[206][207] The two began arguing heatedly in the bedroom, during which Stompanato threatened to kill Turner, her daughter Cheryl and her mother. [60] Upon completing Dramatic School, Turner screen-tested for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939). According to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's office, Ronnie died from complications of metastatic colon carcinoma, an advanced-stage type of cancer which originates in the colon and. She was 74 years old when she passed away. In the suit, Stompanato's son alleged that Turner had been responsible for his death, and that her daughter had taken the blame. [244] In September of that year,[245] Turner and May separated, divorcing shortly after in October. These desires often lead the women to unfortunate places - mid-century Hollywood . [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. However, Turner notes in her autobiography that her birth certificate lists Julia Jean Turner as her official birth name. In the film, she portrayed the daughter of a wealthy patriarch who pursues a relationship with a man in love with her sister. [97] They remained friends throughout her later life. Turner's next film, Imitation of Life (1959), proved to be one of the greatest successes of her career, but . [86] "I adored Mr. Gable, but we were [just] friends," she later recalled. San Sebastin International Film Festival, "A star was born in Idaho; Wallace folks remember Turner's early years. [165][166] She was reluctant to appear in the film because of the character's scanty, "atrocious" costumes and "stupid" lines, and during the shoot struggled to get along with co-star Edmund Purdom, whom she later described as "a young man with a remarkably high opinion of himself". [100] After discovering she was pregnant in November 1942, Turner remarried Crane in Tijuana in March 1943. [213] She was ultimately released to the care of her grandmother, and was ordered to regularly visit a psychiatrist alongside her parents. Lex Barker, Actor singer She married with Lex Barker (54), in 1953. William McGinley, holding the knife used to kill Johnny Stompanato, questions Lana Turner during the. She was the subject of the poem "Lana Turner has collapsed" by Frank O'Hara,[340] and was depicted as a minor character in James Ellroy's novel L.A. [223], Released in the spring of 1959, Imitation of Life was among the year's biggest successes, and the biggest of Turner's career; by opting to receive 50% of the film's earnings rather than receiving a salary, she earned more than two million dollars. Read Complete Obituary Photos "Joan Rivers interviews Lana Turner". [9][33] Turner subsequently attended the Convent of the Immaculate Conception[10] in San Francisco, hoping to become a nun. An Aspiration Cut Short. [104] She gave birth to a daughter, Cheryl, on July 25, 1943. From a Times Staff Writer. Lana Turner was married to seven men, including bandleader Artie Shaw. [259] Premiering in September 1969, the series was given a major national marketing campaign, with billboards featuring life-sized images of Turner. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Department of Medical . Atty. 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. "[310] She also likened her to Clara Bow, adding: "Both of them, trusting and lovable, use their hearts instead of their heads. [281] In 1980, Turner made her final feature-film appearance alongside Teri Garr in the comedy horror film Witches' Brew. [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. [121][122] The film was produced by Carey Wilson, who insisted on casting Turner based on her performance in The Postman Always Rings Twice. Dana Andrews, whose film portrayals ranged from a sensitive, tough-talking detective in the 1944 movie "Laura" to a bombardier returning to a . Three out of four head and neck cancers are linked to tobacco use, and men are . [346] Turner has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6241 Hollywood Boulevard. [129] Production of Cass Timberlane was exhausting for Turner, because it was shot in between retakes of Green Dolphin Street. [188] While shooting the film the previous spring, she had begun receiving phone calls and flowers on the set from mobster Johnny Stompanato, using the name "John Steele". Reid. But it was just what I wanted to do. Family Husbands Lana Turner had four marriages. 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. 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. Her tempestuous personal life -- seven marriages, a stable of lovers, and a very public murder scandal -- only increased her reputation as a larger-than-life screen and sex goddess. The project was shelved for several months, and Turner told journalists in December 1949: "Everybody agrees that the script is still a pile of junk. Ronnie Turner was 62 when he died last Thursday. [94] Upon completing the tour, Turner had sold $5.25 million in war bonds. [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. She was 74 years old. [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. [160], In the spring of 1953, Turner relocated to Europe for 18 months to make two films under a tax credit for American productions shot abroad. [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. [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. [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. They were the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (minus kids) of Hollywood's Golden Era but the legendary romance of superstars Clark Gable and Carole Lombard ended abruptly when she was killed in a. [67] Their marriage only lasted four months, but was highly publicized, and led MGM executives to grow concerned over Turner's "impulsive behavior". [28] They also frequently moved, for a time living in Sacramento