Turner the titular role of Diane de Poitiers in the period drama Diane (1956), which had originally been optioned by the studio in the 1930s for Greta Garbo. [241] The same year, she starred in By Love Possessed (1961), based on a bestselling novel by James Gould Cozzens. "She was doing fine. Tina Turner's son Ronnie Turner 's cause of death has been revealed. [82] The Turner-Gable films' successes were often heightened by gossip-column rumors about a relationship between the two. Family Husbands Lana Turner had four marriages. [100] After discovering she was pregnant in November 1942, Turner remarried Crane in Tijuana in March 1943. . [224] Imitation of Life made more than $50 million in box office receipts. The New York Times writes that she married bandleader Artie Shaw in 1940 when she was just 19. [282][283] On October 25, 1981, the National Film Society presented Turner with an Artistry in Cinema award. [338] Turner has also been cited in scholarly discussions of women's sexuality. [114] The film was a box-office hit.[114][115]. Lex was most well known for playing Tarzan in a 5 Tarzan films between 1949 - 1953 . Getty Images The murder of mobster Johnny Stompanato was ultimately ruled a "justifiable homicide.". A long-time heavy smoker, Turner was diagnosed with throat cancer in May 1992. [205] Around 8:00p.m. on Friday, April 4, Stompanato arrived at Turner's rented home at 730 North Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills. [132] Homecoming was well received by audiences, and Turner and Gable were nicknamed "the team that generates steam". [327] She has also been cited by scholars as a gay icon because of her glamorous persona and triumphs over personal struggles. [27] Her mother worked 80 hours per week as a beautician to support herself and her daughter,[30][31] and Turner recalled sometimes "living on crackers and milk for half a week". "[109] Critic Anita Loos praised Turner's performance in the film, writing: "Lana Turner typifies modern allure. Indeed, there is cause for suspicion that they didn't even bother to think. He was 59. [239][217] The following year, she made her final film at MGM with Bob Hope in Bachelor in Paradise (1961), a romantic comedy about an investigative writer (Hope) working on a book about the wives of a lavish California community; the film received a mostly positive critical reception. After 18 years at MGM, I'm a free agentI used to go on a bended knee to the front office and say, please give me a decent story. Lana Turner (February 8, 1921 - June 29, 1995) was an American actress in 1937-1962. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Ray Hamel and Denny Jackson Family (2) Trade Mark (2) Attractive figure Blonde hair Trivia (64) Born at 12:30pm-PST Per the official city of Wallace website, the Turner home in Wallace was located at 217 Bank Street, immediately west of downtown Wallace. [255] Weeks later, on May 9, 1969, she married Ronald Pellar, a nightclub hypnotist whom she had met at a Los Angeles disco. [72][73] Ziegfeld Girl marked a personal and professional shift for Turner; she claimed it as the first role that got her "interested in acting",[74] and the studio, impressed by her performance, marketed the film as featuring her in "the best role of the biggest picture to be released by the industry's biggest company". [315] Film scholar Jessica Hope Jordan considers Turner an "implosion" of both a "real-life image and star image" and suggests that she utilized one to mask the other, thus rendering her representative of the "ultimate femme fatale". That licked me. Liotta was 67 at the time of his death, and although no official cause of death has been revealed, sources told PEOPLE that there is no foul play suspected in his passing. Lana Turner spoke these words as aspiring actress Lora Meredith in Imitation of Life (1959), but they could have been uttered by almost any of her characters over her 4 decades in Hollywood. [209] Turner testified that she initially believed Cheryl had punched him, but realized Stompanato had been stabbed when he collapsed and she saw blood on his shirt. [64] A remake of The Broadway Melody, the film was marketed as featuring Turner's "hottest, most daring role". The same year, she had what she referred to as a "religious awakening", and again began practicing her Catholic faith. "[4] Critic Leonard Maltin noted in 2005 that Turner "came to crystallize the opulent heights to which show business could usher a small-town girl, as well as its darkest, most tragic and narcissistic depths". Cause of death. The Tragedy Of Mark Ruffalo Just Gets Sadder And Sadder. Her hair was dark, messy, uncombed. [86] "I adored Mr. Gable, but we were [just] friends," she later recalled. By the time this one comes out, it will be almost three years