[164], In 1955, MGM's new studio head Dore Schary had Turner star as a pagan temptress in the Biblical epic The Prodigal (1955), her first CinemaScope feature. With her rags to riches discovery story, ethereal beauty, and seven husbands, Lana Turner's life was the stuff of Hollywood legend. [328] While discussions surrounding Turner have largely been based on her cultural prevalence, little scholarly study has been undertaken on her career,[329] and opinion of her legacy as an actress has divided critics. From the moment she was born, Lana Turner was a magnet for tragedy: She had a heartbreaking childhood, slept with awful men, lost her babies, and even attempted suicide. [8] John was 24 years old at the time, and Mildred's father objected to the courtship. Born to working-class parents in northern Idaho, Turner spent her childhood there before her family relocated to San Francisco. [336] Jeanine Basinger has similarly championed Turner's acting, writing of her performance in The Bad and the Beautiful: "None of the sex symbols who have been touted as actressesnot Hayworth or Gardner or Taylor or Monroehave ever given such a fine performance. "[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". This, Lana Turner later recalled, was how her career began. . As we mark the 100th birthday of Lana Turner (1921-1995) this coming February 8 and reflect on her cinematic legacy, some of us may recall a line from a rather different sort of film from the kind in which Turner typically starred. Turner suffered through many personal tragedies and failed marriages in her quest to find happiness. [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. "[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. "[131], In August 1947, immediately upon completion of Cass Timberlane, Turner agreed to appear as the female lead in the World War II-set romantic drama Homecoming (1948), in which she was again paired with Clark Gable, portraying a female army lieutenant who falls in love with an American surgeon (Gable). [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. [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. He was replaced by Ricardo Montalbn. "[33] Several years after the film's release, Modern Screen journalist Nancy Squire wrote that Turner "made a sweater look like something Cleopatra was saving for the next visiting Caesar". Lana Turner is the most competent, professional broker I have ever had the pleasure of working with. [98] The two eloped to Las Vegas a week after they began dating. [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. Per the official city of Wallace website, the Turner home in Wallace was located at 217 Bank Street, immediately west of downtown Wallace. [130] Cass Timberlane earned Turner favorable reviews, with Variety noting: "Turner is the surprise of the picture via her top performance thespically. [225] Reviews were mixed,[226] although Variety praised her performance, writing: "Turner plays a character of changing moods, and her changes are remarkably effective, as she blends love and understanding, sincerity and ambition. A Handley-Page Halifax bomber "London's Revenge" DK186 ZL L carried the name of Lana Turner into battle over Germany. [111] A lifelong Democrat, she spent the remainder of the year campaigning for Franklin D. Roosevelt during the 1944 presidential election. Lana Turner, who built a successful movie career on her first screen appearance as a teen-age "sweater girl," died yesterday. Multiple accounts have the ashes still in Cheryl's possession, while other accounts say the ashes were scattered in the ocean, but which ocean and location varies by the sources. [307], By the 1950s, both critics and audiences began noting parallels between Turner's rocky personal life and the roles she played. Three affirmed Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gary Klausner's ruling . Inside Sex Symbol Lana Turner's 7 Marriages: 'I Wanted Some Security and Peace'. [181] Weeks after her divorce, Turner began filming 20th Century-Fox's Peyton Place, in which she had been cast in the lead role of Constance MacKenzie, a New England mother struggling to maintain a relationship with her teenage daughter. "[321], According to her daughter, Turner's obsessive attention to detail often resulted in dressmakers storming out during dress fittings. A Beverly Hills mansion built on the site of a former home of actress Lana Turner and big bandleader Artie Shaw has found a buyer. [268] Lawrence Van Gelder of The New York Times wrote that the film served "as a reminder that Miss Turner was never one of our subtler actresses". [52] In her early films, Turner did not color her auburn hairsee Dancing Co-Ed (1939), in which she was billed "the red-headed sensation who brought "it" back to the screen". [60] Upon completing Dramatic School, Turner screen-tested for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939). [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. . [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". [199][200] Stompanato got wind of the plan and showed up on the set with a gun, threatening her and Connery. 5 out of 5 stars (2,857) $ 6.95. [213] She was ultimately released to the care of her grandmother, and was ordered to regularly visit a psychiatrist alongside her parents. Turner's role in the film has also caused her to be frequently associated with film noir and the femme fatale archetype in critical circles. [240] Upon completing filming, Turner collected the remaining $92,000 from her pension fund with MGM. In 1936, when Turner was 15, she was discovered while purchasing a soda at the Top Hat Malt Shop in Hollywood. Lana was born Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner on February 8, 1921. When Frank Sinatra saw the film The Postman Always Rings Twice, his eyes were on stalks. [139][140] Studio head Louis B. Mayer threatened to suspend her contract, but Turner managed to leverage her box-office draw with MGM to negotiate an expansion of her role in the film, as well as a salary increase amounting to $5,000 per week ($60,678 in 2021 dollars [43]). [295] After undergoing radiation therapy,[292] Turner announced that she was in full remission in early 1993. In the film, she portrayed the daughter of a wealthy patriarch who pursues a relationship with a man in love with her sister. [121][122] The film was produced by Carey Wilson, who insisted on casting Turner based on her performance in The Postman Always Rings Twice. Living a real-life horror story, her darkest moments led her straight to the most disturbing scandal imaginable. When Julia Jean was about 8 years old, her father was murdered making life for the girl and her mother tougher than it had been, and it had never . And Cheryl Crane can do her mother Lana Turner . Lana herself said in her autobiography that she was one year younger (1921) than the records showed, but then this was a time where women, especially actresses, tended to "fib" a bit about . Get the help finding the right home, pricing and selling a home, contracts, negotiations and more. As Lana fans know, hair combs were a quintessential part of Lana's flawless look in the 1940s. [97] She later claimed Topping's drinking problem and excessive gambling as her impetus for the divorce. [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. [256] According to Turner, Pellar (also known as Ronald Dante or Dr. Dante)[257] falsely claimed to have been raised in Singapore and to have a Ph.D. in psychology. "[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". In an unpublished opinion, Div. 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. [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. [53] Turner left Warner Bros. and signed a contract with MGM for $100 a week ($1,885 in 2021 dollars [43]). "[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. [68] In the spring of 1940, after the two had divorced, Turner discovered she was pregnant and had an abortion. [29], While baptized a Protestant at birth,[32] Turner attended Mass with the Hislops, a Catholic family with whom her mother had temporarily boarded her in Stockton, California. [238] Turner moved in with him on his ranch in Chino, California, where the two took care of horses and other animals. "[330], Defenders of Turner's acting ability, such as Jessica Hope Jordan[331] and James Robert Parish,[332] cite her performance in The Postman Always Rings Twice as an argument for the value of her work. [155] The Merry Widow proved more commercially successful than Turner's previous musical, Mr. Imperium, despite receiving unfavorable critical reviews. Faced with the challenge of drawing potential buyers to a 19th-century townhouse offered for sale for $1.685 million on a lovely yet little-known street in Harlem after a lethargic summer in the . Lana Turner had many public romances off-screen. [11] She was an admirer of Bette Davis, whom she cited as her favorite actress. 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