Ava Gardner’s deathbed confessions reveal stories of booze, sex and stardom | New York Post Ava Gardner’s deathbed confessions reveal stories of booze, sex and stardom ‘SHORT’ COURTSHIP:Ava Gardner was a virgin when she wed Mickey Rooney in 1942, but says she “caught on very quickly.” (MPTV) ‘SHORT’ COURTSHIP: Ava Gardner was a virgin when she wed Mickey Rooney in 1942, but says she “caught on very quickly.” ( ) She was broke and alone and usually drunk, a one-time Hollywood goddess who had two choices: “I either write the book or sell the jewels,” she said. “And I’m kinda sentimental about the jewels.” And so, in January 1988, Ava Gardner, ravaged by booze and cigarettes and a recent stroke, called British journalist Peter Evans and asked him to ghostwrite her memoirs.

What followed were the extended deathbed confessions of a legend, compiled for the first time in Evans’ last book, “Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations.” Among the shocking revelations: first husband Mickey Rooney was such a womanizer that he cheated on Ava, then considered the most beautiful woman in the world, in their marital bed — while she was in the hospital recovering from an appendectomy. “He went through the ladies like a hot knife through fudge,” she said, adding that her best friend Lana Turner — who’d slept with Rooney first — called him “Andy Hard-On.” Gardner went on to marry bandleader Artie Shaw — “another kind of bully; he was always putting me down” — and then, most famously, Frank Sinatra, who left his wife for her. Sinatra knew it was true love on their first date, when they went for a late-night drunken drive from Palm Springs to Indio and “shot out streetlights and store windows” with a pair of .38s the Chairman kept in his glove compartment. While seeing Sinatra, Gardner also had an affair with the married Robert Mitchum. “I was crazy about him,” she said. When she told Mitchum that she was also seeing Sinatra, he ended things.

“He said, ‘Get into a fight with him, and he won’t stop until one of you is dead,’ ” Gardner said. “He didn’t want to risk it being him.” Gardner was a teenage virgin from Grabtown, NC, when she was discovered by a talent scout in 1941. She’d grown up poor and uneducated, yet her mother always knew that Ava had what it took to be a movie star. So did she. “I wasn’t dumb,” Gardner said. “I knew that my looks might get me through the studio gates.” She knew she wasn’t a great actress, and didn’t much care: “A lot of my stuff ended up on the cutting-room floor,” she said. “A lot more should have.” After a screen test, she was signed to a seven-picture deal with MGM, and quickly became sought after by nearly every leading man in Hollywood. On her first day on the lot, she met Rooney, the 5-foot-2 star of the wholesome “Andy Hardy” series. “I wanted to f–k you the moment I saw you,” he told her. Gardner was 18 and innocent. “I was shocked,” she said.

“I still didn’t know he was the biggest wolf on the lot . . . He’d screw anything that moved.” After a one-year courtship they wed, and one of Hollywood’s greatest sex symbols was a virgin on her wedding night. “I caught on very quickly,” she said. After Rooney came Howard Hughes. “I never loved him,” she said, adding that despite the generosity he showed her, paying for her dying mother’s medical care, he was also a racist. “Howard wouldn’t piss on a black man to put him out if he was on fire,” she said. Then, in 1945, she married Shaw — who’d also left his wife for her. But now Gardner was smoking three packs of Winstons a day and getting drunk constantly; she felt so intellectually insecure around her new husband that she finally took an IQ test. “He had me convinced that I was completely stupid,” Gardner said. “I didn’t have an enormous IQ, but I did have a high one.” One week after their first anniversary, Shaw dumped her for another woman. “The bastard broke my heart,” she said, and throughout her life she picked the wrong men. — including George C.

Scott, who Gardner said would often drunkenly “beat the s–t out of me.” In 1951 she married Sinatra, who she later called the love of her life. Their relationship was famously tempestuous, and her best friend Turner — who’d also had affairs with Shaw and Sinatra — begged Gardner not to go through with it: “I’ve been there, honey,’ she told me. ‘Don’t do it!’ I should have listened to her.” Gardner had two abortions during her marriage to Sinatra, and a courtship that began with “fighting all the time, boozing and fighting,” ended the same way. They divorced in 1957, but remained close for the rest of their lives, and when Gardner pulled out of completing her memoirs, Evans suspected that Sinatra gave her the money she would have gotten for the book. Her decision wasn’t a complete surprise to Evans; she would later say that when she was “pushing clouds around,” he could publish their book. She died in 1990, at 67, from pneumonia.

