Born Julia Jean Turner in Idaho in 1921, Lana Turner’s mother was only 16 and her father was a poor minor. Having hit hard times, the small family moved to San Francisco where her father was robbed and murdered leaving a craps game with his winnings stuffed in his sock. Mother and daughter soon relocated to Los Angeles where they struggled against poverty. Hollywood lore tells us that the beautiful teenager was “discovered†drinking a Coke at a Sunset Boulevard café by the publisher of “The Hollywood Reporterâ€. Struck by her fresh face and gorgeous figure, he referred her to Zeppo Marx (brother of Groucho) and the young starlet was immediately signed by MGM. She attracted attention at the young age of sixteen in the 1937 film “They Won’t Forget†after which she earned the nickname “The Sweater Girl†(apparently much to her chagrin). She would go onto play the beautiful, young ingénue for the next several years before establishing herself as a leading lady. Lana Turner is most known for such films as: “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde†(1941) as one of the original horror film scream queens; “The Postman Always Rings Twice†(1946) as the femme fatale; and for her talented performances in “Peyton Place†(1957) and “Imitation of Life†(1959). Perhaps overshadowing a long and illustrious career in Hollywood was an unfortunate 1958 scandal involving Lana’s daughter Cheryl Crane who stabbed to death Lana’s gangster boyfriend Johnny Stompanato apparently in self-defense (later ruled justifiable homicide). Lana Turner’s rise to Hollywood fame is one of the true Cinderella stories of her day.
