After all those years as a sex symbol, nothing had changed--Lana was still as beautiful as ever. [262] She filed for divorce in January 1970,[97] after which she claimed to be celibate for the remainder of her life. But every time I went into my argument about how bad a picture was, they'd say, "well, it's making a fortune". [64] The following year, she had a lead role in her second musical, Ziegfeld Girl, opposite James Stewart, Judy Garland and Hedy Lamarr. [121][122] The film was produced by Carey Wilson, who insisted on casting Turner based on her performance in The Postman Always Rings Twice. She was 74 years old when she passed away. In an interview, Turner said: "I even go running around in the jungles of New Zealand in a dress that's filthy and ragged. Stompanato's rage reportedly reached its boiling point on the night of the 1958 Academy Awards when Turner refused to bring him as her date. [94] Upon completing the tour, Turner had sold $5.25 million in war bonds. Occupations. She is far more deadly because she lets her audience relax. "[249] Kaspar Monahan of the Pittsburgh Press lauded her performance, writing: "Her performance, I think, is far and away her very best, even rating Oscar consideration in next year's Academy Award race, unless the culture snobs gang up against her. Lana Turner died Thursday at 75. Lex Barker, Actor singer She married with Lex Barker (54), in 1953. Cancer And Death. [275] In the fall of 1978, she appeared in a Chicago production of Divorce Me, Darling, an original play in which she portrayed a San Francisco divorce attorney. [322] No matter the setting, Turner also took care to ensure she was always "camera-ready", wearing jewelry and makeup even while lounging in sweatpants. [238] Turner moved in with him on his ranch in Chino, California, where the two took care of horses and other animals. [228] Both films depicted the troubled, complicated relationship between a single mother and her teenage daughter. [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". [269], In the early 1970s, Turner transitioned to theater, beginning with a production of Forty Carats, which toured various East Coast cities in 1971. [210] More than 100 reporters and journalists attended the April 12, 1958 inquest, described by attendees as "near-riotous". The flesh is the same. [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. Lana Turner was married to seven men, including bandleader Artie Shaw. October 1968 203. [322][325] Film historians Joe Morella and Edward Epstein have observed that, unlike many female stars, Turner "wasn't resented by female fans", and that women made up a large part of her fan base in later years. "Bob" Topping Jr., a millionaire socialite and brother of New York Yankees owner Dan Topping, and a grandson of tin-plate magnate Daniel G. In the 1990's, Turner was diagnosed with throat cancer, complications of which would later become her cause of death. In her early 60s, Turner reportedly took a photo of herself at 27 to a plastic surgeon, Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, and said, "This is what I want to look like." . But she had that sexy clean quality I wanted. Lana Turner was an American actress who had a net worth of $5 million at the time of her death. Following her film debut in . [243], In mid-1962, Turner filmed Who's Got the Action?, a comedy in which she portrayed the wife of a gambling addict opposite Dean Martin. It's an image I've worked too hard to obtain and preserve. The coroner's report described the cause of death as: 'Stab wound of abdomen penetrating liver, portal vein and aorta, with massive haemorrhage.' In court, however, he stated that the single stab wound to the abdomen sliced the deceased's kidney, struck a vertebrae and twisted upwards, puncturing his aorta. [61] Turner's onscreen sex appeal in the film was reflected by a review in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in which she was characterized as "the answer to 'oomph'". 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. However, she doesn't look like a vamp. He was 59. During the shoot, Turner began an affair with her co-star Fernando Lamas, which ended after Lamas physically assaulted her; the incident also caused Lamas to lose his MGM contract upon the production's completion. [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. [219] She portrayed a struggling stage actress who makes personal sacrifices to further her career. Dec. 18, 1992 12 AM PT. Shiloh Jolie-Pitt's Transformation Has Been Simply Stunning. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) [Cora Smith]: Killed in a car accident while riding with John Garfield; we see the car go off the road . [85] Meanwhile, the press continued to fuel rumors that Turner and Gable were romantic offscreen, which Turner vehemently denied. [55] Instead, she was assigned opposite teen idol Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in the Andy Hardy film Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938). Lana Turner's autobiography was finished just before her death. Birthday: February 8, 1921 Date of Death: June 29, 1995 Age at Death: 74 Live Live Death Statistics Worldwide and The United States Is Lana Turner's father, John Virgil Turner, dead or alive? [28] They also frequently moved, for a time living in Sacramento and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. 