[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". [141][142] The Three Musketeers went on to become a box-office success, earning $4.5 million ($54,610,283 in 2021 dollars [43]),[143] but Turner's contract was put on temporary suspension by Mayer after production finished. Intense media scrutiny surrounded the actress in 1958 when her teenage daughter Cheryl Crane stabbed Turner's lover Johnny Stompanato to death in their home during a domestic struggle. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Department of Medical . He is survived by his wife, fellow comic Lahna Turner, and their two . [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. [154] She was saved by her business manager, Benton Cole, who broke down the bathroom door and called emergency medical services. [255] Weeks later, on May 9, 1969, she married Ronald Pellar, a nightclub hypnotist whom she had met at a Los Angeles disco. Turner suffered through many personal tragedies and failed marriages in her quest to find happiness. [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. [174] Meanwhile, Diane was given a test screening in late December 1955, and was met with poor response from audiences. . 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. Lana Turner died on June 29, 1995, in Los Angeles, California, USA. [35] Wilkerson was attracted by her beauty and physique, and asked her if she was interested in appearing in films, to which she responded: "I'll have to ask my mother first. [139][140] Studio head Louis B. Mayer threatened to suspend her contract, but Turner managed to leverage her box-office draw with MGM to negotiate an expansion of her role in the film, as well as a salary increase amounting to $5,000 per week ($60,678 in 2021 dollars [43]). [29] Following her father's death, Turner lived for a period in Modesto with a family who physically abused her and "treated her like a servant". [77], Following the success of Ziegfeld Girl, Turner took a supporting role as an ingnue in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), a Freudian-influenced horror film, opposite Spencer Tracy and Ingrid Bergman. 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. Liotta had previously talked about how the COVID-19 pandemic brought the two of them close together very quickly due to . [97] They remained friends throughout her later life. Turner was a regular drinker[270] and cigarette smoker for most of her life. Comedian Ralphie May died on October 6 at age 45. Stompanato was known to have been physically abusive to Turner. The home is located within the Wallace Historic District, which is on the. [258], With few film offers coming in, Turner signed on to appear in the television series Harold Robbins' The Survivors. [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. Turner, who had been treated for throat cancer, apparently died of natural causes, a police spokeswoman, Ramona Baety, confirmed to The Associated Press. [64] A remake of The Broadway Melody, the film was marketed as featuring Turner's "hottest, most daring role". From a Times Staff Writer. "[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. I don't wear any make-up and my hair's a mess." Shaq accuses Ron of making Lana his . 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. [129] Production of Cass Timberlane was exhausting for Turner, because it was shot in between retakes of Green Dolphin Street. [119] Life magazine named the film its "Movie of the Week" in April 1946, and noted that both Turner and Garfield were "aptly cast" and "take over the screen, [creating] more fireworks than the Fourth of July". 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. [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. [158] A little over a week before the film's release in December 1952, Turner divorced her third husband, Bob Topping. It wasn't much of a play even when Julie Harris was doing it, and it all but disappears under the old-time Hollywood glamor of Miss Turner's star presence. [132] She was the studio's first choice for the role, but it was reluctant to offer her the part, considering her overbooked schedule. [17], The family lived in Burke, Idaho at the time of Turner's birth,[18] and relocated to nearby Wallace in 1925,[d] where her father opened a dry cleaning service and worked in the local silver mines. [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. [21] She expressed interest in performance at a young age, performing short dance routines at her father's Elks chapter in Wallace. [269], In the early 1970s, Turner transitioned to theater, beginning with a production of Forty Carats, which toured various East Coast cities in 1971. Cause Of Death: Throat cancer. 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 . [104] She gave birth to a daughter, Cheryl, on July 25, 1943. 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. [182] The film, directed by Mark Robson, was adapted from Grace Metalious' best-selling novel of the same name. According to Closer Weekly, Turner was married eight times, including twice to the same man. Lana was born Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner on February 8, 1921. She died in Los Angeles and buried in California . [307], By the 1950s, both critics and audiences began noting parallels between Turner's rocky personal life and the roles she played. Is Lana Turner still alive? [282][283] On October 25, 1981, the National Film Society presented Turner with an Artistry in Cinema award. Her hands were trembling so she could barely read the script. [92] During the tour, she began promising kisses to the highest war bond buyers; while selling bonds at the Pioneer Courthouse in Portland, Oregon, she sold a $5,000 bond to a man for two kisses,[93] and another to an elderly man for $50,000. [55] Instead, she was assigned opposite teen idol Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in the Andy Hardy film Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938). "[109] Critic Anita Loos praised Turner's performance in the film, writing: "Lana Turner typifies modern allure. [273][274] Critic Elaine Matas noted of a 1977 performance that Turner was "brilliant" and "the bright spot in an otherwise mediocre play". [164], In 1955, MGM's new studio head Dore Schary had Turner star as a pagan temptress in the Biblical epic The Prodigal (1955), her first CinemaScope feature. [191] Turner was "thoroughly intrigued" and began casually dating him. 