“It’s said in Hollywood that you should always forgive your enemies - because you never know when you’ll have to work with them.”
Lana Turner was born Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner in Idaho in 1920 or 1921, to a miner and a 16 year old from Alabama. In 1930, Turner’s father was found murdered after winning some money at a traveling craps game and a year later, Lana and her mother relocated to Los Angeles as the climate was better for her mother’s poor health.
Turner’s discovery in a drug store has become one of Hollywood’s most enduring show-business legends with the truth being very close to the legend. When Lana was 16, she decided to skip school and buy a Coke at the Top Hat Cafe located on the southeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and McCadden Place. While there, she was spotted by William R. Wilkerson, publisher of the “Hollywood Reporter” who was struck by her beauty and referred her to the actor and comedian Zeppo Marx who was also a talent agent. Marx’s gency immediately signed her on and introduced her to film director, Mervyn LeRoy, who cast her in her first film, “They Won’t Forget” in 1937. Turner’s role in this film earned her the nickname, “The Sweater Girl” for her tight-fitting attire in a scene in the film.
Lana Turner reached the height of her popularity in the 1940’s , becoming a popular pin-up girl during World War Two due to her popularity in films such as “Ziegfield Girl” and four films with Clark Gable which was increased by rumors of an affair between Turner and Clark Gable. In 1946, Lana’s popularity reached new heights with her role in the classic film noir, “The Postman Always Rings Twice” (1946), co-starring John Garfield.
During the 1950’s, Turner’s career took a downturn when she starred in a series of films which failed to succeed at the box office and MGM attempted to rectify this by casting her in musicals. Although the first musical, “Mr. Imperium” was a flop, “The Merry Widow” was well-received. In 1952, Turner appeared in Vincente Minnelli’s film, “The Bad and The Beautiful” and later co-starred with John Wayne in “The Sea Chase”. After starring in “The Prodigal” and “Diane” (1956), which were not successful, MGM decided not to renew her contract.
Lana Turner’s career recovered briefly after starring in the immensely successful big-screen adaptation of “Peyton Place” for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. However, her next few films were box-office failures and the scandal surrounding the death of Johnny Stompanato threatened to put an end to her career for once and for all. Afraid that she would never work again, Turner accepted the lead-role in the re-make of “The Imitiation of Life”, directed by Douglas Sirk which became one of the biggest hits of 1959, and the biggest hit of Turner’s career. In 1961, Turner made her last film with MGM, starring with Bob Hope in “Bachelor in Paradise” and in 1966 starred in “Madame X” which proved to be her last big role.
Even by Hollywood standards, Turner had a colorful and turbulent personal life, having been married eight times to seven men including bandleader Artie Shaw, actor-restaurateur Josef-Stephen Crane whom she married twice, millionaire socialite Henry J. Topping Jr. and actor Lex Barker. In addition, Lana Turner was known to have had many affairs.
Lana Turner became embroiled in scandal surrounding the death of her one-time lover, Johnny Stompanato whose good looks she fell susceptible to in 1957, being unaware of his connections to the LA underworld, and gangster Mickey Cohen in particular. Turner tried to end the affair out of fear of bad publicity but Stompanato was not easily deterred and over the course of the next year, they carried on a tempestuous relationship filled with violent arguments, physical abuse and several reconciliations. During the course of 1957, Stompanato followed Turner to England where she was filming “Another Time, Another Place” with Sean Connery, Fearing that Turner was having an affair with Connery, Stompanato burst on to the set brandishing a gun, where Connery succeeded in punching him on the jaw,. Shortly afterwards, he was deported by Scotland Yard. Several months later in April 1958, Turner and Stompanato had a violent argument in Turner’s house in Beverley Hills, where Turner’s 14-year-old daughter, fearing for her mother’s life, stabbed Stompanato with a kitchen life, although it was later deemed a justifiable homicide at the coroner’s inquest.
During the 1970’s and 1980’s, Lana Turner appeared in several television roles, most notably a season of “Falcon Crest” in 1982-83. Until her death in 1995 at the age of 74 from throat cancer, Lana Turner spent her final decade out of the public eye. Lana Turner has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to the motion picture industry.
