Search

Lana Turner Profile

Lana Turner
Lana Turner
Photo of Lana Turner
Photo gallery
(Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner)
8 February 20/21 is born in Wallace, Idaho. Her father’s a gypsy-like worker who met her mother, Mildred Frances Cowan, at a Saturday night dance in Wallace.
she grows up nicknamed Judy
the family moves to San Francisco when she’s 8
14 December 30 her father is found murdered, dead from a fractured skull
her family moves to Los Angeles, and she enrolls at Hollywood High School
January 36 is spotted at an ice cream parlor across from Hollywood High, and it is not at Schwab’s Drug Store, as the legend goes, by Billy Wilkerson, publisher of The Hollywood Reporter
37 debuts in A Star Is Born
22 February 37 director Mervin LeRoy signs her to a personal contract at $50 a week and casts her for They Won’t Forget
LeRoy sells her contract to MGM, in a deal arranged by Benny Thau
does a lot of nightclub hopping
screen-tests for Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind
? handsome attorney Greg Bautzer becomes her first love and fiancée until Joan Crawford comes between them
39 while filming Dancing Co-Ed, she meets 29-year-old playboy and bandleader Artie Shaw. She dislikes him from the first moment, but when her date Greg Bautzer begs off, she goes out with Artie. At midnight they decide to marry.
13 February 40 marries Shaw in Las Vegas
her husband inundates her with thick books, classical records, and art gallery visits
12 September 40 her marriage to Shaw dissolves. There are rumors that MGM studio boss Louis B. Mayer feared she would become pregnant. Bautzer arranges her divorce.
is off to Hawaii to recuperate from her divorce. Shaw will later marry actresses Ava Gardner and Evelyn Keyes.
c. 41 actor Robert Hutton comes under her spell but eventually returns to Cleatus Caldwell, whom he will marry
41 while filming Honky Tonk, there are rumors of an off-screen romance with her co-star Clark Gable
dates more than 150 men
starts seeing billionaire Howard Hughes off and on until 1946
17 July 42 marries Joseph Stephen Crane, a 27-year-old tobacco heir and wanderer, who introduced himself at the Hollywood Mocambo nightclub, Las Vegas. He will join the Army soon afterwards.
December 42 when she announces she’s pregnant, Cranes’ former wife announces that her divorce from Crane won’t be legally final until January 19, 1943
14 March 43 remarries Crane in Tijuana, Mexico
25 July 43 her daughter, Cheryl Christine Crane, is born
April 44 sues Crane for divorce. Bautzer arranges the divorce.
21 August 44 her divorce from Crane is granted
45 earns $4,500 a week
End 45 starts a torrid love affair with actor Turhan Bey. A wedding is planned for August 1946.
46 despite dating her, Turhan Bey flirts with his co-star Jane Adams while filming A Night in Paradise
during a party at the home of actress Ann Rutherford, there’s a fight between Crane and Bey over her. Two weeks later, Bey ends their relationship by never calling her again. Religious differences become the official reason for the split.
is comforted by actors Rory Calhoun, Peter Shaw, and Robert Hutton over the loss of Bey
Mid-46 has an affair with Frank Sinatra, who’s is separating from his wife, Nancy
director Otto Preminger tries to talk Darryl F. Zanuck into casting her as Peggy Cummins’ replacement in Forever Amber, but Linda Darnell gets the part
has an passionate 18-month-affair with actor Tyrone Power, who’s still married to French actress Annabella
Christmas 47 spends the holidays at Round Top, in Connecticut, the home of millionaire Henry J. Topping, the ex of actress Arline Judge. Topping’s a heavy gambler and alcoholic, who becomes violent when drunk.
26 April 48 marries Topping at the Bel Air residence of Billy Wilkerson. She sports a $30,000 trousseau for the occasion. Hedda Hopper considers her marriage to Topping the "Wedding of the Year."
suffers a miscarriage, the first of two, while on honeymoon in Europe
hits the headlines with an evening of strong drink and the showing of a stag film during a pool party at the Topping home
48 accepts a suspension rather than be in The Three Musketeers
after an evening at the Mocambo, Topping catches her in an inappropriate moment with entertainer Billy Daniels
? slits her wrists, in her only recorded suicide attempt
May 50 the Toppings attend the Bal Masque Charity Ball, paying $25-per-person admission. Her mask wins third prize.
August 50 she and Topping give up their vacation to complete their house and to take care of their weimaraner dog
September 51 separates from Topping. Shortly thereafter, she’s in the Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital with a lacerated arm, which she blames on a shower door.
31 December 51 MGM signs her to a new long-term contract
52 has an off-screen romance with her co-star in The Merry Window, Fernando Lamas
doesn’t get along with her director Vincente Minnelli while filming The Bad and the Beautiful
October 52 there are rumors that Frank Sinatra may have caught Ava Gardner and her in bed together

