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. [224][230] Worried she was still suffering from the trauma of Stompanato's death, Turner sent Cheryl to the Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut. [135][136] Around this time, she began dating Henry J. (The killing was later ruled justifiable homicide.) [97] During her early pregnancy, she filmed the comedy Marriage Is a Private Affair, in which she starred as a carefree woman struggling to balance her new life as a mother. [125] She discovered she was pregnant with Power's child in the fall of 1947, but chose to have an abortion. ChickComedy/YouTube Comedian Lahna Turner was married to Ralphie May. A long-time heavy smoker, Turner was diagnosed with throat cancer in May 1992. [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". [86] "I adored Mr. Gable, but we were [just] friends," she later recalled. 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. 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. In the mid-1940s, she was one of the highest-paid actresses in the United States, and one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's (MGM) biggest stars, with her films earning more than $50 million for the studio during her 18-year contract with them. [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. [132] Homecoming was well received by audiences, and Turner and Gable were nicknamed "the team that generates steam". Gardner repeatedly contemplated suicide near the end of her life. [144] A Life of Her Own was among the least successful of Cukor's films, receiving unfavorable reviews and low box-office sales. [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. Lana Turner, 75, the sweater girl-turned-glamorous film star whose discovery at a soda fountain became the stuff Hollywood dreams are made of, died June 29 at her home in Century City, Calif. She . [238] Turner moved in with him on his ranch in Chino, California, where the two took care of horses and other animals. [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. Article. In the film, she portrayed the daughter of a wealthy patriarch who pursues a relationship with a man in love with her sister. Indeed, there is cause for suspicion that they didn't even bother to think. 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 . They had nothing to do with the role, but they had to do with her particular self-image. "[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". In 1958, during an intense argument between Ms. Tuner and Johnny Stompanato, Lana's 14-year-old daughter Cheryl came to her mother's defense and, according to court records, stabbed, and killed Stompanato. These desires often lead the women to unfortunate places - mid-century Hollywood . 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. [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. Getty Images The murder of mobster Johnny Stompanato was ultimately ruled a "justifiable homicide.". He was found struggling to breathe on the sidewalk in front of his Encino home, the LAPD told the New York. Turner spent most of the 1970s in semi-retirement, making her final film appearance in 1980. Lana Turnerborn Julia Jean Mildred Francis Turner on February 8, 1921 in Wallace, Idahohad one of the most dramatic off-screen. [69] She would later recall that Shaw treated her "like an untutored blonde savage, and took no pains to conceal his opinion". Turner, Lana (September 29, 1982). [174] Meanwhile, Diane was given a test screening in late December 1955, and was met with poor response from audiences. Lana Turner Lana Turner ( / ln / LAH-n; [a] born Julia Jean Turner; February 8, 1921 - June 29, 1995) was an American actress. [96], In July 1942,[97] Turner met her second husband, actor-turned-restaurateur Joseph Stephen "Steve" Crane, at a dinner party in Los Angeles. However, she doesn't look like a vamp. [273][274] Critic Elaine Matas noted of a 1977 performance that Turner was "brilliant" and "the bright spot in an otherwise mediocre play". [38], By Turner's own account, she was a junior at Hollywood High School when she skipped a typing class and bought a Coca-Cola at the Top Hat Malt Shop[34][40] located on the southeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and McCadden Place. [161] The films were Flame and the Flesh, in which she portrayed a manipulative woman who takes advantage of a musician, and Betrayed, an espionage thriller set in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands; the latter marked Turner's fourth and final film appearance opposite Clark Gable. Cause Of Death: Throat cancer. She is the most glamorous actress since Jean Harlow. [98] The two eloped to Las Vegas a week after they began dating. [137][138] Turner's wedding celebrations interfered with her filming schedule for The Three Musketeers, and she arrived to the set three days late. 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. [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". [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. She is far more deadly because she lets her audience relax. [211] After four hours of testimony and approximately 25 minutes of deliberation, the jury deemed the killing a justifiable homicide. [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". [259] Premiering in September 1969, the series was given a major national marketing campaign, with billboards featuring life-sized images of Turner. 