Lana Turner Profile

Lana Turner

	(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