[33] She stated that she had "never seen myself walking before [It was] the first time [I was] conscious of my body. lana turner cause of death. 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." . [160], In the spring of 1953, Turner relocated to Europe for 18 months to make two films under a tax credit for American productions shot abroad. Popular African-American vocalist and entertainer Barbara McNair dazzled audiences with her singing prowess and exceptional beauty for well over four decades until her death on February 4, 2007 of throat cancer in Los Angeles. [82] The Turner-Gable films' successes were often heightened by gossip-column rumors about a relationship between the two. [113] She was then cast as the female lead in Week-End at the Waldorf, a loose remake of Grand Hotel (1932) in which she portrayed a stenographer (a role originated by Joan Crawford). Indeed, there is cause for suspicion that they didn't even bother to think. Lana Turner was one of the biggest stars of Golden Age Hollywood cinema. In 1992, Turner was diagnosed with throat cancer and died of the disease three years later at age 74. [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. [79] The studio recast Turner in the smaller role, though she was still given top billing. Published on July 3, 2018 06:50 PM. 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. Occupations. Lana Turner's most memorable film is 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' (1946) , which marked the first time she was cast as a femme fatale, opposite John Garfield. Contents. In the mid-thirties, Columbia Pictures put her under a long-term contract, transforming dark-haired teenager Rita Cansino into redhead bombshell Rita Hayworth. 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. [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. [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. She is the most glamorous actress since Jean Harlow. After 18 years at MGM, I'm a free agentI used to go on a bended knee to the front office and say, please give me a decent story. [105][106], Meanwhile, publicity over Turner's remarriage to Crane led MGM to play up her image as a sex symbol in Slightly Dangerous (1943), with Robert Young, Walter Brennan and Dame May Whitty, in which she portrayed a woman who moves to New York City and poses as the long-lost daughter of a millionaire. I'll work for nothing, just give me a good story. [217] A 1962 novel by Harold Robbins entitled Where Love Has Gone and its subsequent film adaptation were inspired by the event. . The clothes she wears are just like the clothes you pay to see her in on Saturday night at the Bijou. "[81], Turner was then cast in the Western Honky Tonk (1941), the first of four films in which she would star opposite Clark Gable. "[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. 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. Born to working-class parents in northern Idaho, Turner spent her childhood there before her family relocated to San Francisco. [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. [60] Upon completing Dramatic School, Turner screen-tested for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939). [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. "[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". 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. [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". [76] After completing the film, Turner and co-star Garland remained lifelong friends, and lived in houses next to one another in the 1950s. [59], Mayer helped further Turner's career by giving her roles in several youth-oriented films in the late 1930s, such as the comedy Rich Man, Poor Girl (1938) in which she played the sister of a poor woman romanced by a wealthy man, and Dramatic School (1938), in which she portrayed Mado, a troubled drama student. [167] Variety deemed the film "a big-scale spectacleEnd result of all this flamboyant polish, however, is only fair entertainment. [99][100] Their marriage was annulled by Turner four months later upon discovering that Crane's previous divorce had not yet been finalized. Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner: Date of death: . [22] In the mid-1930s, Turner's mother developed respiratory problems and was advised by her doctor to move to a drier climate, upon which the two moved to Los Angeles in 1936.[22][25]. [147] On May 24, 1950, Turner left her handprints and footprints in cement in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. From a Times Staff Writer. 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. Mature, it has taken the audience through such a lengthy and tedious amount of detail that it has not only frayed all possible tension but it has aggravated patience as well. Read Complete Obituary Photos [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. [26] "I know that my father's sweetness and gaiety, his warmth and his tragedy, have never been far from me," she later said. With her film career launched in earnest by the dawn of the forties, she became a top pin-up . The death was categorized as natural. "She was doing fine. Lana Turner spoke these words as aspiring actress Lora Meredith in Imitation of Life (1959), but they could have been uttered by almost any of her characters over her 4 decades in Hollywood. [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. [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. [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. The physical allure is just as heavy when she looks at a headwaiter as when she looks at a hero. The same year, she had what she referred to as a "religious awakening", and again began practicing her Catholic faith. An Aspiration Cut Short. [229] During this time, Turner's daughter Cheryl privately came out as a lesbian to her parents, who were both supportive of her. Sophie Turner nails casual chic in furry jacket and graphic . 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. Comedian Ralphie May died on October 6 at age 45. 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 . 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. [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. [11] In 2012, Complex named her the eighth-most infamous actress of all time.[347]. [344][345] In 2002, artist Eloy Torrez included Turner in an outdoor mural, Portrait of Hollywood, painted on the auditorium of Hollywood High School, her alma mater. [114] The film was a box-office hit.[114][115]. In the film, she portrayed the daughter of a wealthy patriarch who pursues a relationship with a man in love with her sister. However, Turner notes in her autobiography that her birth certificate lists Julia Jean Turner as her official birth name. "[121] It was her first starring role that did not center on her looks. [8] John was 24 years old at the time, and Mildred's father objected to the courtship. "[4] Michael Gordon, who directed Turner in Portrait in Black, remembered her as "a very talented actress whose chief reliability was what I regarded as impoverished taste Lana was not a dummy, and she would give me wonderful rationalizations why she should wear pendant earrings. Harrison was smoker. [182] The film, directed by Mark Robson, was adapted from Grace Metalious' best-selling novel of the same name. [79] While the film was financially successful,[80] Time magazine panned it, calling it "a pretentious resurrection of Robert Louis Stevenson's ghoulish classic As for Lana Turner, fully clad for a change, and the rest of the cast they are as wooden as their roles. She stopped smoking after her diagnosis and, in February 1993, announced she was cancer free. Tina Turner's son Ronnie Turner 's cause of death has been revealed. [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. [323] Turner often purchased her favorite styles of shoes in every available color, at one time accumulating 698 pairs. [181] Weeks after her divorce, Turner began filming 20th Century-Fox's Peyton Place, in which she had been cast in the lead role of Constance MacKenzie, a New England mother struggling to maintain a relationship with her teenage daughter. Family Husbands Lana Turner had four marriages. According to Closer Weekly, Turner was married eight times, including twice to the same man. [64] A remake of The Broadway Melody, the film was marketed as featuring Turner's "hottest, most daring role". [293][294] In a press release, she stated that the cancer had been detected early and had not damaged her vocal cords or larynx. Post author: Post published: February 26, 2023; Post category: . "[310] She also likened her to Clara Bow, adding: "Both of them, trusting and lovable, use their hearts instead of their heads. The New York Times writes that she married bandleader Artie Shaw in 1940 when she was just 19. Lana Turner (February 8, 1921 - June 29, 1995) was an American actress in 1937-1962. [338] Turner has also been cited in scholarly discussions of women's sexuality. Lana has always acted hastily and been guided more by her own ideas than by any advance any studio gave her. [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. Lana Turner Lana Turner ( / ln / LAH-n; [a] born Julia Jean Turner; February 8, 1921 - June 29, 1995) was an American actress. Despite treatment, the cancer returned in July 1994. [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. Actor (1945 - 1973 (bef.)) Turner, Lana (September 28, 1982). [224] Imitation of Life made more than $50 million in box office receipts. In her years as a top box office draw, she and longtime studio MGM forged her statuesque form into any number of pop .