Share this: Lana Turner: 7 Husbands - Much-married celebs - Pictures - CBS News Next Mickey Rooney: 9 Wives Actor Mickey Rooney and his wife, Jan, arrive at the 81st Academy Awards at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, Calif. on Feb. 22, 2009. Although Jan is the actor's ninth wife, the former child star has been married to her since 1978, longer than all his other marriages combined. Rooney's first marriage was in 1942 to Hollywood actress Ava Gardner. It ended in divorce as did all his other marriages except the one to Barbara Ann Thompson, who was murdered in 1966. Credit: VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images Zsa Zsa Gabor: 9 Husbands Ailing actress Zsa Zsa Gabor had eight husbands before she wed Prince Frederic von Anhalt in 1986, who has been at her bedside during her recent illnesses. The Hungarian-born star took her first husband when she was 20 in 1937. Her ex-husbands included the late Conrad Hilton, great-grandfather of Paris Hilton and founder of the Hilton hotel chain.

She had her only child, a daughter, with Hilton. Her first seven marriages ended in divorce; her marriage to her eighth husband, Mexican attorney Felipe de Alba, was annulled, reportedly because her previous marriage was not properly ended. One of three famous sisters, Gabor apparently came from a marrying family. Her sister Eva took five trips down the aisle. Credit: AP Elizabeth Taylor: 7 Husbands Academy Award-winning actress Elizabeth Taylor, who died in 2011, was married eight times but had only seven husbands. She was married twice (in 1964 and 1975) to fellow actor Richard Burton whom she met on the set of "Cleopatra" while both were married to others. She took her first husband, Conrad Hilton Jr. (the hotel founder's son) when she was 18. She also was married to actor Michael Wilding, producer Mike Tiodd, singer Eddie Fisher, Sen. John Warner and construction worker Larry Fortensky. Todd was killed in a plane crash; the other marriages ended in divorce.

Credit: AP Photo/Christie's Larry King: 7 Wives Talk show host Larry King answers reporters' question at a press conference for Seoul Digital Forum in Seoul, South Korea, May 25, 2011. He has been married eight times to seven different women, His current wife, singer Shawn Southwick, filed for divorce in 2010 but later withdrew the suit when the two reconciled. King was just 18 when he made his first trip down the aisle in 1951 with his high school sweetheart in a marriage that later was annulled. He was to repeat that journey seven more times with six other women. Former Playboy bunny Alene Akins was both his third and fifth wife.

Credit: AP Photo/Lee Jin-man Lana Turner: 7 Husbands Kirk Douglas and Lana Turner dance in a scene from Vincente Minnelli's 1953 film "The Bad and the Beautiful." The actress, who died in 1995 at age 75, was married and divorced eight times between 1940, when she took her first husband, bandleader Artie Shaw, and 1972, when she divorced seventh husband Ronald Pellar. Her marriage to second husband Stephen Crane was annulled after just a few months and was followed a month later by a second wedding to him. He was the father of her only child. Credit: AP Photo Jerry Lee Lewis: 7 Wives Jerry Lee Lewis, a rock 'n' roll pioneer, has been married seven times, including once to a 13-year-old first cousin. The backlash from that marriage - his third - almost killed his career. Lewis has said in interviews he was 14 when he first married and his wife was 17. His fourth wife drowned in a swimming pool and his fifth wife died of a methadone overdose.

He was divorced from the others, except for his current wife, Judith Brown, whom he married in March of 2012. Credit: Noel Vasquez/Getty Images Gregg Allman: 6 Wives Musician Gregg Allman, founding member of the Allman Brothers band, has had six wives, including singer/actress Cher, with whom he had a son, Elijah Blue. Allman, who writes about his marriages and ex-wives, in his new memoir "My Cross to Bear," has announced his engagement to Shannon Williams, a woman 40 years his junior. Credit: Toby Canham/Getty Images Rex Harrison: 6 Wives British actor Rex Harrison, best known as Henry Higgins in the movie "My Fair Lady," is seen with Elizabeth Taylor in Vienna on Nov. 2, 1976. Harrison was married six times, including to actresses Lilli Palmer (his second wife) and Kay Kendall (his third wife). Kendall's 1959 death left Harrison a widower and his 1990 death left sixth wife Mercia Tinker a widow. The other marriages ended in divorce. Credit: AFP/Getty Images Tony Curtis: 6 Wives Actor Tony Curtis, who died Sept.

