From her seven husbands to the murder of her boyfriend Johnny Stompanato, Lana Turner's scandals often overshadowed her onscreen success.
Rumors swirled about the pair, but Turner always insisted that they were just friends. Public Domain
When Lana Turner was 16 years old, she cut class to get a drink at a nearby malt shop. Instead, she met a Hollywood power player who offered to make her a star. The rest is history. Turner became a Hollywood legend who awed audiences in films like Ziegfeld Girl, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Madame X. But her silver screen glamour had a dark side.
Not only had Turner endured a traumatic childhood, but she also had a number of volatile relationships with men. Turner was married eight times (to seven different husbands) and had several more casual relationships. One was with Johnny Stompanato, a physically abusive gangster.
In 1958, Turner's 14-year-old daughter Cheryl Crane fatally stabbed Stompanato as he threatened her mother. His bloody death would forever overshadow Turner's film career and would become — as Crane later wryly noted — ubiquitous in anything written about either one of them.
This is the story of Lana Turner, the scandal-ridden Hollywood star.
Becoming The "Sweater Girl" In Hollywood
Public DomainLana Turner was born Julia Jean Turner, and spent her early years in Idaho.
Born on February 8, 1921, in Wallace, Idaho, as Julia Jean Turner, Lana Turner's life took a tragic turn early on. After her family moved to San Francisco and her parents separated, her gambler father was beaten to death by an unknown assailant after winning money at a card game in 1930.
"Although I was only nine, I could imagine what death meant," Lana Turner later recalled in her memoir. "I knew he was gone forever."
Suddenly a single parent trying to make ends meet, Turner's mother briefly left the young girl with a foster family. When she learned that the foster family had become abusive, however, she retrieved her daughter. The two of them soon traveled to Los Angeles in 1936 to get a fresh start.
There, Lana Turner fatefully decided to skip school one day. She went to a nearby malt shop for a soda, which is where she caught the eye of Billy Wilkerson, the founder of The Hollywood Reporter. In a story that quickly became Hollywood lore, Wilkerson asked Turner if she'd like to be in movies. The teen responded: "I'll have to ask my mother."
One thing led to another, and Turner soon made her feature film debut with a part in They Won't Forget (1937). Turner's role in the movie was small, but her impact wasn't. Her character attracted a lot of attention thanks to the tight sweater she wore, and she was even nicknamed "Sweater Girl."
Entertainment Pictures/Alamy Stock PhotoLana Turner made a big splash in her feature film debut They Won't Forget.
From there, Lana Turner's star grew brighter. And her scandals got bigger.
Lana Turner's Stardom And Scandals
Following Lana Turner's success in They Won't Forget, the studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) cast her in a number of films in the 1940s and 1950s.
Public DomainLana Turner, seen here in a 1943 publicity shot, proved that she was more than just good looks.
She performed with Clark Gable in Honky Tonk (1941) and Somewhere I'll Find You (1942), starred in the film noir classic The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), and got an Oscar nomination for her role in Peyton Place (1957).
During World War II, Turner also became a popular pinup model, and her likeness was even painted on some American planes.
American Air Museum in BritainAmerican servicemen standing in front of a B-17 Flying Fortress, which was decorated with Lana Turner's likeness.
Meanwhile, Lana Turner's personal life made headlines as well. She had seven husbands — Turner once quipped, "My goal was to have one husband and seven children, but it turned out to be the other way around" — starting with bandleader Artie Shaw, who Turner married in 1940 after just one date.
She had her first and only child, Cheryl Crane, with her second husband Joseph Stephen Crane, and eventually cavorted with numerous male Hollywood stars like Tyrone Power, Howard Hughes, and Frank Sinatra.
Public DomainLana Turner, Stephen Crane, and Cheryl Crane in 1943. The couple divorced the following year.
Then, in early 1957, Lana Turner fatefully struck up a relationship with gangster Johnny Stompanato, who was physically abusive.
Cheryl Crane Murders Johnny Stompanato
According to a 1999 article from Vanity Fair, Lana Turner and Johnny Stompanato's short-lived relationship was passionate but volatile.
Los Angeles Times Photographic CollectionLana Turner, Johnny Stompanato, and Cheryl Crane in March 1958, shortly before Stompanato's death.
Stompanato was said to be "madly in love" with Turner, but became increasingly violent, especially after the 1958 Academy Awards in March. Enraged that Turner had refused to take him to the ceremony — the actress didn't want to be seen in public with him — Stompanato brutally beat her. Turner decided to end things with Stompanato just days later, on April 4th.
However, Stompanato refused to accept that the relationship was ending. As 14-year-old Cheryl Crane listened, he berated and threatened Turner.
"You'll never get away from me," Stompanato purportedly shouted. "I'll cut you good, baby... No one will ever look at that pretty face again."
Frightened for her mother, Crane picked up a knife and ran into the bedroom where the two were arguing. Turner opened the door and Crane purportedly saw Stompanato raise his arm, as if to strike Turner from behind. (It was later learned that he was lifting up clothing on hangers.)
Public DomainCheryl Crane shortly after her arrest in April 1958.
"I took a step forward and lifted the weapon," Cheryl Crane later wrote in her 1988 autobiography, Detour: A Hollywood Story. "He ran on the blade. It went in. In! For three ghastly heartbeats, our bodies fused. He looked straight at me, unblinking. 'My God, Cheryl, what have you done?'"
Crane had cut through Stompanato's liver, portal vein, and aorta. Fatally stabbed, the gangster fell to the ground and soon breathed his last.
Afterward, the teen was arrested and held in juvenile hall. Salacious rumors soon surrounded the case — including that Turner had murdered Stompanato and that Stompanato was having an "affair" with Crane — but the killing was ultimately ruled a justifiable homicide.
And Lana Turner went back to making movies.
Lana Turner's Final Years
Following Stompanato's death, Lana Turner returned to work as an actress. She starred in the film Imitation of Life (1959) and earned $2 million for the role. Turner also starred in Who's Got the Action? (1962) with Dean Martin, and later captivated audiences in Madame X (1966).
Public DomainLana Turner in a publicity photo for Madame X.
Though Turner struggled with her long-term alcoholism and pill addiction — and her relationship with her daughter — things smoothed out by the 1980s. Turner gave up alcohol and grew closer with her child.
She continued to work sporadically in the 1970s and 1980s, but she was eventually diagnosed with throat cancer in 1992. Lana Turner ultimately died on June 29, 1995 due to cancer complications at the age of 74.
By then, almost 60 years had passed since Turner was discovered in a malt shop. She had experienced incredible highs and shocking lows during that time period, from her superstardom to her scandals, but one thing was never contested: Lana Turner was Hollywood royalty.
"Cheryl, love," Sean Connery told Cheryl Crane at the 1958 Academy Awards, "look over there at your mom. That's what I call a star."
After reading about Lana Turner, discover some of the biggest scandals from Old Hollywood. Or, learn about Clara Bow, the "It" girl of the 1920s.