and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. The Chicago-born entertainer and one-time secretary was raised in Racine. [68] In the spring of 1940, after the two had divorced, Turner discovered she was pregnant and had an abortion. [144] A Life of Her Own was among the least successful of Cukor's films, receiving unfavorable reviews and low box-office sales. "[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. "[177] At the time of her contract termination, Turner's films had earned the studio more than $50 million. She died on June 25, 1995, in Culver City, California, after a long bout with cancer. [191] Turner was "thoroughly intrigued" and began casually dating him. "I'm getting close to that point, honey. In a 1958 inquest, killing of Lana Turner's boyfriend was detailed Deputy Dist. The Tragedy Of Mark Ruffalo Just Gets Sadder And Sadder. [294] She underwent exploratory surgery to remove the cancer,[294] but it had metastasized to her jaw and lungs. She also struggled for a long period with alcoholism and smoking, both of which led to the throat cancer that would take her life. [258], With few film offers coming in, Turner signed on to appear in the television series Harold Robbins' The Survivors. [145], In 1949, Turner was to star in A Life of Her Own (1950), a George Cukor-directed drama about a woman who aspires to be a model in New York City. Some of the stars are magnetic dazzlers on celluloid and ordinary, practical, polo-coated little things in private life. 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. Cause of death: esophageal cancer. "[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". [240] Upon completing filming, Turner collected the remaining $92,000 from her pension fund with MGM. According to Closer Weekly, Turner was married eight times, including twice to the same man. [306] In They Won't Forget (1937) and Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938), she embodied an "innocent sexuality" portraying ingnues. [284] In December 1981, it was announced that Turner would appear as the mysterious Jacqueline Perrault in an episode of Falcon Crest,[285] marking her first television role in 12 years. [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". [241] The same year, she starred in By Love Possessed (1961), based on a bestselling novel by James Gould Cozzens. [282][283] On October 25, 1981, the National Film Society presented Turner with an Artistry in Cinema award. [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. [261] Pellar denied the accusations and no charges were filed against him. [179][180] According to Cheryl, Turner confronted Barker before forcing him out of their home at gunpoint. [216] The suit was settled out of court for a reported $20,000 in May 1962. 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. [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. [22] At age three, she performed an impromptu dance routine at a charity fashion show in which her mother was modeling. 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. [197] Their meeting was initially happy, but they soon began fighting. [212][299] According to Cheryl, Turner's death was a "total shock", as she had appeared to be in better health and had recently completed seven weeks of radiation therapy. "Guest: Lana Turner". [218] In popular music, Turner was referenced in songs recorded by Nina Simone[342] and Frank Sinatra,[343] and was the source of the stage name of singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey. 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. "[146] Although unenthusiastic about the screenplay, Turner agreed to appear in the film after executives promised her suspension would be lifted upon doing so. Contents. "I fought against doing the picture, but I lost. Lana Turner (/ln trnr/; born Julia Jean Turner; February 8, 1921 - June 29, 1995) was an American actress who over the course of her nearly 50-year career achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a dramatic actress as well as for her highly publicized personal life. [202] Turner and Armstrong later returned with two Scotland Yard detectives to the rented house where she and Stompanato were staying. [264] Turner's remains were cremated and given to Cheryl. [178] In July 1957,[97] she filed for divorce from Barker after her daughter Cheryl alleged that he had regularly molested and raped her over the course of their marriage. In her years as a top box office draw, she and longtime studio MGM forged her statuesque form into any number of pop . [176] Turner gleefully told a reporter at the time that she was "walking around in a daze. [276], Between 1979 and 1980, Turner returned to theater, appearing in Murder Among Friends, a murder-mystery play that showed in various U.S. [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. [33] In 1965, she met Hollywood producer and businessman Robert Eaton, who was ten years her junior, through business associates. [169] The film, released one month after The Prodigal, was a commercial success. "I wasn't dumb," Gardner said. [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. The biography is as colorful as any plot she has ever romped through on screen. [262] She filed for divorce in January 1970,[97] after which she claimed to be celibate for the remainder of her life. [329] Basinger considers her the "epitome of the Hollywood machine-made stardom". [309], After Turner's first marriage in 1940, columnist Louella Parsons wrote: "If Lana Turner will behave herself and not go completely berserk she is headed for a top spot in motion pictures. [297], In September 1994, Turner made her final public appearance at the San Sebastin International Film Festival in Spain to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award,[298] and was confined to a wheelchair for much of the event. [210] More than 100 reporters and journalists attended the April 12, 1958 inquest, described by attendees as "near-riotous". [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. 