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. [167] Variety deemed the film "a big-scale spectacleEnd result of all this flamboyant polish, however, is only fair entertainment. [260] Despite ABC's extensive publicity campaign and the presence of other big-name stars, the program fared badly, and it was canceled halfway into the season after a 15-week run in 1970. [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. [213] She was ultimately released to the care of her grandmother, and was ordered to regularly visit a psychiatrist alongside her parents. Many of the aircraft had dedications or nose art honoring MGM's Stars. But the marriage was not a success, and in October 2015, Turner filed for divorce seeking joint custody of their two children. [21][25] His robbery and homicide were never solved,[21] and his death had a profound effect on Turner. [127], Turner's next film was the romantic drama Cass Timberlane, in which she played a young woman in love with an older judge, a role for which Jennifer Jones, Vivien Leigh and Virginia Grey had also been considered. [60] In the former, she was billed as the "Kissing Bug from the Andy Hardy film". natural causes; Cause of death: esophageal cancer; Place of burial: California; Work period (start) 1937; Work period (end) 1991; Country of citizenship: United States of America; . Dana Andrews, whose film portrayals ranged from a sensitive, tough-talking detective in the 1944 movie "Laura" to a bombardier returning to a . [216] The suit was settled out of court for a reported $20,000 in May 1962. [288] In September, Turner released an autobiography entitled Lana: The Lady, the Legend, the Truth. [65][66] Though they had only briefly known each other, Turner recalled being "stirred by his eloquence", and after their first date the two spontaneously decided to get married. [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. "I do owe Mickey one thing: he taught me how much I enjoyed sex." Rooney was a player. [292] She died nine months later at the age of 74 on June 29, 1995, of complications from the cancer, at her home in Century City, Los Angeles, with her daughter by her side. [215] Stompanato's family sought a wrongful death suit of $750,000 in damages against both Turner and her ex-husband, Steve Crane. In the mid-thirties, Columbia Pictures put her under a long-term contract, transforming dark-haired teenager Rita Cansino into redhead bombshell Rita Hayworth. [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]). "[146] Although unenthusiastic about the screenplay, Turner agreed to appear in the film after executives promised her suspension would be lifted upon doing so. Advertisement More from Distractify All but One of the Ninja Turtles Are Dead in 'The Last Ronin' Comic William McGinley, holding the knife used to kill Johnny Stompanato, questions Lana Turner during the. Some sources claim Turner's birth name to be Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner. In a 1958 inquest, killing of Lana Turner's boyfriend was detailed Deputy Dist. [148], In response to the poor reception for A Life of Her Own, MGM attempted to rebrand Turner by casting her in musicals. [277] Richard Christiansen of the Chicago Tribune praised her performance, writing that, "though she is still a very nervous and inexpert actress, she is giving by far her most winning performance". In a caree. On September 28, 1964 the date of his 28th wedding anniversary with wife Susan Flemming - Harpo Marx died at the age of 75 after undergoing an open-heart procedure. 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. On the evening of April 4, 1958, 14-year-old Cheryl Crane stabbed 32-year-old Johnny Stompanato, the boyfriend of her mother, actress Lana Turner, at Turner's rented home in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California. [240] Upon completing filming, Turner collected the remaining $92,000 from her pension fund with MGM. San Sebastin International Film Festival, "A star was born in Idaho; Wallace folks remember Turner's early years. It's the Lana Turner Story, Told by the Sweater Girl Herself Turner's private life drew in the public eye from her many marriages and romances, hitting its sensational peak when her lover,. [101] Though she wanted multiple children, Turner had Rh-negative blood, which caused fetal anemia and made it difficult to carry a child to term. The film's curvaceous star, Lana Turner, in white shorts and a halter top that set off her tan, had never . Gardner repeatedly contemplated suicide near the end of her life. The Chicago-born entertainer and one-time secretary was raised in Racine. "That, and a sense of loss and of growing up too fast. Her popularity continued through the 1950s in dramas such as The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and Peyton Place (1957), the latter for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. [308] 1941's Ziegfeld Girl was the first film to showcase Turner with platinum blonde hair, which she wore for much of the remainder of her life and for which she came to be known. [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. [327] She has also been cited by scholars as a gay icon because of her glamorous persona and triumphs over personal struggles. "Joan Rivers interviews Lana Turner". [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. [198] To avoid further confrontation, Turner and her makeup artist, Del Armstrong, called Scotland Yard in order to have Stompanato deported. [118] Reviews of the film, including Turner's performance, were glowing, with Bosley Crowther of The New York Times writing it was "the role of her career". Throughout much of her life, Lana Turner was a heavy smoker. [261] Pellar denied the accusations and no charges were filed against him. [276] During rehearsals, a stagehand told reporters that Turner was "the hardest working broad I've known". On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [339], Turner has been depicted and referenced in numerous works across literature, film, music and art. [162] In The New York Times, Bosley Crowther wrote of