29, 2010, had six wives, beginning with "Psycho" actress Janet Leigh. The couple divorced in 1962 after 11 years of marriage amid reports of Curtis' affair with co-star Christine Kaufmann, who became his second wife. Credit: AP Photo Joan Collins: 5 Husbands Actress Joan Collins arrives at Clive Davis and the Recording Academy's 2012 Pre-Grammy Gala and Salute to Industry Icons on Feb. 11, 2012, in Beverly Hills, Calif. The British-born "Dynasty" star has been married to current husband Percy Gibson since 2002. But before that, she was married and divorced four times. Previous spouses included Irish actor Maxwell Reed, award-winning singer, actor and film composer Anthony Newley and Swedish singer Peter Holm. Her current husband is 32 years younger than she. Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images Martin Scorsese: 5 Wives Oscar-winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese arrives at the 84th Academy Awards Nominations Luncheon at The Beverly Hilton hotel on Feb. 6, 2012.

The New York director has been married to Helen Morris since 1999, but he had four divorces in his history when they hooked up. Among his previous spouses was actress Isabella Rossellini to whom he was married from 1979 to 1983. Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images Billy Bob Thornton: 5 Wives "Sling Blade" actor Billy Bob Thornton has said he probably won't marry again because marriage doesn't seem to work for him. He should know - he's tried it five times. His most famous ex-wife is his last one, actress Angelina Jolie, to whom he was married from 2000 to 2002. He also was married to actresses Toni Lawrence and Cynda Williams and to Playboy model Pietra Dawn Cherniak. For the last decade, he has been involved with makep artist Connie Angland, with whom he has a daughter.

Credit: Marsaili McGrath/AP Images Tammy Wynette: 5 Husbands Country singer Tammy Wynette is seen on the cover of her 1968 hit "Stand By Your Man." Wynette, who died in 1998, was married five times, including one six-year union (1969 to 1975) with fellow country singer George Jones. When she died, she had been married more than 20 years to singer/songwriter George Richey, who also served as her manager. Credit: Epic Records Kenny Rogers: 5 Wives Singer/songwriter Kenny Rogers performs at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's Ford Theater on May 10, 2012, in New York. The 73-year-old musician has been married five times with four divorces. His ex-wives include actress Marianne Gordon, whom he wed in 1977 and divorced 1993. He married current wife Wanda Miller in 1997. Credit: Rick Diamond/Getty Images Larry Flynt: 5 Wives Hustler magazine founder Larry Flynt arrives at the premiere of a documentary on his life on Oct.

26, 2007. Flynt has been married five times, most recently to current wife Elizabeth Berrios, whom he wed in 1998. He married his fourth wife Althea in 1976 and they remained married until her death in 1987. Credit: AP Photo George Foreman: 5 Wives George Foreman shows off his Hall of Fame ring during the International Boxing Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Canastota, N.Y., June 8, 2003. The former World Heavyweight Champion, who has been married to Mary Joan Martelly since 1985, had four other wives. He also has 11 children, including five sons, all named George. Credit: AP Photo Dennis Hopper: 5 Wives "Easy Rider" actor and director Dennis Hopper, who died in 2010, was notorious for his relationships with women, including second wife, Mamas and the Papas singer Michelle Phillips, who filed for divorce after just 100 days of marriage. Hopper was in the process of divorcing his fifth wife, Victoria Duffy, when he died.

Credit: AP Photo Geraldo Rivera: 5 Wives Televison personality Geraldo Rivera walks on a New York street on Dec. 9, 2002. He has been married five times and divorced four times. His married his current wife, Erica Michelle Levy, in 2003 and they have a daughter together. Rivera has four other children. His ex-wives include painter Edith Vonnegut, whose father was novelist Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Credit: AP Henry Fonda: 5 Wives Screen legend Henry Fonda is seen performing on a New York stage in 1970. The Oscar-winning actor and father of actors Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda had five wives including actress Margaret Sullivan, his first wife. Second wife Frances Ford Seymour Brokaw was the mother of his two natural children; he also adopted a daughter with third wife Susan Blanchard. Fonda was married to fifth wife, Shirlee Mae Adams, when he died in 1982. Credit: AFP/Getty Images Danielle Steele: 5 Husbands Novelist Danielle Steele arrives at Clive Davis' pre-Grammy party on Feb.

