Lana Turner
Lana's life started out rough, and then looked like it would be a storybook. When she was a young girl, her father was murdered and robbed after winning at a crap game. While living in LA, the 16 year old Lana was discovered by a magazine publisher as she sat drinking a Coke at the Top Hat Cafe - and the well known legend was born.
Lana proved to be not only a pinup success, but also a well reviewed actress. She appeared in many films from the late 1930's up through television appearances in the 1970s and 80s.
Lana was married a total of 8 times, to seven different men. Most of the marriages ended disasterously. Not as disasterously as her affair with Mobster Johnny Stompanato, though.
Stompanato was a small time hood, associated with the more sizable gangster Mickey Cohen. He and Turner had a stormy romance, to say the least. He once stormed on to the set of a movie she was filming in England - brandishing a gun and accusing her of cheating on him with actor Sean Connery. Connery punched Stompanato, disarmed him, and had him removed from the set.
Once back in the US, Turner and Stompanato reportedly got into an argument that turned physically violent. Turner's teenaged daughter was present, and she ended up stabbing Stompanto to death. The Courts later ruled that the stabbing was self defense.
Yeah... she was a beauty, all right. She also was reportedly a really sweet lady. But what is it with gorgeous women and crazy drama? Lana Turner is a classic example of the woman who is constantly attracted to the "bad boy".
Here's a Youtube clip that I really like, featuring a very young Lana Turner staring as a Soda Fountain worker in a Dept. Store. The movie is "Slightly Dangerous", and unfortunately it's not out on DVD or Video - so you'll have to catch it on TCM sometime if you want to see the whole thing.
6 comments:
I love Friday at your blog.
Stompanato should probably get the dishonorary title of "The Tough Guy Who Wasn't".
Sad tales, but a person who gets married 8 times is obviously not themselves anyway. People change, sure, but having things end badly 8 times?? that tells me that she was too much an actress. too bad. very beautiful.
It's strange, how many people who should have had it on easy street wound up with unhappy lives.
Bitmap - Yeah... you can kind of glaze over getting your ass kicked by James Bond, but gettin' snuffed by a teenage girl in a knife fight is another matter.
Xmichra - My thoughts exactly. Maybe it was some combination of being attracted to bad people, and not being able to stop acting - and actually be a real person.
Hermit - Just goes to show that money can't buy happiness. Rent, maybe, but not buy.
It's amazing how Hollywood seems to have so many people with tragic stories. I don't know if they go there with the tragedy following them, or if the find it there.
It just seems like so many people end up wrecked after being there a while.
I'm with Bitmap. I totally dig your "Girl Friday" thing.
And "... you can kind of glaze over getting your ass kicked by James Bond, but gettin' snuffed by a teenage girl in a knife fight is another matter" - quality snark right there. Yessir.
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