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? [121], The Postman Always Rings Twice became a major box office success, which prompted the studio to take more risks on Turner, casting her outside of the glamorous sex-symbol roles for which she had come to be known. [130] Cass Timberlane earned Turner favorable reviews, with Variety noting: "Turner is the surprise of the picture via her top performance thespically. [217] A 1962 novel by Harold Robbins entitled Where Love Has Gone and its subsequent film adaptation were inspired by the event. Occupations. Ralphie May's wife was a fellow comedian named Lahna Turner. In an interview, Turner said: "I even go running around in the jungles of New Zealand in a dress that's filthy and ragged. However, Turner notes in her autobiography that her birth certificate lists Julia Jean Turner as her official birth name. Lana Turner was one of the biggest stars of Golden Age Hollywood cinema. [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. But the marriage was not a success, and in October 2015, Turner filed for divorce seeking joint custody of their two children. stabbed Turner's lover Johnny Stompanato to death. [186] Though grateful for the nomination, Turner would later state that she felt it was not "one of my better roles". [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. 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. [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. Johnny Stompanato Is Killed By Lana Turner's Daughter. [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. Lana was 74 years old at the time of death. [91] In June 1942, she embarked on a 10-week war-bond tour throughout the western United States with Gable. [291] In her early 60s, Turner stopped drinking to preserve her health,[283] but she was unable to quit smoking. [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. She is far more deadly because she lets her audience relax. Born to working-class parents in northern Idaho, Turner spent her childhood there before her family relocated to San Francisco. 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. [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. Her estate was estimated in court documents to be worth $1.7 million. [229] During this time, Turner's daughter Cheryl privately came out as a lesbian to her parents, who were both supportive of her. Her acting skills were more than adequate, but first and foremost, how the camera loved her. 71 Lana Clarkson Death Photos Premium High Res Photos Browse 71 lana clarkson death photos stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. [60] Upon completing Dramatic School, Turner screen-tested for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939). [327] She has also been cited by scholars as a gay icon because of her glamorous persona and triumphs over personal struggles. [122] Turner later recalled she was surprised about replacing Hepburn, saying: "I'm about the most un-Hepburnish actress on the lot. Heart Attack. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's office, Ronnie died due to "complications of metastatic. [144] A Life of Her Own was among the least successful of Cukor's films, receiving unfavorable reviews and low box-office sales. [96], In July 1942,[97] Turner met her second husband, actor-turned-restaurateur Joseph Stephen "Steve" Crane, at a dinner party in Los Angeles. [92], Throughout the war, Turner continued to make regular appearances at U.S. troop events and area bases, though she confided to friends that she found visiting the hospital wards of injured soldiers emotionally difficult. lana turner cause of death. [137][138] Turner's wedding celebrations interfered with her filming schedule for The Three Musketeers, and she arrived to the set three days late. [9][33] Turner subsequently attended the Convent of the Immaculate Conception[10] in San Francisco, hoping to become a nun. Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner: Date of death: . William McGinley, holding the knife used to kill Johnny Stompanato, questions Lana Turner during the. [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. In the suit, Stompanato's son alleged that Turner had been responsible for his death, and that her daughter had taken the blame. In a 1958 inquest, killing of Lana Turner's boyfriend was detailed Deputy Dist. Even the love goddess Lana Turner, who co-starred with Burton in The Rains Of Ranchipur, enjoyed a fling with him in his trailer. [228] Both films depicted the troubled, complicated relationship between a single mother and her teenage daughter. [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". 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. [256] According to Turner, Pellar (also known as Ronald Dante or Dr. Dante)[257] falsely claimed to have been raised in Singapore and to have a Ph.D. in psychology. [240] Upon completing filming, Turner collected the remaining $92,000 from her pension fund with MGM. 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. The clothes she wears are just like the clothes you pay to see her in on Saturday night at the Bijou. cities. "[146] Although unenthusiastic about the screenplay, Turner agreed to appear in the film after executives promised her suspension would be lifted upon doing so. 