11, 2012, in Los Angeles. The best-selling romance author is currently unattached, but she has been married and divorced five times. Her most recent ex-husband was financier Tom Perkins, whom she divorced in 2002 after four year s of marriage. Credit: Getty Images Eddie Fisher: 5 Wives Actress Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher smile following their wedding in Grossinger, N.Y., on Sept. 26, 1955. Reynolds was Fisher's first wife, whom he divorced in 1959 to marry Elizabeth Taylor, the widow of his friend Mike Todd. Taylor dumped Fisher five years later to marry her "Cleopatra" co-star- Richard Burton. Fisher, who died in 2011, was also married to - and divorced from - Connie Stevens and Terry Richard. He tied the knot with fifth wife Betty Lin in 1993 and they were still married when she died on April 15, 2001.

Credit: AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler, File John Huston: 5 Wives Legendary film director John Huston, pictured here in the 1980s, was married five times. Four of his marriages ended in divorce. His fourth wife, Soma, died during their marriage. Huston, who died in 1987, had three children, including actors Anjelica Huston and Danny Huston. He also had a step-daughter and an adopted son. Credit: AFP/Getty Images Ernest Borgnine: 5 Wives Ernest Borgnine was married five times during his life. He was first married to Rhoda Kemins, from 1949-1958. Borgnine was married to actress Katy Jurado from 1959-1963. In 1964, he married actress Ethel Merman. The union barely lasted a month - she filed for divorce 32 days later. He then married Donna Rancourt in 1965. Borgnine's fifth and final marriage, in 1973 to Tova Traesnaes, was the one that endured.

Lana Turner and Ava Gardner Relationship Details | ShagTree Photo Credits Ava Gardner; pictured with Lana Turner - tribe.net "Ava Gardner; pictured with Lana Turner ... A biography has previously alleged that Sinatra found Gardner and Turner in bed together and Gardner ... Ava and a male ..." - source The Best Bits from the Secret Ava Gardner Conversations ... "... there was Ava Gardner. ... Lana Turner got her smoking. ... When Gardner first met Sinatra, both were married, ..." - source AVA GARDNER AND LANA TURNER - Dating, Gossip, News, Photos "Ava Gardner and Lana Turner photos, ... Who's Dated Who feature on Ava Gardner and Lana Turner ... Ava and a male friend were sitting down to eat dinner ..." - source Classic Hollywood Beauties: Ava Gardner "Ava Gardner "What I'd really ... Ava Lavinia Gardner was born on December 24, ... She married bandleader Artie Shaw, ex-husband of Lana Turner, in 1945." - source Lana Turner dating history. Lana Turner Boyfriend, Husband "Lana Turner relationship list. ... Ava Gardner and Lana Turner. ...

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as dated as the ..." - source Lana Turner and Artie Shaw Relationship Details | ShagTree Photo Credits Lana Turner - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Julia Jean "Lana" Turner (February 8, 1921 ... Bandleader Artie Shaw (1940). Married only four months, Turner was 19 when she and Shaw eloped on their first date." - source ARTIE SHAW AND LANA TURNER - Dating, Gossip, News, Photos "Artie Shaw and Lana Turner photos, news and gossip. Find out more ... Who's Dated Who? accepts no responsibility whatsoever in connection with or arising from such ..." - source Lana Turner | Movie Classics "Bandleader Artie Shaw (1940) Married only four months, Turner was 19 when she and Shaw eloped on their first date. She later referred to their stormy and ..." - source Artie Shaw and Lana Turner Photos - Artie Shaw and Lana ... "Browse photos of Artie Shaw and Lana Turner ... Who's Dated Who? content is contributed and edited by our readers. You are most welcome to update, correct or add ..." - source Lana Turner dating history.

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"In 1940, bandleader Artie Shaw composed a song that would become one of his signature tunes: "Summit Ridge Drive," named for Shaw's then-home..." - source Lana Turner - Biography - IMDb "Lana Turner had an acting ability that belied the "Sweater Girl" image MGM ... In 1937 Lana entered the movie ... She was married to Artie Shaw for six months and 17 ..." - source The Juiciest Revelations from Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations - Barnes & Noble Reads — Barnes & Noble Reads The Juiciest Revelations from Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations February 20, 2014 at 3:15 pm Share Hollywood legend Ava Gardner spilled her guts to biographer Peter Evans—for a bit—until the plug got pulled on their collaboration on her memoirs. Both Gardner and Evans have since passed away, but the fruits of their work, Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations , are now available for readers to enjoy. Below, find a sampling of some (but not all!) of the juicy tidbits bawdy Gardner told Evans: Gardner repeatedly contemplated suicide near the end of her life.