since I was last on the screen, in The Three Musketeers. [294] She underwent exploratory surgery to remove the cancer,[294] but it had metastasized to her jaw and lungs. [50][51], In late 1937, LeRoy was hired as an executive at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), and asked Jack L. Warner to allow Turner to relocate with him to MGM. Some of the stars are magnetic dazzlers on celluloid and ordinary, practical, polo-coated little things in private life. [92], Throughout the war, Turner continued to make regular appearances at U.S. troop events and area bases, though she confided to friends that she found visiting the hospital wards of injured soldiers emotionally difficult. During the early 1940s, Turner established herself as a leading lady and one of MGM's top stars, appearing in such films as the film noir Johnny Eager (1941); the musical Ziegfeld Girl (1941); the horror film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941); and the romantic war drama Somewhere I'll Find You (1942), one of several films in which she starred opposite Clark Gable. [192] After a friend informed her of who Stompanato actually was, she confronted him and tried to break off the affair. Turner suffered through many personal tragedies and failed marriages in her quest to find happiness. Lana Turner was born Julia Jean Turner[6][7][b] on February 8, 1921,[c] at Providence Hospital[13] in Wallace, Idaho, a small mining community in the Idaho Panhandle region. [311] The likeness was most evident in Peyton Place and Imitation of Life, both films in which Turner portrayed single mothers struggling to maintain relationships with their teenage daughters. [92], Arriving to sell bonds in her hometown of Wallace, Idaho, she was greeted with a banner that read "Welcome home, Lana", followed by a large celebration during which the mayor declared a holiday in her honor. [101] Turner's blood condition resulted in Cheryl being born with near-fatal erythroblastosis fetalis. [183] Released in December 1957, Peyton Place was a major blockbuster success, which worked in Turner's favor as she had agreed to take a percentage of the film's overall earnings instead of a salary. [312] Film scholar Richard Dyer cites Turner as an example of one of Hollywood's earliest stars whose publicized private life perceptibly inflected their careers: "Her career is marked by an unusually, even spectacularly, high degree of interpenetration between her publicly available private life and her films not only do her vehicles furnish characters and situations in accord with her off-screen image, but frequently incidents in them echo incidents in her life so that by the end of her career films like Peyton Place, Imitation of Life, Madame X and Love Has Many Faces seem in parts like mere illustrations of her life."[313]. I don't think it's healthy to stay off the screen that long. [240] Upon completing filming, Turner collected the remaining $92,000 from her pension fund with MGM. Her estate was estimated in court documents to be worth $1.7 million. Turner's notoriety was assured in 1958 when her lover, mobster Johnny Stompanato, was stabbed to death with a kitchen knife by her daughter Cheryl Crane. [179][180] According to Cheryl, Turner confronted Barker before forcing him out of their home at gunpoint. [269], In the early 1970s, Turner transitioned to theater, beginning with a production of Forty Carats, which toured various East Coast cities in 1971. Turner's reputation as a glamorous femme fatale was enhanced by her critically acclaimed performance in the noir The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), a role which established her as a serious dramatic actress. Published on July 3, 2018 06:50 PM. [234] Instead, Turner took a lead role as a disturbed socialite in the film noir Portrait in Black (1960) opposite Anthony Quinn and Sandra Dee, which was a box-office success despite bad reviews. Turner on her representation in press[305], When Turner was discovered, MGM executive Mervyn LeRoy envisioned her as a replacement for the recently deceased Jean Harlow and began developing her image as a sex symbol. [329] Basinger considers her the "epitome of the Hollywood machine-made stardom". Cheryl, who is Lana's daughter with second husband Steve Crane, was tried and acquitted for Stampanato's death. Shortly after, the two eloped and moved west, settling in Idaho. They had nothing to do with the role, but they had to do with her particular self-image. [29] Following her father's death, Turner lived for a period in Modesto with a family who physically abused her and "treated her like a servant". . lana turner cause of death. In her reign as a movie goddess of the 1940s and early 1950s, Lana Turner came to crystallize the opulent heights to which show