In the spotlight…..

Lana Turner   1921 – 1995…                     ….little girl lost

She was literally “made to order” , a concoction of ice cream beauty and luscious curves molded exclusively for MGM. But when she was created something very important was left out of the design. Lost somewhere deep inside Hollywood’s beautiful sex goddess was a little girl from Wallace, Idaho, all alone and looking for love.
                            

Lana at age 5

Julia Jean Turner was born on February 8th, 1921 in Wallace, Idaho to Virgil and Mildred Turner. She later added Mildred and Frances as confirmation names but was always known as just Judy. Virgil’s occupation varied from night to night between gambling and bootlegging or doing nothing at all. Even though he promised big things would happen when they moved to San Francisco, nothing really changed. Mildred left him to go to work and left Judy with friends. When she found out later that her so-called friends were using the child as a full-time maid and physically abusing her, Mildred went back to Virgil taking her daughter with her.

On December 14th, 1930 Virgil won a big jackpot at the crap table, put his winnings in his sock and headed home. They found him later beaten to death in the street, one sock missing. Virgil Turner was the first man Judy truly loved and lost. There would be one more.
                         

Lana at 16

In 1935 doctors advised Mildred to move south to a drier climate so she took Judy and moved to Los Angeles. The teenager was enrolled at Hollywood High School. She was cutting class when Billy Wilkerson, publisher of the Hollywood Reporter spotted her having a coke at a café across the street. “Every pretty young lady wants to be in the movies and I think you would be perfect” he told her and handed her his business card. When Judy and Mildred took Billy up on his offer of an interview he took them to the Zeppo Marx Agency (yep, Groucho’s brother). The agency was able to get Judy several bit parts to show her off.
                        

Lana and Mervyn LeRoy

Mervyn LeRoy saw her when he was looking for a girl to play a teenage murder victim in Warner’s “They Won’t Forget”.  LeRoy changed her name to Lonna but spelled it Lana and signed her to a contract….$50 a week with raises up to $600 over 7 years. When Mervyn jumped ship from Warners to MGM he took his protégée with him. By the time Lana was 20 she was making $1500 a week and bought a house!
          

Mickey Rooney

Lana was in 10 pictures in 2 years including “Love Finds Andy Hardy”. In his autobiography “Life Is Short” Mickey claims he met Lana when she was still 16-year-old Judy Turner at Curry’s Ice Cream Parlor near Hollywood High School. They had quite a fling in the front seat of his convertible on Mulholland Drive and Lana told him later that fling had a consequence and she had an abortion. Lana denied it later. Mickey’s answer was “All I can say is that if that didn’t happen, it was the most beautiful dream I ever had”.
                  

Lana and Artie Shaw in "Dancing Co-Ed".

L. B. Mayer was becoming increasingly disturbed over Lana’s growing reputation as a party girl so he sanctioned her romance with prominent attorney Greg Bautzer. But Joan Crawford considered Greg her property and knew he was stringing Lana along. So the lady invited Lana to tea. It must have been a potent cup of tea because the next time Greg was late for a date, Lana up and eloped with Artie Shaw!  Mayer was furious, Mildred was furious and, across town, Judy Garland was heartbroken. You see, she thought Artie loved her. The marriage lasted 8 months. Lana walked out when Artie demanded she shine his shoes. And, no kidding, she called Bautzer to arrange the divorce!  MGM sent her on a cruise to settle her nerves but it was another problem that needed settling…an unwanted pregnancy.
                        

Lana, Hedy Lamarr and Judy Garland in    "Ziegfeld Girl"

When she got back, MGM responded with a role Lana could really get her teeth into….as Flatbush in “Ziegfeld Girl”. After bad casting with Spencer Tracy in “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” she got plum roles in “Honky Tonk” with Clark Gable and “Johnny Eager” with Robert Taylor.  But the stories about Lana’s power over men preceded her. Carole Lombard threatened to have her fired or “kick her ass” if she came on to Gable. Barbara and Taylor actually separated because of his rumored affair with her but reconciled later. In 1942, Lana married business man Stephen Crane. She divorced him 8 months later, remarried him when she found out she was pregnant and divorced him again one year after daughter Cheryl was born.
                       