“I’m getting close to that point, honey. I’m so f—–g tired of being Ava Gardner.” While their brief marriage was turbulent, Gardner thanks first husband Mickey Rooney for her sexual education. “I do owe Mickey one thing: he taught me how much I enjoyed sex.” Rooney was a player. “He was the biggest wolf on the lot…the little sod was not above admiring himself in the mirror. All five-foot two of him!…He probably banged most of the starlets who appeared in his Andy Hardy films—Lana Turner among them.” Rooney was an inveterate gambler. “Mick was hooked on the horses.” He had a direct line to his bookmakers on the set of his Andy Hardy movies and received a copy of the Racing Form on set with his first coffee every morning. Howard Hughes was impatient, to say the least. “He’d started calling on me while I was still married to Mickey [Rooney]. He had a great sense of entitlement, Mr. Hughes.” Hughes was racist. “When I told him that my closest childhood friend…was black, he didn’t call me for about six weeks…he wouldn’t employ blacks in his aircraft plants?

F— him!” Humphrey Bogart was a pain to work with. “Bogie hated learning lines. He knew every trick in the book to f— up a scene and get a retake if he felt a scene wasn’t going his way.” Gardner had an affair with John Huston while married to bandleader Artie Shaw. “John was pissed when I wouldn’t stay the night with him. We’d been fooling around. But I wasn’t going to jump into bed with him on our first date, as much as I wanted to. I don’t think many women said no to Johnny.” Husband Artie Shaw was emotionally abusive. “He used to put me down so much I lost complete confidence in myself. I insisted on taking an IQ test because…he had me thoroughly convinced that I was completely stupid.” Lover George S. Scott was physically abusive. “When GCS was loaded, he was terrifying—he’d beat the s— out of me and have no idea next morning what he’d done.” Costar Robert Mitchum was a pothead.

“On the set, in front of reporters, he’d call to his makeup man: ‘Hey, bring me some of that good s—, man.’” Gardner and third husband Frank Sinatra went on benders together. “We went for a drive in the desert and…really tied one on. We started shooting up a little town…with a couple of .38s Frank kept in the vanity compartment. We shot out streetlights, store windows. God knows how we got away with it. I guess Frank knew somebody…with a badge. He usually did.” Sinatra was a jealous grudge-holder. “He turned against Sammy Davis for years after I did a Christmas spread with Sam for one of those big black magazines. Frank never really forgave him, he was always slapping him down. People thought he was kidding, but he wasn’t.” Princess Grace Kelly was a tightwad, but she was good for it when she lost a bet. Gardner once bet Kelly $20 that the British public park she lived near was larger than the princess’s estate in Monaco, and won. “Grace was tight with a buck but she always paid up.

She sent over the twenty dollars—with a magnum of Dom Perignon from Harrods, and a note pinned to an almighty pack of aspirins saying they were for the hangover I was going to get!” Lana Turner - Biography - IMDb Lana Turner Biography Showing all 95 items Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (8) | Trade Mark (2) | Trivia (49) | Personal Quotes (22) | Salary (8) Overview (5) Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner Nicknames 5' 3" (1.6 m) Mini Bio (1) Lana Turner had an acting ability that belied the "Sweater Girl" image MGM thrust upon her, and even many of her directors admitted that they knew she was capable of greatness (check out The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)). Unfortunately, her private life sometimes overshadowed her professional accomplishments. Lana Turner was born Julia Jean Mildred Francis Turner in Wallace, Idaho. There is some discrepancy as to whether her birth date is February 8, 1920 or 1921.

Lana herself said in her autobiography that she was one year younger (1921) than the records showed, but then this was a time where women, especially actresses, tended to "fib" a bit about their age. Most sources agree that 1920 is the correct year of birth. Her parents were Mildred Frances (Cowan) and John Virgil Turner, a miner, both still in their teens when she was born. In 1929, her father was murdered and it was shortly thereafter her mother moved her and the family to California where jobs were "plentiful". Once she matured into a beautiful young woman, she went after something that would last forever: stardom. She wasn't found at a drug store counter, like some would have you believe, but that legend persists. She pounded the pavement as other would-be actors and actresses have done, are doing and will continue to do in search of movie roles. In 1937, Lana entered the movie world, at 17, with small parts in They Won't Forget (1937), The Great Garrick (1937) and A Star Is Born (1937).

