[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. [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. [64] A remake of The Broadway Melody, the film was marketed as featuring Turner's "hottest, most daring role". [113] She was then cast as the female lead in Week-End at the Waldorf, a loose remake of Grand Hotel (1932) in which she portrayed a stenographer (a role originated by Joan Crawford). Throughout much of her life, Lana Turner was a heavy smoker. [116] She portrayed Cora, an ambitious woman married to a stodgy, older owner of a roadside diner, who falls in love with a drifter and their desire to be together motivates them to murder her husband. [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. [258], With few film offers coming in, Turner signed on to appear in the television series Harold Robbins' The Survivors. 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. [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]). lana turner cause of death - funfloors.net [91] In June 1942, she embarked on a 10-week war-bond tour throughout the western United States with Gable. CONTACT DETAILS Web Site: . When Frank Sinatra saw the film The Postman Always Rings Twice, his eyes were on stalks. [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". [205] Around 8:00p.m. on Friday, April 4, Stompanato arrived at Turner's rented home at 730 North Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills. A coroner's inquest brought considerable media attention to Turner and concluded that Crane had acted in self defense. 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 . [67] Their marriage only lasted four months, but was highly publicized, and led MGM executives to grow concerned over Turner's "impulsive behavior". [190] He pursued Turner aggressively, sending her various gifts. Lana was born Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner on February 8, 1921. lana turner cause of death - helpfulmechanic.com Ronnie Turner was 62 when he died last Thursday. 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. [150] "The script was stupid," she recalled. [222] When she returned to the set, "her face was so swollen, she couldn't work", Moore said. [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". The biography is as colorful as any plot she has ever romped through on screen. 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 He was found struggling to breathe on the sidewalk in front of his Encino home, the LAPD told the New York. [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. So what happened? [117] The classic film noir marked a turning point in Turner's career as her first femme fatale role. [121][122] The film was produced by Carey Wilson, who insisted on casting Turner based on her performance in The Postman Always Rings Twice. [261] In addition, she later accused him of stealing $100,000 worth of jewelry from her. 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. [154] The following year, she began filming her second musical, The Merry Widow. [176] Turner gleefully told a reporter at the time that she was "walking around in a daze. Mature, it has taken the audience through such a lengthy and tedious amount of detail that it has not only frayed all possible tension but it has aggravated patience as well. [174] Though an elaborate marketing campaign was crafted to promote the film, it was a box-office flop,[175] and MGM announced in February 1956 that it was opting not to renew Turner's contract. [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. San Sebastin International Film Festival, "A star was born in Idaho; Wallace folks remember Turner's early years. William Joseph Shields (10 March 1888 - 14 January 1961), known professionally as Barry Fitzgerald, was an Irish stage, film and television actor. 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. Lana Turner was an American actress who had a net worth of $5 million at the time of her death. 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. In the film, she portrayed the daughter of a wealthy patriarch who pursues a relationship with a man in love with her sister. [246] The two married in June of that year at his family's home in Arlington, Virginia. [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. [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. "Bob" Topping Jr., a millionaire socialite and brother of New York Yankees owner Dan Topping, and a grandson of tin-plate magnate Daniel G. [76] After completing the film, Turner and co-star Garland remained lifelong friends, and lived in houses next to one another in the 1950s. Turner left the majority of her estate to her maid, Carmen Lopez Cruz, who had been her companion for 45 years and caregiver during her final illness. Lana Turner died Thursday at 75. Atty. [79] While the film was financially successful,[80] Time magazine panned it, calling it "a pretentious resurrection of Robert Louis Stevenson's ghoulish classic As for Lana Turner, fully clad for a change, and the rest of the cast they are as wooden as their roles. [97] They remained friends throughout her later life. [78] MGM had initially cast Turner in the lead, but Tracy specifically requested Bergman for the part. Many of the aircraft had dedications or nose