Lana Turner was no stranger to outstanding hardship. She was born Julia Jean Mildred Frances Tirner February 8, 1921 in Wallace, Idaho. Her uneventful birth in itself was relief – her grandmother had died in childbirth due to Rh factor complications, and there was the possibility that the condition had been passed on to Mildred. Though her mother was spared, Lana would later discover that she had inherited the disorder. Science afforded her a daughter, Cheryl, whom doctors saved with a total blood transfusion shortly after birth, but Lana’s dreams of a large family were dashed.

Lana fondly recalled nights, after dinner, spent dancing and listening to records with her parents. In later years, she attributed her love for music and dance to those evenings. Her father, who spent his days working in the mines, was also an excellent card player. His skills helped support the family through rough times. However, after a big win in a card game one night, he was robbed and murdered. Lana was heartbroken and later learned he had bragged about using the money to buy his daughter a tricycle – a gift she’d been begging him for.

Lana loved going to the movies. Every weekday, she would save a nickel from her lunch money and put it toward the 25 cent Saturday matinee. Her appreciation for the elaborate costumes of actresses Kay Frances and Norma Shearer carried over into her own career, and earned her a reputation for wearing some of the most beautiful costumes in film history. In fact, if she hadn’t gone into movies, Lana always said she would have been a fashion designer.

In search of greater job opportunities, Lana and her mother moved to California, One school day, shortly after their arrival, 15-year-old Lana went out for a Coke. However, despite the famous Hollywood legend, she wasn’t at Schwab’s Drugstore, but the Top Hat Café, a shop across the street from Hollywood High School. When W.R. (Billy) Wilkerson, publisher of the Hollywood reporter, happened to be quenching his thirst at the same time, he caught sight of Lana. He introduced himself, gave her his card and asked her to call newly operating talent agent Zeppo Marx. This, in addition to a letter Wilkerson personally wrote, helped team her with director Mervyn LeRoy.

LeRoy felt her nickname, Judy, was too plain. Julia Jean was also vetoed, so the two of them had “a brainstorming session.” LeRoy suggested Leonore, but it didn’t seem to fit. “What about Lana?” she suggested. She spelled it for LeRoy and waited while he said it several times and then finally nodded. “That’s it,” LeRoy told her, “You’re Lana Turner.”

Lana could relate to the role of schoolgirl Mary Clay in “They Won’t Forget,” and found it easy to play. Though the part was relatively small, when the film was released, she was immediately recognized. After the film, she found herself being called “The Sweater Girl,” thanks to a tight, blue wool sweater she wore in the film.

Despite the praise she received, Lana didn’t think she would become an actress She told intimates that she did the walk-on role in “They Won’t Forget,” considering it to be no more than a part-time job. None-the-less, she was offered more roles and continued to garner praise from both the critics and the public. While working in “The Adventures of Marco Polo,” Samuel Goldwyn insisted that her eyebrows be shaved off and replaced with straight, fake black ones. They never grew back, and from then on, she had to paste or draw her eyebrows.

When LeRoy left Warner Bros. For MGM, he took Lana with him. Her salary doubled from $50 to $100 a week After a year with MGM, her salary rose to $250 a week. By the time she was 20, Lana was earning $1500 a week. Though she was popular and constantly recognized in public, Lana was modest about her new found fame. She would politely tell fans that she’d been told she looked like Lana Turner before.

When the U.S. entered WWII, Lana spent time doing “railroad tours” selling war bonds. She wrote her own speeches and promised “a sweet kiss” to any man who purchased a bond worth $50 or more.

When MGM finally obtained a censor-approved script for “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” Lana was fortunate to be cast as Cora in the film. It was a perfect fit. Even today, some of her scenes as the adulterous femme fatale are considered among the most seductive and sensuous ever made.

Lana’s off screen romances were as controversial as the ones she portrayed on screen, particularly her affair with (and subsequent marriage to) bandleader Artie Shaw. Shaw refused to allow Lana to wear makeup. He banned her mother from the house, threw her home-cooked spaghetti on the floor in front of her guests and insisted that she clean it up. Finally, Lana could take no more of Shaw’s behavior and divorced him, though she still visited his house often and spent the night with him.

Carole Lombard hit the roof when she heard that Lana was going to play opposite her husband, Clark Gable, since Gable had a habit of sleeping with his leading ladies. Lombard grew so paranoid of rumors between them that she eventually had to be banned from the set.

After Gable left for wartime service in the Air Force, Lana met a shadowy figure named Stephen Crane, who claimed to be in the tobacco business, but actually was a small-time gangster and a friend of Bugsy Siegel. After only a few weeks, the two eloped and married. Later, Lana discovered Crane was already married at the time. She threw him out of the house, MGM arranged for her to have an annulment and she was granted custody of the unborn child.

When Lana’s career began to slide, she began drinking heavily. She had to drop the booze in order to keep her weight down, and this caused her to have severe bouts with depression, resulting once in an attempted suicide.

Lana stayed for awhile at Frank Sinatra’s house in Palm Springs, and was there when the famous fight between Frank and Ava Gardner took place. Afterwards, the two women took off together for a week of fun in Mexico.

Lana’s stormy romantic relationship with a man named John Steele (who actually turned out to be a dangerous mob associate named Johnny Stompanato) caused her much grief, when he threatened to kill her.

Once when Stompanato heard Lana had been going out to pubs for drinks with Sean Connery, he showed up on the set waving a gun. Connery decked him with one punch and security guards threw Stompanato out of the studio.

Lana’s daughter Cheryl walked in during one of Lana’s argumental bouts with Stompanato. In an ettempt to protect her mother, she attacked and stabbed Stompanato with a butcher knife. The death was later ruled a justifiable homicide and Cheryl was not incarcerated.

Despite her Oscar nomination for best Actress in “Peyton Place,” Lana realized that ”the happening,” as she called it, could easily cripple her career. Fortunately, to her credit, it did not. After her role as Meredith in “Imitation of Life” resulted in one of the finest performances of her career, she turned to the stage for other challenges. Though apprehensive at first, she discovered that live theater would become the new backbone of her working life. She also found herself immersed in television after gaining success in the re-occurring role of Jacqueline Perrault in “Falcon Crest.”

Lana’s active lifestyle continued until 1995 when she yielded to throat cancer. Her remains were cremated and given to her daughter.