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. "[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. [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]. "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 a 50 plus year career, she developed from a pin-up model into true Hollywood royalty. [105][106], Meanwhile, publicity over Turner's remarriage to Crane led MGM to play up her image as a sex symbol in Slightly Dangerous (1943), with Robert Young, Walter Brennan and Dame May Whitty, in which she portrayed a woman who moves to New York City and poses as the long-lost daughter of a millionaire. Advertisement More from Distractify All but One of the Ninja Turtles Are Dead in 'The Last Ronin' Comic "[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. . [144] After the release of The Three Musketeers, Turner discovered she was pregnant; in early 1949, she went into premature labor and gave birth to a stillborn baby boy in New York City. In the 1980s she had a recurring role on the TV series Falcon Crest. He was replaced by Ricardo Montalbn. [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. [62] In her next film, Dancing Co-Ed (1939), Turner was given first billing portraying Patty Marlow, a professional dancer who enters a college as part of a rigged national talent contest. Lana Turner died on June 29, 1995, in Los Angeles, California, USA. [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. In the 1990's, Turner was diagnosed with throat cancer, complications of which would later become her cause of death. [55] Instead, she was assigned opposite teen idol Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in the Andy Hardy film Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938). She soon attracted attention by playing the role of a murder victim in her film debut, LeRoy's They Won't Forget (1937), and she later moved into supporting roles, often appearing as an ingnue. stabbed Turner's lover Johnny Stompanato to death. Lana has always acted hastily and been guided more by her own ideas than by any advance any studio gave her. [228] Both films depicted the troubled, complicated relationship between a single mother and her teenage daughter. An ailing Groucho Marx was the victim of elder abuse [156], Turner's next project was opposite Kirk Douglas in Vincente Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), a drama focusing on the rise and fall of a Hollywood film mogul, in which Turner portrayed an alcoholic movie star. Lana was 74 years old at the time of death. [218], Turner has been noted by historians as a sex symbol, a popular culture icon[4][314] and "a symbol of the American Dream fulfilled Because of her, being discovered at a soda fountain has become almost as cherished an ideal as being born in a log cabin. [78] MGM had initially cast Turner in the lead, but Tracy specifically requested Bergman for the part. According to his son, Arthur Marx, it was the only time he ever saw his father cry. [224] Imitation of Life made more than $50 million in box office receipts. Spector's motive for killing Lana Clarkson is still unknown, And since Spector died at age 81 on Jan. 16, 2021, due to complications related to COVID-19, the world may never know the motive behind the murder. Turner, who had been treated for throat cancer, apparently died of natural causes, a police spokeswoman, Ramona Baety, confirmed to The Associated Press. [91] In June 1942, she embarked on a 10-week war-bond tour throughout the western United States with Gable. Lana Turner, nome artstico de Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner (Wallace, 8 de fevereiro de 1921 Los Angeles, 29 de junho de 1995), foi uma atriz norte-americana. [194][195] Turner would also claim that on one occasion he drugged her and took nude photographs of her while unconscious, potentially to use as blackmail. [278][279][280] During this time, Turner was in the midst of a self-described "downhill slide". [293][294] In a press release, she stated that the cancer had been detected early and had not damaged her vocal cords or larynx. - 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 Harrison was smoker. cities. "[152], During this period, Turner's personal finances were in disarray, and she was facing bankruptcy. Burton reportedly said: 'She set out to get me, and I let. Lana Turner was one of the biggest stars of Golden Age Hollywood cinema. 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. [64], In February 1940, Turner garnered significant publicity when she eloped to Las Vegas with 28-year-old bandleader Artie Shaw, her co-star in Dancing Co-Ed. Post author: Post published: February 26, 2023; Post category: . 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. [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. [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". She'd grown up poor and uneducated, yet her mother always knew that Ava had what it took to be a movie star. 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. The film's curvaceous star, Lana Turner, in white shorts and a halter top that set off her tan, had never . [265] Variety noted of her performance: "Under the circumstances, Turner's performance as Carrie, the perverted dame of the English manor, has reasonable poise. 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 . Gardner repeatedly contemplated suicide near the end of her life. In 1982, she accepted a much-publicized and lucrative recurring guest role in the television series Falcon Crest, which afforded the series notably high ratings. [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.