These films didn't bring her a lot of notoriety, but it was a start. In 1938 she had another small part in Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938) starring Mickey Rooney . It was this film that made young men's hearts all over America flutter at the sight of this alluring and provocative young woman--known as the "Sweater Girl"--and one look at that film could make you understand why: she was one of the most spectacularly beautiful newcomers to grace the screen in years. By the 1940s Lana was firmly entrenched in the film business. She had good roles in such films as Johnny Eager (1941), Somewhere I'll Find You (1942) and Week-End at the Waldorf (1945). If her career was progressing smoothly, however, her private life was turning into a train wreck, keeping her in the news in a way no one would have wanted. Without a doubt her private life was a threat to her public career. She was married eight times, twice to Stephen Crane . She also married Ronald Dante, Robert Eaton, Fred May, Lex Barker , Henry Topping and bandleader Artie Shaw .

She also battled alcoholism. In yet another scandal, her daughter by Crane, Cheryl Crane , fatally stabbed Lana's boyfriend, gangster Johnny Stompanato, in 1958. It was a case that would have rivaled the O.J. Simpson murder case. Cheryl was acquitted of the murder charge, with the jury finding that she had been protecting her mother from Stompanato, who was savagely beating her, and ruled it justifiable homicide. These and other incidents interfered with Lana's career, but she persevered. The release of Imitation of Life (1959), a remake of a 1934 film ( Imitation of Life (1934)), was Lana's comeback vehicle. Her performance as Lora Meredith was flawless as an actress struggling to make it in show business with a young daughter, her housekeeper and the housekeeper's rebellious daughter. The film was a box-office success and proved beyond a doubt that Lana had not lost her edge. By the 1960s, however, fewer roles were coming her way with the rise of new and younger stars.

She still managed to turn in memorable performances in such films as Portrait in Black (1960) and Bachelor in Paradise (1961). By the next decade the roles were coming in at a trickle. Her last appearance in a big-screen production was in Witches' Brew (1985). Her final film work came in the acclaimed TV series Falcon Crest (1981) in which she played Jacqueline Perrault from 1982-1983. After all those years as a sex symbol, nothing had changed--Lana was still as beautiful as ever. She died June 25, 1995, in Culver City, California, after a long bout with cancer. She was 75 years old. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Ray Hamel and Denny Jackson Spouse (8) Trivia (49) Born at 12:30pm-PST According to the book "Golden Girls of MGM" by Jane Ellen Wayne, she lost her eyebrows due to the glue used to attach false ones to give her an Asian look. In her autobiography, she stated that her true birthdate is February 8, 1921.

She stated that "I am one year younger than the records show." Fainted during her 1953 wedding to Lex Barker . Gave birth to her only child at age 22, a daughter Cheryl Christina Crane (aka Cheryl Crane ) on July 25, 1943. Child's father is her 2nd ex-husband, Stephen Crane . Billy Wilkerson of The Hollywood Reporter found her sipping a Coke in a drugstore and was so taken by her he blurted out that standard Hollywood line, "How'd you like to be in pictures?". Her first role, sure enough, had her in a tight skirt and even tighter sweater sitting at a drugstore counter. She was set to appear in Anatomy of a Murder (1959) with James Stewart until she objected to the off-the-rack wardrobe that director Otto Preminger had selected for her. Lee Remick took over the role. Her daughter, Cheryl Crane , wrote a book about her life with her mother, her mother's 7 husbands and numerous boyfriends and living in Hollywood.

It was entitled "Detour: A Hollywood Story" and was published in 1988 (ISBN:o-380-70580-X) Once when she was being interviewed by Hedda Hopper , Lex Barker , Lana's future husband, was in the same room. There was a large vase of flowers blocking her view of Lex, so Lana got up, walked across the room and removed them, remarking, "He's brand new and I want to look at him!" Her auburn hair was bleached for Idiot's Delight (1939). She was withdrawn from the film, but the fact that she had become a blonde not only changed her screen image but gave her such an outgoing, swinging personality that Hollywood called her the Nightclub Queen. She was called the Sweater Girl. Interestingly, Lana, translated into Spanish means "wool." In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) with Spencer Tracy and Ingrid Bergman Turner was originally supposed to play Ivy, the tart. Bergman was supposed to play the innocent girl engaged to Tracy, but she wanted Turner's part and so the roles were switched.