business could usher a small-town girl, as well as its darkest, most tragic and narcissistic depths. [221] Her co-star Juanita Moore recalled that Turner cried for three days after filming a scene in which Moore's character dies. [69] In contemporaneous press, it was noted she had been hospitalized for "exhaustion". After the war, Turner was cast in a lead role opposite John Garfield in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), a film noir based on James M. Cain's debut novel of the same name. In the 1980s she had a recurring role on the TV series Falcon Crest. In January 1982, Turner reprised her role in Murder Among Friends, which toured throughout the U.S. that year; paired with Bob Fosse's Dancin', the play earned a combined gross of $400,000 during one week at Pittsburgh's Heinz Hall in June 1982. [47] The film earned her the nickname of the "Sweater Girl" for her form-fitting attire, which accentuated her bust. [154] The following year, she began filming her second musical, The Merry Widow. Stompanato became suspicious when Turner would not allow him to visit the set and, during one fight, he violently choked her. I don't wear any make-up and my hair's a mess." Harrison had surgery and radiation in 1998. [211] After four hours of testimony and approximately 25 minutes of deliberation, the jury deemed the killing a justifiable homicide. [259] Premiering in September 1969, the series was given a major national marketing campaign, with billboards featuring life-sized images of Turner. [174] Meanwhile, Diane was given a test screening in late December 1955, and was met with poor response from audiences. [341] The Stompanato murder and its aftermath were also the basis of the Harold Robbins novel Where Love Has Gone (1962). Lana Turner (/ln/ LAH-n;[a] born Julia Jean Turner; February 8, 1921 June 29, 1995) was an American actress. [22] At age three, she performed an impromptu dance routine at a charity fashion show in which her mother was modeling. In a 1958 inquest, killing of Lana Turner's boyfriend was detailed Deputy Dist. Lana was born Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner on February 8, 1921. [53] Turner left Warner Bros. and signed a contract with MGM for $100 a week ($1,885 in 2021 dollars [43]). [147] On May 24, 1950, Turner left her handprints and footprints in cement in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Occupations. Turner's notoriety was assured in 1958 when her lover, mobster Johnny Stompanato, was stabbed to death with a kitchen knife by her daughter Cheryl Crane. The growth of maturity is reflected neatly in her distinguished portrayal. "[163] Upon returning to the United States in September 1953, Turner married actor Lex Barker,[97] whom she had been dating since their first meeting at a party held by Marion Davies in the summer of 1952. [303] Cheryl challenged the will, and Cruz said that the majority of the estate was consumed by probate costs, legal fees and medical expenses.[304]. [206][207] The two began arguing heatedly in the bedroom, during which Stompanato threatened to kill Turner, her daughter Cheryl and her mother. I've been sprung. 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. [261] Pellar denied the accusations and no charges were filed against him. [307] Film historian Jeanine Basinger notes that she "represented the girl who'd rather sit on the diving board to show off her figure than get wet in the water the girl who'd rather kiss than kibbitz". The pair, per TCM, divorced shortly after. [184] She also received critical acclaim, with Variety noting that "Turner looks elegant" and "registers strongly",[185] and, for the first and only time, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. In her years as a top box office draw, she and longtime studio MGM forged her statuesque form into any number of pop . "[102], Turner returned to feature films with a lead role in the 1974 British horror film Persecution, in which she played a disturbed wealthy woman tormenting her son. "[321], According to her daughter, Turner's obsessive attention to detail often resulted in dressmakers storming out during dress fittings. Not so Lana. [158] A little over a week before the film's release in December 1952, Turner divorced her third husband, Bob Topping. [125][33] During this time, she also had romantic affairs with Frank Sinatra[126] and Howard Hughes, the latter of which lasted for 12 weeks in late 1946. [1] Ao longo de sua carreira de quase 50 anos, ela alcanou fama como estrela de cinema e modelo pin-up, bem como por sua vida pessoal altamente divulgada.Na dcada de 1940, Turner foi uma das atrizes mais bem pagas dos . [281] She was suffering from an alcohol addiction that had begun in the late 1950s,[270] was missing performances and weighed only 