Betrayed: "By the time this picture gets around to figuring out whether the betrayer is Miss Turner or Mr. Miss Turner, who had been treated for throat cancer, apparently died of natural causes, a police spokeswoman, Ramona Baety, confirmed to The Associated Press. [169] The film, released one month after The Prodigal, was a commercial success. Harrison had surgery and radiation in 1998. The last time I begged for a good story they gave me The Prodigal. [270] A review in The Philadelphia Inquirer noted: "Miss Turner always could wear clothes well, and her Forty Carats is a fashion show in the guise of a frothy, little comedy. Lana Turnerborn Julia Jean Mildred Francis Turner on February 8, 1921 in Wallace, Idahohad one of the most dramatic off-screen. [8] John was 24 years old at the time, and Mildred's father objected to the courtship. [86] "I adored Mr. Gable, but we were [just] friends," she later recalled. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Department of Medical . "[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). Cause Of Death: Throat cancer. [224][307] However, her image in 1946's The Postman Always Rings Twice marked a departure from her strictly-sex symbol screen persona to that of a full-fledged femme fatale. [259] Premiering in September 1969, the series was given a major national marketing campaign, with billboards featuring life-sized images of Turner. [22] In the mid-1930s, Turner's mother developed respiratory problems and was advised by her doctor to move to a drier climate, upon which the two moved to Los Angeles in 1936.[22][25]. Her hands were trembling so she could barely read the script. Tina Turner's son Ronnie Turner 's cause of death has been revealed. Tuesday, July 07, 2015 Lana Turner (1921-1995) Birth name: Julia Jean Turner Birthdate: Tuesday, February 8th, 1921 Location: Wallace, Idaho, USA Died: Thursday, June 29th, 1995 Location: Los Angeles, California, USA Cause of death: Throat cancer She died in Los Angeles and buried in California . Lana Turner was one of the biggest stars of Golden Age Hollywood cinema. [189] Stompanato had close ties to the Los Angeles underworld and gangster Mickey Cohen, which he feared would dissuade her from dating him. 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. Some of the stars are magnetic dazzlers on celluloid and ordinary, practical, polo-coated little things in private life. [96], In July 1942,[97] Turner met her second husband, actor-turned-restaurateur Joseph Stephen "Steve" Crane, at a dinner party in Los Angeles. [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". After a trial in 2009, he was sentenced to 19 years to life. Read Complete Obituary Photos An ailing Groucho Marx was the victim of elder abuse 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. [60] She was then cast in a supporting part as a "sympathetic bad girl" in Calling Dr. Kildare (1939), MGM's second entry in the Dr. Kildare series. Lana Turner dating history, 2023, 2022, list of Lana Turner relationships. [92] During the tour, she began promising kisses to the highest war bond buyers; while selling bonds at the Pioneer Courthouse in Portland, Oregon, she sold a $5,000 bond to a man for two kisses,[93] and another to an elderly man for $50,000. [246] The two married in June of that year at his family's home in Arlington, Virginia. [60] Upon completing Dramatic School, Turner screen-tested for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939). Ralphie May's wife was a fellow comedian named Lahna Turner. . Over the course of her nearly 50-year career, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized personal life. [242] The film became the first in-flight movie to be shown on a regular basis on a scheduled airline flight when TWA showed it to its first-class passengers. In 1936, when Turner was 15, she was discovered while purchasing a soda at the Top Hat Malt Shop in Hollywood. [121] In the midst of filming Green Dolphin Street, Turner began an affair with actor Tyrone Power,[123][124] whom she considered to be the love of her life. Not so Lana. Imperium', "The Screen in Review; 'Betrayed,' War Story, Opens at the State", "In a 1958 inquest, killing of Lana Turner's boyfriend was detailed", "Lana Turner Says She's Had It; Won't Marry Again", "Lana Turner Suspense Film Strains Credibility", "Lana Turner, Fifth Husband Separate; No Divorce Yet", "Lana Makes Melodrama 'Madame X' Credible", "Lana Turner in 'Divorce' Entertains Just Being Lana", "Music, Dance, Drama, Comedy Highlight Winter Play Season", "Lana Turner, the Sultry Actress, Is Dead at 75", "Lana Turner to Appear On CBS's 'Falcon Crest', "PPT's Shaktman led city's theatrical renaissance", "Lana Turner reveals she has throat cancer", "Lana Turner recovering after throat cancer surgery", "Lana Turner Determined to Beat Cancer Recurrence", "Lana Turner's Troubled Legacy Shows Signs of Life After Death: Tales of Suzy Bombmaker a "Politically Incorrect" boss and the judge who said too much", "Appeals Court Allows Lana Turner's Daughter to Challenge Trust Provisions", "GLS 592: The Hard Boiled Dames of Film Noir", "It only took 30 years for "My Baby Just Cares For Me" to be a hit", "Lana Del Rey has legs, a stalker, four Grammy nominations and a possible Broadway musical", "The 50 Most Infamous Actresses of All Time", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lana_Turner&oldid=1138339762, Converts to Roman Catholicism from Protestantism, United Service Organizations entertainers, Pages using Sister project links with wikidata namespace mismatch, Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata, TCMDb name template using numeric ID from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 9 February 2023, at 04:01.