Once she was forced to evacuate her apartment building when a fire broke out. Having only minutes to collect what she needed, Lana grabbed her lipstick, her eyebrow pencil and her hairdryer. She was a true American hybrid, with a mixture of Scottish, Irish, Dutch and English ancestry. Is one of the many movie stars mentioned in Madonna 's song "Vogue" Is portrayed by Brenda Bakke in L.A. Confidential (1997) Once said that her turn as Cora Smith in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) was "the role I liked best". In Italy, almost all of her films were dubbed by either Lidia Simoneschi or Rosetta Calavetta . She was occasionally dubbed by Dhia Cristiani . "The Private Diary of My Life With Lana", a memoir, written by one of her closest friends, Eric Root, was published one year after her death. Root, a long time friend and hairdresser of Turner's, has a large collection of jewelry that belonged to Miss Turner. He still owns the beauty salon in Beverly Hills where Turner and many other iconic stars were clients. Campaigned for Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1944 presidential election.

Was originally hired to play Caddy Compson in The Sound and the Fury (1959), but was replaced by Margaret Leighton before filming began. Featured in "Femme Noir: Bad Girls of Film" by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry (McFarland, 1998). Was considered for the role of Maggie Pollitt in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), which was eventually given to Elizabeth Taylor . Sister-in-law of Daniel Topping during her marriage to his brother, Henry Topping. She was never married for more than five years. Her longest marriage was to Henry Topping (four years, seven months, 14 days). Her shortest marriage was to Stephen Crane , which was annulled at six months, 18 days (38 days later she married him again). She was married to Artie Shaw for six months and 17 days. Although diagnosed with throat cancer in 1992, Turner continued to smoke until almost the very end of her life. Was offered the role of Mrs. Cabot on the series Hotel (1983), but made so many demands that she was dropped and replaced by Anne Baxter .

According to the Richard Burton biography "And God Created Burton" Turner had an affair with the actor when they were filming The Rains of Ranchipur (1955) together. February 14, 1954, CBS: This episode was an hour long tribute to help celebrate MGM's 30th anniversary. Lana Turner made a live appearance on the show and performed the "Madame Crematante" number (aka "A Great Lady Has An Interview") that Judy Garland had performed in 1946's "Ziegfeld Follies". Among the male singers/dancers featured were Steve Forrest, Edmund Purdom, and John Ericson. In her autobiography she wrote that she had skipped a typing class at Hollywood High School. She went to the Top Hat Cafe, on Sunset Boulevard, and was sitting at the counter sipping a Coke. According to the Sunset Boulevard website, Billy Wilkerson , who wrote for the Hollywood Reporter, noticed her and thought she was attractive enough to be in films. With her mother's approval, he introduced Turner to the agent, Zeppo Marx , who was Groucho Marx 's brother. Soon she was put under contract to MGM.

Was two months pregnant with her daughter Cheryl Crane when she completed filming Slightly Dangerous (1943). Returned to work five months after giving birth to her daughter Cheryl Crane in order to begin filming Marriage Is a Private Affair (1944). Suffered three stillbirths (in 1949, 1951 and 1956) during her life as a result of having the Rh factor. Became pregnant by her first husband Artie Shaw in 1940 and her then-lover Tyrone Power in 1946; on both occasions she had abortions. Was offered the role of Eloise Y. Kelly in Mogambo (1953) but she turned it down. Ava Gardner , who went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, was cast instead. She became involved with co-star Fernando Lamas while filming The Merry Widow (1952). He was supposed to co-star with her again in Latin Lovers (1953), but they had a falling out and Lamas was replaced in the film by Ricardo Montalban .

She was born in a small mining town, where her father Virgil, an itinerant miner and one of 12 children, eloped with 15-year-old Mildred Frances Cowan. Mildred's parents objected until they learned she was pregnant with what would be her only child, Lana. Shew as not "discovered" seated on a stool in Schwab's drugstore in Hollywood, but she was seen in an ice cram parlor across the street from Hollywood High School by Billy Wilkerson , founder and publisher of industry trade paper "The Hollywood Rporter," only a block or two away. Turner's father was murdered in December 1930 after participating in an all-night crap game in San Francisco, where the family had moved. The case was never solved. After her small but stunning part in They Won't Forget (1937), she was signed by director Mervyn LeRoy , not by Warner Brothers as is often believed (although Leroy was working for Warner Brothers at the time). When Leroy moved to MGM, he took Turner with him. At one point in her life, she counted and discovered that she owned 698 pairs of shoes.