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 . [209] Turner testified that she initially believed Cheryl had punched him, but realized Stompanato had been stabbed when he collapsed and she saw blood on his shirt. February 27, 2023 . After all those years as a sex symbol, nothing had changed--Lana was still as beautiful as ever. William Joseph Shields (10 March 1888 - 14 January 1961), known professionally as Barry Fitzgerald, was an Irish stage, film and television actor. [277] Richard Christiansen of the Chicago Tribune praised her performance, writing that, "though she is still a very nervous and inexpert actress, she is giving by far her most winning performance". [261] Pellar denied the accusations and no charges were filed against him. [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. "[110], In August 1944, Turner divorced Crane, citing his gambling and unemployment as primary reasons. Cheryl, who is Lana's daughter with second husband Steve Crane, was tried and acquitted for Stampanato's death. [53] Turner left Warner Bros. and signed a contract with MGM for $100 a week ($1,885 in 2021 dollars [43]). [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. Lana Turner relationship list. Harrison had surgery and radiation in 1998. [135][136] Around this time, she began dating Henry J. [215] Stompanato's family sought a wrongful death suit of $750,000 in damages against both Turner and her ex-husband, Steve Crane. [61] Turner's onscreen sex appeal in the film was reflected by a review in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in which she was characterized as "the answer to 'oomph'". - 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 [150] "The script was stupid," she recalled. [338] Turner has also been cited in scholarly discussions of women's sexuality. Imperium', "The Screen in Review; 'Betrayed,' War Story, Opens at the State", "In a 1958 inquest, killing of Lana Turner's boyfriend was detailed", "Lana Turner Says She's Had It; Won't Marry Again", "Lana Turner Suspense Film Strains Credibility", "Lana Turner, Fifth Husband Separate; No Divorce Yet", "Lana Makes Melodrama 'Madame X' Credible", "Lana Turner in 'Divorce' Entertains Just Being Lana", "Music, Dance, Drama, Comedy Highlight Winter Play Season", "Lana Turner, the Sultry Actress, Is Dead at 75", "Lana Turner to Appear On CBS's 'Falcon Crest', "PPT's Shaktman led city's theatrical renaissance", "Lana Turner reveals she has throat cancer", "Lana Turner recovering after throat cancer surgery", "Lana Turner Determined to Beat Cancer Recurrence", "Lana Turner's Troubled Legacy Shows Signs of Life After Death: Tales of Suzy Bombmaker a "Politically Incorrect" boss and the judge who said too much", "Appeals Court Allows Lana Turner's Daughter to Challenge Trust Provisions", "GLS 592: The Hard Boiled Dames of Film Noir", "It only took 30 years for "My Baby Just Cares For Me" to be a hit", "Lana Del Rey has legs, a stalker, four Grammy nominations and a possible Broadway musical", "The 50 Most Infamous Actresses of All Time", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lana_Turner&oldid=1138339762, Converts to Roman Catholicism from Protestantism, United Service Organizations entertainers, Pages using Sister project links with wikidata namespace mismatch, Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata, TCMDb name template using numeric ID from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 9 February 2023, at 04:01. [170], MGM then gave Turner the titular role of Diane de Poitiers in the period drama Diane (1956), which had originally been optioned by the studio in the 1930s for Greta Garbo. [154] The following year, she began filming her second musical, The Merry Widow. [244] In September of that year,[245] Turner and May separated, divorcing shortly after in October. Per the official city of Wallace website, the Turner home in Wallace was located at 217 Bank Street, immediately west of downtown Wallace. [183] Released in December 1957, Peyton Place was a major blockbuster success, which worked in Turner's favor as she had agreed to take a percentage of the film's overall earnings instead of a salary. After a trial in 2009, he was sentenced to 19 years to life. 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. She is the most glamorous actress since Jean Harlow. [111] A lifelong Democrat, she spent the remainder of the year campaigning for Franklin D. Roosevelt during the 1944 presidential election. 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. "[330], Defenders of Turner's acting ability, such as Jessica Hope Jordan[331] and James Robert Parish,[332] cite her performance in The Postman Always Rings Twice as an argument for the value of her work. Sophie Turner nails casual chic in furry jacket and graphic . So what happened? Her next marriage was to Joseph Stephen Crane in 1942 (via Livingly ). That licked me. She stopped smoking after her diagnosis and, in February 1993, announced she was cancer free. She was 75. Three out of four head and neck cancers are linked to tobacco use, and men are . . [295] After undergoing radiation therapy,[292] Turner announced that she was in full remission in early 1993. "Joan Rivers interviews Lana Turner". [149] The first, Mr. Imperium, released in March 1951, was a box-office flop, and had Turner starring as an American woman who is wooed by a European prince. The same year, she had what she referred to as a "religious awakening", and again began practicing her Catholic faith. [117] The classic film noir marked a turning point in Turner's career as her first femme fatale role. [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". [125] She discovered she was pregnant with Power's child in the fall of 1947, but chose to have an abortion. In a role that allows her the gamut from tomboy to the pangs of childbirth and from being another man's woman to remorseful wife, she seldom fails to acquit herself creditably. The New York Times writes that she married bandleader Artie Shaw in 1940 when she was just 19. She died on June 25, 1995, in Culver City, California, after a long bout with cancer. "I do owe Mickey one thing: he taught me how much I enjoyed sex." Rooney was a player. [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". [289] She subsequently guest-starred on an episode of The Love Boat in 1985,[290] which marked her final on-screen appearance. An ailing Groucho Marx was the victim of elder abuse Burton reportedly said: 'She set out to get me, and I let. In her years as a top box office draw, she and longtime studio MGM forged her statuesque form into any number of pop . Following her film debut in . [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. "[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". Lana Turnerborn Julia Jean Mildred Francis Turner on February 8, 1921 in Wallace, Idahohad one of the most dramatic off-screen.