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? [186] Though grateful for the nomination, Turner would later state that she felt it was not "one of my better roles". "[266] In April 1975, Turner spoke at a retrospective gala in New York City examining her career, which was attended by Andy Warhol, Sylvia Miles, Rex Reed and numerous fans. Humor has been the balm of my life, but it's been reserved for those closest to me. 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. [198] To avoid further confrontation, Turner and her makeup artist, Del Armstrong, called Scotland Yard in order to have Stompanato deported. [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". But it was just what I wanted to do. [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". [75] The film's high box-office returns elevated Turner's profitability, and MGM gave her a weekly salary raise to $1,500 as well as a personal makeup artist and trailer ($29,013 in 2021 dollars [43]). In 1936, when Turner was 15, she was discovered while purchasing a soda at the Top Hat Malt Shop in Hollywood. [85] Meanwhile, the press continued to fuel rumors that Turner and Gable were romantic offscreen, which Turner vehemently denied. [82] The Turner-Gable films' successes were often heightened by gossip-column rumors about a relationship between the two. [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. 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. Is Lana Turner still alive? [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. Turner on her representation in press[305], When Turner was discovered, MGM executive Mervyn LeRoy envisioned her as a replacement for the recently deceased Jean Harlow and began developing her image as a sex symbol. [213], Though Turner and her daughter were exonerated of any wrongdoing, public opinion on the event was varied, with numerous publications intimating that Turner's testimony at the inquest was a performance; Life magazine published a photo of Turner testifying in court along with stills of her in courtroom scenes from three of her films. [52] Warner obliged, as he believed Turner would not "amount to anything". Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death, killing 180 people a day in Britain. [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. But every time I went into my argument about how bad a picture was, they'd say, "well, it's making a fortune". [169] The film, released one month after The Prodigal, was a commercial success. 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." . [154] The following year, she began filming her second musical, The Merry Widow. "[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. The Chicago-born entertainer and one-time secretary was raised in Racine. [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. [64] A remake of The Broadway Melody, the film was marketed as featuring Turner's "hottest, most daring role". Nevertheless, she insisted she would not give up her glamorous image. [296] The cancer was found to have returned in July 1994. "[151] It earned her unfavorable reviews, with one critic from the St. Petersburg Times writing: "Without Lana Turner, Mr. Imperium would be a better picture. He is survived by his wife, fellow comic Lahna Turner, and their two . The small tumor turned out to be throat cancer. [208], According to testimony provided by Turner, Stompanato died at the scene when Cheryl, who had been listening to the couple's fight behind the closed door, stabbed Stompanato in the stomach when Turner attempted to usher him out of the bedroom. Family Husbands Lana Turner had four marriages. "[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. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's office, Ronnie died due to "complications of metastatic. Born to working-class parents in northern Idaho, Turner spent her childhood there before her family relocated to San Francisco. [92], Arriving to sell bonds in her hometown of Wallace, Idaho, she was greeted with a banner that read "Welcome home, Lana", followed by a large celebration during which the mayor declared a holiday in her honor. [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. She was 74 years old when she passed away. An Aspiration Cut Short. In the 1980s she had a recurring role on the TV series Falcon Crest. [209], Because of Turner's fame and the fact that the killing involved her teenage daughter, the case quickly became a media sensation. Ralphie May's wife was a fellow comedian named Lahna Turner. [121][122] The film was produced by Carey Wilson, who insisted on casting Turner based on her performance in The Postman Always Rings Twice. "[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". [76] After completing the film, Turner and co-star Garland remained lifelong friends, and lived in houses next to one another in the 1950s. [182] The film, directed by Mark Robson, was adapted from Grace Metalious' best-selling novel of the same name. [288] In September, Turner released an autobiography entitled Lana: The Lady, the Legend, the Truth. An ailing Groucho Marx was the victim of elder abuse [220] The production was difficult for Turner given the recent events of her personal life, and she suffered a panic attack on the first day of filming. Groucho Marx wept at the funeral. The film's curvaceous star, Lana Turner, in white shorts and a halter top that set off her tan, had never . "[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. [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. When Frank Sinatra saw the film The Postman Always Rings Twice, his eyes were on stalks. "I wasn't dumb," Gardner said. Date of death. [132] She was the studio's first choice for the role, but it was reluctant to offer her the part, considering her overbooked schedule. 