95 pounds (43kg). [59], Mayer helped further Turner's career by giving her roles in several youth-oriented films in the late 1930s, such as the comedy Rich Man, Poor Girl (1938) in which she played the sister of a poor woman romanced by a wealthy man, and Dramatic School (1938), in which she portrayed Mado, a troubled drama student. "[38] With her mother's permission, Turner was referred by Wilkerson to the actor/comedian/talent agent Zeppo Marx. I'll work for nothing, just give me a good story. The physical allure is just as heavy when she looks at a headwaiter as when she looks at a hero. [16] Lana's parents had first met while 14-year-old Mildred, the daughter of a mine inspector, was visiting Picher, Oklahoma, with her father, who was inspecting local mines there. She was 74 years old when she died. Turner is frequently cited as a popular culture icon of Hollywood glamour and a screen legend of classical Hollywood cinema.[4]. [219] She portrayed a struggling stage actress who makes personal sacrifices to further her career. Sophie Turner nails casual chic in furry jacket and graphic . [77], Following the success of Ziegfeld Girl, Turner took a supporting role as an ingnue in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), a Freudian-influenced horror film, opposite Spencer Tracy and Ingrid Bergman. [8] John was 24 years old at the time, and Mildred's father objected to the courtship. Following her film debut in . [70], In 1940, Turner appeared in her first musical film, Two Girls on Broadway, in which she received top billing over established co-stars Joan Blondell and George Murphy. [133] By this period, Turner was at the zenith of her film career, and was not only MGM's most popular star, but also one of the ten highest-paid women in the United States, with annual earnings of $226,000. "[310] She also likened her to Clara Bow, adding: "Both of them, trusting and lovable, use their hearts instead of their heads. "[266] In April 1975, Turner spoke at a retrospective gala in New York City examining her career, which was attended by Andy Warhol, Sylvia Miles, Rex Reed and numerous fans. [26] "I know that my father's sweetness and gaiety, his warmth and his tragedy, have never been far from me," she later said. [79] The studio recast Turner in the smaller role, though she was still given top billing. February 27, 2023 . [120] Turner commented on her decision to take the role: I finally got tired of making movies where all I did was walk across the screen and look pretty. "[151] It earned her unfavorable reviews, with one critic from the St. Petersburg Times writing: "Without Lana Turner, Mr. Imperium would be a better picture. . [296] The cancer was found to have returned in July 1994. [98] The two eloped to Las Vegas a week after they began dating. "I wasn't dumb," Gardner said. [135][136] Around this time, she began dating Henry J. She was 75. [191] Turner was "thoroughly intrigued" and began casually dating him. [148], In response to the poor reception for A Life of Her Own, MGM attempted to rebrand Turner by casting her in musicals. [333][334][335] In a 1973 Films in Review retrospective on her career, Turner was referred to as "a master of the motion picture technique and a hardworking craftsman". Miss Turner was discovered in. [149] The first, Mr. Imperium, released in March 1951, was a box-office flop, and had Turner starring as an American woman who is wooed by a European prince. "[152], During this period, Turner's personal finances were in disarray, and she was facing bankruptcy. I'm so f-g tired of being Ava Gardner." While their brief marriage was turbulent, Gardner thanks first husband Mickey Rooney for her sexual education. Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death, killing 180 people a day in Britain. [229] During this time, Turner's daughter Cheryl privately came out as a lesbian to her parents, who were both supportive of her. [339], Turner has been depicted and referenced in numerous works across literature, film, music and art. [57] The film was a box-office success,[58] and her appearance in it as a flirtatious high school student convinced studio head Louis B. Mayer that Turner could be the next Jean Harlow, a sex symbol who had died six months before Turner's arrival at MGM. Despite treatment, the cancer returned in July 1994. [125] She discovered she was pregnant with Power's child in the fall of 1947, but chose to have an abortion. But the marriage was not a success, and in October 2015, Turner filed for divorce seeking joint custody of their two children. [97] Topping proposed to her at the 21 Club in New York City by dropping a diamond ring into her martini, and they married shortly after in April 1948 at the Topping family mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. [171] After