art honoring MGM's Stars. [278][279][280] During this time, Turner was in the midst of a self-described "downhill slide". [267] Her next film was Bittersweet Love (1976), a romantic comedy in which she portrayed the mother of a woman who unwittingly marries her half-brother. Lana Turner's 14-Year-Old Daughter Stabbed This Mobster To Death To [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 - Biography - IMDb "[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". Her next film, Imitation of Life (1959), proved to be one of the greatest commercial successes of her career, and her starring role in Madame X (1966) earned her a David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress. "Guest: Lana Turner". Lana Turner was married to seven men, including bandleader Artie Shaw. [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. Lana Turner died on June 29, 1995, in Los Angeles, California, USA. Lana Turner (/ln/ LAH-n;[a] born Julia Jean Turner; February 8, 1921 June 29, 1995) was an American actress. [20] As a child, Turner was known to family and friends as Judy. [22] At age three, she performed an impromptu dance routine at a charity fashion show in which her mother was modeling. Ralphie May's wife was a fellow comedian named Lahna Turner. [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. [47] Her first starring role for MGM was scheduled to be an adaptation of The Sea-Wolf, co-starring Clark Gable, but the project was eventually shelved. Tina Turner's Oldest Son Craig Dies by Suicide at Age 59 - Peoplemag But she had that sexy clean quality I wanted. [248] A review in the Chicago Tribune praised her performance, noting: "when she takes the stand in the final (with Keir Dullea) courtroom scene, her face resembling a dust bowl victory garden, it's the most devastating denouement since Barbara Fritchie poked her head out the window. Lana Turner | Cinemorgue Wiki | Fandom After all those years as a sex symbol, nothing had changed--Lana was still as beautiful as ever. [324] She favored the designers Salvatore Ferragamo, Jean Louis, Helen Rose and Nolan Miller. Shiloh Jolie-Pitt's Transformation Has Been Simply Stunning. He was convicted of killing actress Lana Clarkson in 2003 at his castle-like mansion on the edge of Los Angeles. [148], In response to the poor reception for A Life of Her Own, MGM attempted to rebrand Turner by casting her in musicals. Tina Turner's son Ronnie Turner's cause of death revealed [71] In the film, she portrayed Sheila Regan, an alcoholic aspiring actress based on Lillian Lorraine. 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. [215] Stompanato's family sought a wrongful death suit of $750,000 in damages against both Turner and her ex-husband, Steve Crane. [289] She subsequently guest-starred on an episode of The Love Boat in 1985,[290] which marked her final on-screen appearance. 13 Drop Dead Gorgeous Photos of - Best Movies by Farr 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. Dec. 18, 1992 12 AM PT. 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. [9][33] Turner subsequently attended the Convent of the Immaculate Conception[10] in San Francisco, hoping to become a nun. [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. [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". LANA TURNER - Music Finder She is the most glamorous actress since Jean Harlow. Lana Turner - Turner Classic Movies [240] Upon completing filming, Turner collected the remaining $92,000 from her pension fund with MGM. [44], Turner made her feature film debut in LeRoy's They Won't Forget (1937),[45] a crime drama in which she played a teenage murder victim. Turner, Lana (September 28, 1982). "I fought against doing the picture, but I lost. Burton reportedly said: 'She set out to get me, and I let. Not so Lana. [100] After discovering she was pregnant in November 1942, Turner remarried Crane in Tijuana in March 1943. Indeed, there is cause for suspicion that they didn't even bother to think. [111] A lifelong Democrat, she spent the remainder of the year campaigning for Franklin D. Roosevelt during the 1944 presidential election. "[250] The role earned Turner a David di Donatello Golden Plaque Award for Best Foreign Actress that year. [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. [300][301], Cheryl and her partner Joyce LeRoy, whom Turner said she accepted "as a second daughter",[302] inherited some of Turner's personal effects and $50,000 in Turner's will. 71 Lana Clarkson Death Photos Premium High Res Photos - Getty Images [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. [33] In 1965, she met Hollywood producer and businessman Robert Eaton, who was ten years her junior, through business associates. Lana Turner Age: 74 (age at death) years Birthday: 8th February, 1921 Birthplace: Wallace, Idaho, USA Died: 29th June, 1995 Place of Death: Century City, California, USA Cause of Death: Throat cancer Height: 5' 3" (160 cm) Weight . [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. "[168] Turner was next cast in John Farrow's The Sea Chase (1955), an adventure film starring John Wayne, in which she portrayed a femme fatale spy aboard a ship. [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". [54] The same year, she was loaned to United