Lana Turner, actress: biography, filmography

The actress Lana Turner was remembered by the viewer as the owner of a beautiful chiseled figure, arrogant facial features and blond curls, that is, she was a typical model of the traditional appearance of movie stars of that era. She was not endowed with a unique acting talent, but is better known for an infinite number of novels and marriages. The press wrote about her ever-changing lovers and husbands, making her so famous for three and a half decades.

Legend Biography

Lana Turner is a pseudonym that the actress took for a creative career. Relatives and loved ones knew her as Julia Jean Mildred Francis Turner. She was born in the small mining town of Wallis, Idaho, on February 8, 1921. Her parents, Mildred and John Turners, were regular workers. Irish, Danish, English and Scottish blood mixed in the veins of the future world star.

Lana Turner, whose biography is set out in the article, did not always live in abundance. The carefree childhood of the little girl was overshadowed by the death of her father. John was an avid poker player, and once during a game there was a robbery in which he was killed. After the death of her father, Lana's mother moved the whole family to California, where there were more prospects for finding a job.

Lucky case

By a fortunate combination of circumstances and thanks to the expressive appearance, the girl was noticed by producers in one of the city cafes. Thanks to this fateful meeting, at the age of 17, Lana Turner signed her first contract with a film studio.

An amazing story about how a young beauty accidentally spotted in a cafe and invited to act in films, for a long time a legend went among Hollywood actors and was an inspiration for the same young girls who dreamed of a movie star career.

First film

It was behind the cafe counter, sipping soda through a straw, that Turner was first seen on screens by viewers. She made her debut in 1937 in the film "A Star Is Born." However, the film “They Won't Forget” by Melvin Le Roy, released in the same year, made a greater impression on the audience. Her heroine is very ill-treated, and at the end of the film she was killed. In this film, for the first time, the audience saw Turner's naked body, which added topics for conversation. Quite flattering statements about the young star were published in the Hollywood Reporter. After the premiere of this film, everyone called her “Girl in a Sweater”, as her heroine wore a tight blue sweater.

Rapid success

After the film “They Won't Forget,” offers simply rained down on “a girl in a sweater.” Turner was given roles that allowed to fully enjoy her beautiful figure and slender legs. Every year her new hit was released: 1938 - “The Adventures of the Venetian” (“The Adventures of Marco Polo”), 1939 - “Dancing Student”, 1940 - “Two Girls on Broadway”, 1941 - “Siegfield Girl” and many other.

For a role in the film "Dancing Blonde," Turner had to repaint herself in a blonde and radically change her image. After this role, Lana was called the queen of nightclubs. The rapid rise in her popularity began after the death of Gene Horlow, who for a long time was called "the most charming blonde in Hollywood."

The role of frivolous and windy blondes was given to her perfectly, but when it came to the dramatic role, it became clear that Lana Turner could not cope with her. This became clear from the film "Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", which was released in 1941.

However, this did not affect Turner's popularity. During the war years, her fame particularly increased, and as it became clear, not because of the talented acting skills, but because of the “blue sweater” that successfully fit the chest. During World War II, Lana Turner became the most famous actress who posed for pin-up girls. Her posters were hung on the walls of the barracks. At this time, she began to engage in public work and sell military bonds, traveling around the country. Lana wrote the recruiting speeches for her speeches herself, and promised everyone who purchased a bond with a face value of $ 50,000 and above to give their kiss. The strategy worked, and as she claimed, it helped replenish the country's budget by several million.

Worthy role

Despite the fact that by 1946, Lana Turner had already managed to star in a large number of films, real recognition came to her only after the role of Cora Smith, which she played in the film “The Postman Always Calls Twice,” an adaptation of the novel by James Kane directed by Thei Garnet.

Her life-like appearance of a cold arrogant woman perfectly suited the image of the main character, who was able to make her lover kill her own husband. Her heroine manages to escape punishment, but not divine retribution. The visiting card and the main role of the actress is considered the image of the fateful woman Kora, it was her who played Lana Turner. “The Postman Always Calls Twice” is the most famous film in which the actress starred.

Variety of images

According to film critics, the most successful role at the turn of the decade is Milady Winter in the movie Three Musketeers, filmed in 1948. However, the career of the actress in these years was not so smooth, a large number of Turner roles remained without attention. However, her role as Georgia Lorrison in the movie "Evil and Beautiful," directed by Vincent Minnel, is considered the most successful.

Already in the mid-40s, she was in the top ten highest paid actresses. In the 1950s, Lana Turner became Queen of MGM. Her filmography has dozens of roles in gangster, adventure films and melodramas, but her acting skills did not get better from this. She played gangster girlfriends in the films “Slightly Dangerous”, “Johnny Eager”, “Hangout” and refined ladies in the films “Three Musketeers” and “Dubarry was a Lady”. The lack of acting in films was striking more than in musicals, where they decided to return her. The following are the roles in the musicals The Merry Widow and Mr. Imperium.

Lana and her men

The personal life of the actress was more like a romance novel or one of her roles as the "fatal woman." In a legal marriage, she was eight times, and the number of lovers is difficult to count. Lana's husbands also became celebrities: Lex Barker (courageous Tarzan), Artie Shaw, millionaire Bob Topping, and lesser-known, but very wealthy personalities. The windy actress often joked that in childhood they dreamed of having one husband and seven children, but it turned out the other way around.

During numerous love affairs and marriages, she had only one child. Lana Turner's daughter, Cheryl, was born from her husband Stephen Crane, for whom the actress twice officially married.

Love and death

Each marriage or love affair took place with Lana loudly and with scandals. She brought some men so much that they pushed her from the stairs, others poured champagne in public or gave a slap in the face. All stories were excitedly described by newspapers and famous magazines. Lana's name was constantly heard.

But this is not the most scandalous story that happened to her. The life of the heroines from gangster novels was to her liking, and she was looking for communication with such people. This later played a cruel joke with Turner. One of her lovers was the famous gangster Johnny Stompanato. He was an unspoken model of male sexuality and valor, and was also able to completely subjugate the actress. Their romance took place especially violently, with constant scandals and quarrels. Johnny considered Lana completely his property and was terribly jealous. During one of such strong quarrels, he wanted to flush her face so that after it no one would get to her. The witness of their quarrel was the fourteen-year-old Cheryl, who in fear grabbed a cutting knife and inflicted a mortal wound on her mother’s lover.

Around this story for a long time there were rumors that everything did not happen exactly as it was presented at the trial, but, despite the large amount of dirt poured on the movie star, its popularity only increased from this.

After this turning point, Lana Turner began to play only in melodramas the role of mothers who lived for their daughters. Lana Turner in her old age, when she had already left a big movie, starred on television and published a book about her memories under the title “Lana - Lady, Legend, True.”