completing Diane, Turner was loaned to 20th Century-Fox to headline The Rains of Ranchipur (1955), a remake of The Rains Came (1939), playing the wife of an aristocrat in the British Raj opposite Richard Burton. Cause Of Death: Throat cancer. Mervyn LeRoy on Turner during her first audition, December 1936[34], Turner's discovery is considered a show-business legend and part of Hollywood mythology among film and popular cultural historians. [263][264] Turner married a total of eight times to seven different husbands,[212] and later famously said: "My goal was to have one husband and seven children, but it turned out to be the other way around. Advertisement More from Distractify All but One of the Ninja Turtles Are Dead in 'The Last Ronin' Comic [141][142] The Three Musketeers went on to become a box-office success, earning $4.5 million ($54,610,283 in 2021 dollars [43]),[143] but Turner's contract was put on temporary suspension by Mayer after production finished. lana turner cause of death. Lex Barker, Actor singer She married with Lex Barker (54), in 1953. [42], In December 1936, Marx introduced Turner to film director Mervyn LeRoy, who signed her to a $50 weekly contract with Warner Bros. on February 22, 1937 ($942 in 2021 dollars [43]). [17], The family lived in Burke, Idaho at the time of Turner's birth,[18] and relocated to nearby Wallace in 1925,[d] where her father opened a dry cleaning service and worked in the local silver mines. [21] She expressed interest in performance at a young age, performing short dance routines at her father's Elks chapter in Wallace. [214] The scandal also coincided with the release of Another Time, Another Place, and the film was met with poor box-office receipts and a lackluster critical response. [237], In November 1960, Turner married her fifth husband, Frederick "Fred" May, a rancher and member of the May department-store family whom she had met at a beach party in Malibu shortly after filming Imitation of Life. [11] In 2012, Complex named her the eighth-most infamous actress of all time.[347]. Lana Turner had an affair with Howard Hughes Lana Turner had an affair with Paul Newman Lana Turner had an affair with Tyrone Power Lana Turner's former husband was Artie Shaw Lana Turner . [326] Turner maintained her glamorous image into her late career; a 1966 film review characterized her as "the glitter and glamour of Hollywood". But she had that sexy clean quality I wanted. At 16, she was signed to a personal contract by Warner Bros. director Mervyn LeRoy, who took her with him when he transferred to MGM in 1938. [262] She filed for divorce in January 1970,[97] after which she claimed to be celibate for the remainder of her life. [324] She favored the designers Salvatore Ferragamo, Jean Louis, Helen Rose and Nolan Miller. Lana Turner dating history, 2023, 2022, list of Lana Turner relationships. [56] During the shoot, Turner completed her studies with an educational social worker, allowing her to graduate high school that year. [212] Despite this, Cheryl ran away from home multiple times and the press wrote about her rebelliousness. Ronnie Turner was 62 when he died last Thursday. Harrison was smoker. [60] In the former, she was billed as the "Kissing Bug from the Andy Hardy film". Lana Turner relationship list. [111] A lifelong Democrat, she spent the remainder of the year campaigning for Franklin D. Roosevelt during the 1944 presidential election. [83] In January 1942, she began shooting her second picture with Gable, titled Somewhere I'll Find You;[84] however, the production was halted for several weeks after the death of Gable's wife, Carole Lombard, in a plane crash. [76] After completing the film, Turner and co-star Garland remained lifelong friends, and lived in houses next to one another in the 1950s. [52] Warner obliged, as he believed Turner would not "amount to anything". [235][236] Ray Duncan of the Independent Star-News wrote that Turner "suffers prettily through it all, like a fashion model with a tight-fitting shoe". In a caree. For the fashion stylist and collector, see, 19481952: Studio rebranding and personal struggles, 19531957: MGM departure and film resurgence, 19581959: Johnny Stompanato homicide scandal, 19661985: Later films, television and theatre. [212][213] Cheryl remained a temporary ward of the court until April 24, when a juvenile court hearing was held, during which the judge expressed concerns over her receiving "proper parental supervision". [112] In 1945, she co-starred with Laraine Day and Susan Peters in Keep Your Powder Dry, a war drama about three disparate women who join the Women's Army Corps. According to his son, Arthur Marx, it was the only time he ever saw his father cry. I tried to persuade the studio to give me something different.