Artists for a minor role as a maid in The Adventures of Marco Polo. Some sources claim Turner's birth name to be Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner. I've been sprung. [346] Turner has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6241 Hollywood Boulevard. [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. In the 1990's, Turner was diagnosed with throat cancer, complications of which would later become her cause of death. These desires often lead the women to unfortunate places - mid-century Hollywood . [132] Homecoming was well received by audiences, and Turner and Gable were nicknamed "the team that generates steam". [33] She stated that she had "never seen myself walking before [It was] the first time [I was] conscious of my body. [159] Her next film project was Latin Lovers (1953), a romantic musical in which Lamas had originally been cast. [191] Turner was "thoroughly intrigued" and began casually dating him. [286] Her appearance was a ratings success, and her character returned for an additional five episodes.[287]. [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". Lana Turner | Biography, Movies, Scandals, & Facts | Britannica 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. [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. Lana Turner Death Fact Check, Birthday & Date of Death - Dead or Kicking 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 played women who wanted things: money, status, a successful man. [293][294] In a press release, she stated that the cancer had been detected early and had not damaged her vocal cords or larynx. [194] Fearing that her mother's life was in danger, Cheryl who had been watching television in an adjacent room grabbed a kitchen knife and ran to Turner's defense. I don't think it's healthy to stay off the screen that long. But the marriage was not a success, and in October 2015, Turner filed for divorce seeking joint custody of their two children. [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. [282][283] On October 25, 1981, the National Film Society presented Turner with an Artistry in Cinema award. 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. [224] Imitation of Life made more than $50 million in box office receipts. [158] A little over a week before the film's release in December 1952, Turner divorced her third husband, Bob Topping. Her next marriage was to Joseph Stephen Crane in 1942 (via Livingly ). Pamela Tiffin [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. "[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. [253] In April 1969,[254] Turner filed for divorce from Eaton after four years of marriage upon discovering he had been unfaithful to her. "[4] Michael Gordon, who directed Turner in Portrait in Black, remembered her as "a very talented actress whose chief reliability was what I regarded as impoverished taste Lana was not a dummy, and she would give me wonderful rationalizations why she should wear pendant earrings. In an interview, Turner said: "I even go running around in the jungles of New Zealand in a dress that's filthy and ragged. [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. Lana Turner - Age, Birthday, Biography, Movies, Children & Facts [229] During this time, Turner's daughter Cheryl privately came out as a lesbian to her parents, who were both supportive of her. [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. So did she. [121] In August 1946, it was announced she would replace Katharine Hepburn in the big-budget historical drama Green Dolphin Street (1947), a role for which she darkened her hair and lost 15 pounds. [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. During the course of the book it's evident Turner led a charmed life of opportunity with the perks of showbiz royalty on one hand and on the other hand she had a dramatic dark personal life with more twists and turns than most daytime drama scripts. The physical allure is just as heavy when she looks at a headwaiter as when she looks at a hero. [128] As of early 1946, Turner was set for the role, but schedules with Green Dolphin Street almost prohibited her from taking it, and by late 1946, she was nearly recast. Lana Turner (February 8, 1921 - June 29, 1995) was an American actress in 1937-1962. [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. [265] Variety noted of her performance: "Under the circumstances, Turner's performance as Carrie, the perverted dame of the English manor, has reasonable poise. [95], During World War II the Royal Canadian Air Force 427 Lion Squadron had been "adopted" by MGM. [210] More than 100 reporters and journalists attended the April 12, 1958 inquest, described by attendees as "near-riotous". Is Lana Turner still alive? Turner's next film, Imitation of Life (1959), proved to be one of the greatest successes of her career, but . [186] Commenting on her image, she once told a journalist: "Forsaking glamour is like forsaking my identity. Dark Details We Ignored About Lana Turner - Facts Verse Date of death. The clothes she wears are just like the clothes you pay to see her in on Saturday night at the Bijou. [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. She died in Los Angeles and buried in California . Groucho Marx wept at the funeral.