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. [212][213] Cheryl remained a temporary ward of the court until April 24, when a juvenile court hearing was held, during which the judge expressed concerns over her receiving "proper parental supervision". [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. It's an image I've worked too hard to obtain and preserve. [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. [306] In They Won't Forget (1937) and Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938), she embodied an "innocent sexuality" portraying ingnues. [317], Historians have cited Turner as one of the most glamorous film stars of all time, an association that was made both during her lifetime[318][319][320] and after her death. [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 cause of death. 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. 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. She'd grown up poor and uneducated, yet her mother always knew that Ava had what it took to be a movie star. 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. [196], In September 1957, Stompanato visited Turner in London, where she was filming Another Time, Another Place, co-starring Sean Connery. Stompanato was known to have been physically abusive to Turner. Some of the stars are magnetic dazzlers on celluloid and ordinary, practical, polo-coated little things in private life. [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. The home is located within the Wallace Historic District, which is on the. [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. Lana Turner died on June 29, 1995, in Los Angeles, California, USA. [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. [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". [278][279][280] During this time, Turner was in the midst of a self-described "downhill slide". "She was doing fine. "Bob" Topping Jr., a millionaire socialite and brother of New York Yankees owner Dan Topping, and a grandson of tin-plate magnate Daniel G. Lana was born Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner on February 8, 1921. [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. [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. Reid. By the time this one comes out, it will be almost three years since I was last on the screen, in The Three Musketeers. 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,. [272] From 1976 to 1978, she starred in a touring production of Bell, Book and Candle, playing Gillian Holroyd. Lana Turner was born on February 8, 1921 and died on June 29, 1995. In an interview, Turner said: "I even go running around in the jungles of New Zealand in a dress that's filthy and ragged. 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. [282][283] On October 25, 1981, the National Film Society presented Turner with an Artistry in Cinema award. So what happened? [172][173] The production was rushed to accommodate a Christmas release and was completed in only three months, but it received unfavorable reviews from critics. Ronnie Turner was 62 when he died last Thursday. [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]. [9][33] Turner subsequently attended the Convent of the Immaculate Conception[10] in San Francisco, hoping to become a nun. [193] Stompanato was not easily deterred, and over the course of the following year, they carried on a relationship filled with violent arguments, physical abuse and repeated reconciliations. She also struggled for a long period with alcoholism and smoking, both of which led to the throat cancer that would take her life. [154] She was saved by her business manager, Benton Cole, who broke down the bathroom door and called emergency medical services. [99][100] Their marriage was annulled by Turner four months later upon discovering that Crane's previous divorce had not yet been finalized. [276] During rehearsals, a stagehand told reporters that Turner was "the hardest working broad I've known". [214] The scandal also coincided with the release of Another Time, Another Place, and the film was met with poor box-office receipts and a lackluster critical response. 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. 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. Her hair was dark, messy, uncombed. cities. [324] She favored the designers Salvatore Ferragamo, Jean Louis, Helen Rose and Nolan Miller. [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. 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. 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. . [114][134], In late 1947, Turner was cast as Lady de Winter in The Three Musketeers, her first Technicolor film. Upon Turner's death, John Updike wrote in The New Yorker that she "was a faded period piece, an old-fashioned glamour queen whose fifty-four films, over four decades didn't amount, retrospectively to much As a performer, she was purely a studio-made product. 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. [34] She soon became a protge of LeRoy, who suggested that she take the stage name Lana Turner, a name she would come to legally adopt several years later. [218], In the wake of negative publicity related to Stompanato's death, Turner accepted the lead role in Ross Hunter's remake of Imitation of Life (1959) under the direction of Douglas Sirk.