Lana and Cheryl

In the summer of 1946, Lana was having the time of her life. “The Postman Always Rings Twice” had released to great reviews and she was free as a bird. She was seen at all the best nightspots with all the eligible bachelors in town…Victor Mature, Robert Stack, Howard Hughes and Buddy Rich were just a few. Then she met Tyrone Power.
                              

Lana and Ty at the beachhouse

Lana was doing “Green Dolphin Street” and Ty was often on the set. Ironically, so was Linda Christian who played Lana’s maid. When Ty went on location in Mexico to do “Captains From Castile” Lana took time off to spend New Year’s with him. Happily she told him she was pregnant. But, by this time, Lana was getting a bit too possessive and Power could see the writing on the wall. She was also fighting her bouts of depression with prescriptions of amphetamines from one of Hollywood’s “Dr. Feelgood” physicians. Ty advised her he would be out of the country for some time so she would have to decide the baby issue for herself. Lana had yet another abortion and Tyrone Power went off and married Linda Christian. It was a lost love Lana would never forget.
                     

Lana marries Bob Topping, Jr.

When Lana heard that Power and Linda tied the knot she took to her bed and then took off for New York. While she was there, it was rumored that she broke up Frank Sinatra’s marriage, was named co-respondent in tycoon John Alden Talbot’s divorce suit and got engaged to millionaire Bob Topping, Jr. When his divorce from Arline Judge was final, they married in 1948.  Lana got pregnant twice during that marriage but lost one baby to premature birth and miscarried the second. The marriage crashed  in 1952.
                              

Lana and Lex

During the 1950s Lana’s career took a tumble. Her performance in “The Bad and the Beautiful” was lauded and “The Merry Widow” was successful. But "Mr. Imperium” was an awful flop. In September, 1951,  suffering from depression and seeing her career slipping away, she attempted suicide by taking pills and slashing her wrists. But it was just a cry for help.  As soon as she was in love again, her depression vanished. This time it was Fernando Lamas. But Lamas was looking for someone who would be second in command. So he married Arlene Dahl when she divorced Lex Barker who then ...you guessed it…..married Lana. Once again Lana lost a child to premature birth. In 1956 MGM dumped Lana and in 1957 Lana dumped Lex who apparently had been sexually abusing Cheryl.
                   

Lana, Cheryl and Stompanato

It has been said that the fan magazines and tabloids would have been bankrupt without Lana Turner. The Johnny Stompanato affair kept them solvent for months. Stompanato aka Johnny Valentine was the former bodyguard for gangster Mickey Cohen, He was running a gift shop when he set eyes on Lana but even when she learned about his nefarious past, she found it exciting. During their affair, he followed her to London where she was filming “Another Time, Another Place” and threatened Sean Connery with a gun. Sean decked him.
                  

Lana in court

On April 4th, 1958 Johnny came to the house demanding money. He was angry and threatening Lana. Cheryl knew he had beaten her before and, frightened she ran into the kitchen and grabbed the only weapon there….a large knife. She stabbed Stompanato in the stomach. He died before help could reach him. The court declared it justifiable homicide. Walter Winchell was the only columnist to defend Lana. “She is made of rays of the sun, woven of blue eyes, honey-colored hair and luscious curves….she is condemned to live with this memory to the end of her days…In short, give your heart to the girl with the broken heart.”
         

Lana Turner's house

Lana resumed her career with “Imitation of Life” (1939) and “Portrait in Black” (1960).  Back on top again, Lana was also back on the marriage-go-round. In 1960 she married millionaire Fred May and divorced him in 1962 (he spent money foolishly). Three years later she married actor/producer Robert Eaton. She divorced him in 1969 because he was playing around and married nightclub hypnotist  Ronald Dante the same year. In 1972 she divorced Dante when she found out the police wanted him for grand theft. Finally after 8 marriages to 7 husbands, Lana pulled the plug.
                        

Lana with #8 Ronald Dante

In 1991 Lana Turner retired from show business but she never stopped being a movie star.
On May 13th, 1992 she was diagnosed with throat cancer that had spread to her jaw and lungs but she courageously traveled to Spain to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.
                

Lana and a grown-up Cheryl

Lana died at home in her maid’s arms on the night of June 29th, 1995. She was cremated and her ashes given to her daughter,  Cheryl. Cheryl lives in Palm beach, California with her partner Jocelyn “Josh” Leroy.
                     
                        

                Truly a legend!

More about Lana Turner on Arabella's Notes

Filmography

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