15 November 52 her divorce from Topping becomes final. She wins a $216,000 divorce settlement. Bautzer arranged her divorce.
53 after an open argument at a party at the home of Marion Davies concerning Lana’s new beau, actor Lex Barker, Lamas is replaced by Ricardo Montalban in her upcoming Latin Lovers
Barker accompanies her to Italy where she films Flame and the Flesh. The couple makes headlines in Naples.
7 September 53 marries Barker, the ex of Arlene Dahl, in Turin, Italy
December 53 remarries Barker in Hollywood
53 is considered for Helen of Troy
54 replaces Ava Gardner in Betrayed, to be shot in the Netherlands and England
55 is off to Hawaii for The Sea Chase, filmed at Kaelakekua Bay
wins over Ava Gardner and Rita Hayworth when cast as the female lead in The Rains of Ranchipur
resides with her husband in a Brentwood mansion. They spend their free time in Acapulco.
trouble arises when Barker, the sole breadwinner after her departure from MGM, asks her to stick to a $1,500-a-month budget
56 separates from Barker
February 56 ends her term with MGM
April 56 with Barker she’s part of an almost inseparable foursome around town with actress Joan Caulfield and Frank Ross. The friendship started when they vacationed in Acapulco.
57 is considered for The Sound and the Fury
is nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for Peyton Place
23 July 57 her divorce from Barker becomes final
begins to date Johnny Stompanato, a 32-year-old gigolo and lieutenant of Los Angeles mobster Mickey Cohen. With her daughter away at Ojai’s Happy Valley School, she starts a torrid affair.
58 is off to England for Another Time, Another Place. Stompanato follows her.
spends eight weeks with Stompanato, at her expense, in Acapulco
Easter 58 her 14-year-old daughter Cheryl is back from school
4 April 58 after a violent argument between her and Stampanoto, Cheryl kills Stompanato by stabbing him in the back with a ten-inch butcher’s knife in her mother’s bathroom
when Cheryl is arrested, Lana calls in attorney Jerry Giesler
there are rumors that the reason for the murder was jealousy between her and Cheryl for the love of Stompanato
Cheryl is found guilty of homicide and transferred to the El Retiro Institution at San Fernando Valley. Despite security precautions, she escapes twice.
59 a percentage of the profits of her smash hit Imitation of Life make her a wealthy woman
is to star in Anatomy of a Murder, but differences with director Otto Preminger over her wardrobe have her replaced with Lee Remick
27 November 60 marries Fred May, a horse breeder from Chino, California, at the Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica. She’s 40; he’s 43.
62 will never speak to writer Harold Robbins again; he put the Stompanato case into his best-selling story Where Love Has Gone
15 October 62 gets a Mexican divorce from May, but they remain good friends
22 June 65 marries young film producer Robert Eaton. She’s 45; he’s 34.
69 talks Eaton into producing her upcoming The Big Cube
1 April 69 divorces Eaton, who will write a scandalous novel dealing with his marriage
8 May 69 marries Ronald Dante, a nightclub hypnotist, in Las Vegas, where he’s appearing at the Pussycat A-Go-Go. She’s 49; he’s 39.
69 stars in Harold Robbins’ "The Survivors," at a season budget of $8,000,000, the most expensive TV series to date. At the start she has a slapping orgy with producer William Frye over her jewelry. She later warns co-star Kevin McCarthy never to upstage her and battles for a limousine to be at her constant call.
Late 69 separates from Dante and sues him for defrauding her of $35,000
8 June 71 is on the stage for the first time in the summer stock production of 40 Carats, which opens at the Shady Grove Music Fair, near Bethesda, Maryland. The show also plays in Pennsylvania and New York.
72 sells her Malibu Beach home and ranch and settles in a penthouse in Malibu
26 January 72 her divorce from Dante becomes final. He receives a settlement of approximately $200,000.
her secretary-companion, Tylor Pero, becomes her steady escort
Late 73 is off to London for Persecution. She will later call it the worst film she ever made.
13 April 75 is celebrated at the New York Town Hall in a special evening in a series of homages to "Legendary Ladies of the Screen"
Late 75 is on stage at the Chicago Arlington Park Theatre with Louis Jourdan in The Pleasure of His Company
her frequent escort is Ronald Ziegler, ex-President Nixon’s former press secretary
Summer 77 tours in Bell, Book and Candle
77 her frequent escort is Charles Evans, New York businessman and brother of producer Robert Evans. He’s 11 years her junior.
29 June 95 dies at age 75 in Century City, California, of throat cancer
is cremated; her ashes are given to the family
Sources:
Lana: The Public and Private Lives of Miss Turner by Joe Morella, The Hollywood Beauties by James Robert Parish, Movie Stars of the '40s by David Ragan, Modern Screen, www.IMDb.com. www.Findagrave.com
Recommended Books:
Links:
Filmography
Official Site
The Lana Turner Picture Archive