Lana Turner was born Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner, on February 8, 1920, in Wallace, Idaho.
After her father, Virgil, a gambler and bootlegger, was murdered, the young Turner and her mother, Mildred, moved to San Francisco and in 1935, they moved to Los Angeles. Though many people think that Lana was discovered drinking a soda in Schwabs drugstore she was actually discovered at the age of 15, in the Top Hat Caffe by William R. Wilkerson, the publisher of the Hollywood Reporter. Wilkerson introduced Turner to Zeppo Marx, who owned his own casting agency, and Marx in turn sent her to the director Mervyn LeRoy. LeRoy cast Lana in the thriller, "They Won't Forget" (1937), in which she had a brief, but noticeable part wearing a form-fitting skirt and sweater. Shortly thereafter, she signed a contract at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio.
It was not long before Turner became known as the Sweater Girl a name she hated. Appearances in such films as "The Great Garrick" (1937), "The Adventures of Marco Polo" (1938), "Love Finds Andy Hardy" (1939), and "These Glamour Girls" (1939) increased the publics view of her as a sex symbol. She began getting better roles and even received critical acclaim for her performance in "Ziegfield Girl"(1941). She was getting the best roles and she starred with the most prominent leading men, including Clark Gable in "Honky Tonk" (1941) and "Somewhere I'll Find You"(1942), Spencer Tracy in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"(1941), and with Robert Taylor in "Johnny Eager"(1941).
After World War II ended, Lana began shedding her "Sweater Girl" image and was starting to be respected as a serious actress. She gave one of her most respected performances as a cold-blooded adulteress in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" in 1946. After appearing in various other films, including "Green Dolphin Street"(1947),
"The Three Musketeers"(1948), and "The Bad and the Beautiful" (1952). She wasn't receiving the kinds of roles she once had so she decided to leave MGM and go out on her own. This proved to be a smart decision on her part. In 1958, Lana starred in "Peyton Place" for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
Throughout her career, Turner's personal life was constantly in the headlines. Her first marriage to the bandleader Artie Shaw, lasted less than six months. In 1942, she married businessman Stephen Crane, but his divorce from his first wife had not gone through yet. In 1943 they became legally married, but divorced a year later, after Lana gave birth to their daughter Cheryl. In 1948, Turner married the multimillionaire Bob Topping, but they divorced in 1951. In 1957, she divorced her fourth husband, Lex Barker, the onetime star of the "Tarzan movies," after she learned that he had sexually abused her daughter Cheryl. She married three more times to rancher Fred May, businessman Robert Eaton, and nightclub hypnotist Ronald Dante, all of which ended in divorce. She was rumored to have many more lovers, including Frank Sinatra, Richard Burton, Howard Hughes, Fernando Lamas, Dean Martin, Kirk Douglas, and Tyrone Power.
On June 4, 1958, police were called to Turner's Beverly Hills home to find the Lana's lover, Johnny Stompanato,
an associate of the notorious gangster, Mickey Cohen, dead of a stab wound. Lana's 14-year-old daughter, Cheryl Crane, had stabbed Stompanato after overhearing him threatening to kill her mother during a domestic dispute. A judge ruled that the incident constituted justifiable homicide, but Cheryl was sent to live with her maternal grandmother. The scandel did not damage her career. In fact, some of her biggest roles took place after the death of Stompanato. In 1959, she started in the film "Imitation of Life", which turned out to be one of her biggest hits. She had another success in 1966, with "Madame X".
In the 1970s, she toured with several stage productions, and in 1982 she began appearing on the hit primetime soap opera, "Falcon Crest"
, opposite Jane Wyman. In 1982, Lana published her autobiography, "Lana: The Lady, The Legend, The Truth". In 1983, Lana officially retired from acting.
In 1981, Lana and her daughter, Cheryl reconciled. Lana spent the last decade of her life without any scandel and away from the public. On June 29, at age 75, Turner died at her home in Century City, Los Angeles, with her daughter at her side. Today, Cheryl Crane has worked through her emotional problems and has become a successful businesswoman.
It was not long before Turner became known as the Sweater Girl a name she hated. Appearances in such films as "The Great Garrick" (1937), "The Adventures of Marco Polo" (1938), "Love Finds Andy Hardy" (1939), and "These Glamour Girls" (1939) increased the publics view of her as a sex symbol. She began getting better roles and even received critical acclaim for her performance in "Ziegfield Girl"(1941). She was getting the best roles and she starred with the most prominent leading men, including Clark Gable in "Honky Tonk" (1941) and "Somewhere I'll Find You"(1942), Spencer Tracy in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"(1941), and with Robert Taylor in "Johnny Eager"(1941).
After World War II ended, Lana began shedding her "Sweater Girl" image and was starting to be respected as a serious actress. She gave one of her most respected performances as a cold-blooded adulteress in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" in 1946. After appearing in various other films, including "Green Dolphin Street"(1947),
"The Three Musketeers"(1948), and "The Bad and the Beautiful" (1952). She wasn't receiving the kinds of roles she once had so she decided to leave MGM and go out on her own. This proved to be a smart decision on her part. In 1958, Lana starred in "Peyton Place" for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