When she was a young girl, she had dreams of becoming a dress designer. Favourite actresses as a child included Kay Francis and Norma Shearer . Close friend Linda Darnell acted as a witness at Turner's first wedding to Stephen Crane . Is mentioned by name in the Gus Kahn / Walter Donaldson song "My Baby Just Cares for Me". In 1958, while filming Another Time, Another Place (1958) in London, England, she was visited by her boyfriend, gangster Johnny Stompanato. Stompanato suspected that she was having an affair with co-star Sean Connery and at one point confronted Connery and threatened to kill him. Connery knocked him unconscious with one punch. He then waited until Stompanato regained consciousness and told him that if he ever saw Stompanato again he would kill him. Stompanato left London the next day. According to her autobiography Turner lost her virginity to lawyer Greg Bautzer in March 1938 at age 17. Their relationship ended after Joan Crawford revealed to Turner that she and Bautzer had been having an affair.

Her first lover was Greg Bautzer a lawyer who became known as "The Man Who Seduced Hollywood.". Daughter Cheryl Crane fatally stabbed Turner's lover, gangster Johnny Stompanato, during a physical altercation in 1958. Stompanato physically attacked Turner, and Crane, who was 14 at the time, wanted to protect her mother. Jerry Giesler represented Crane. The murder was deemed justifiable homicide at a coroner's inquest and Crane was acquitted. Personal Quotes (22) A successful man is one who makes more money than a wife can spend. A successful woman is one who can find such a man. I find men terribly exciting, and any girl who says she doesn't is an anemic old maid, a streetwalker, or a saint. [on Hollywood] It was all beauty and it was all talent, and if you had it they protected you. I planned on having one husband and seven children, but it turned out the other way around. Humor has been the balm of my life, but it's been reserved for those close to me, not part of the public Lana. I've always loved a challenge. Trash is something you get rid of - or disease.

I'm not something you get rid of. I liked the boys and the boys liked me. The thing about happiness is that it doesn't help you to grow; only unhappiness does that. So I'm grateful that my bed of roses was made up equally of blossoms and thorns. I've had a privileged, creative, exciting life, and I think that the parts that were less joyous were preparing me, testing me, strengthening me. The truth is, sex doesn't mean that much to me now. It never did, really. It was romance I wanted, kisses and candlelight, that sort of thing. I never did dig sex very much. [on her father's murder] The shock I suffered then may be a valid excuse for me now - may explain things I do not myself understand. With each marriage, I thought that that would be *it*. In my wildest dreams I never, never thought that I would have seven husbands. If you can believe it, I thought at the time that each marriage would last forever. You see, with one bitterly painful exception, when I fell in love, I married. [on her marriage to Artie Shaw ] After the ceremony, we went out to an all-night diner for coffee.

Suddenly I realized that my mother had no idea where I was. The taxi drove us to the telegraph office, and I wrote out a message: "Got married in Las Vegas. Call you later. Love, Lana." Maybe it was subconscious, but I didn't mention who it was I'd married. I read someplace that Judy Garland , then seventeen, had had a serious crush on Artie [Shaw]. She had gone out with him days before I did and hoped he was getting serious. The morning after we eloped, she was eating breakfast in bed when she saw the headlines, and immediately burst into tears. Later that day Phil Silvers got an angry phone call from Betty Grable , who was in love with Artie and getting a divorce. "That son of a bitch," she told Phil, "who does he think he is?" If I don't laugh at least three times during the day, I've had a bad day. I've got to have a minimum of at least three good laughs. I wouldn't have survived without my sense of humor, and thank God I have always been able to laugh at myself. I haven't had an easy life, but it sure hasn't been a dull one.

And I'm pretty proud of the way this gal has held up. If I'd been given a magical glimpse into my future, if I could have foreseen everything that was going to happen to me, all the headlines my life would make, all the people who would pass through my days, I wouldn't have believed a syllable of it! [on relationships] Today things are very different, and I think they're healthier. People fall in love and move in together, and nobody bats an eye. They get to know each other first, to see if their romance can survive the mundane things like whether or not he picks up after himself, or she leaves hair in the sink. Or that all-important question of sharing expenses, each one pulling his or her weight. Honeymoon first, and if it lasts, then marriage. I like that. [on the headlines about the Stamponato case] I read everything, then reread it, attempting to analyze the whole awful happening. And after I had done that I felt totally drained. The press had done their worst, and now I knew exactly what that worst was. And I'd have to survive it.

[on her marriage to Artie Shaw ] Marriage meant permanence to me, but with Artie, I began to realize, it was no marriage. It was hell. [on Joan Crawford ] One day I got a phone call from Joan Crawford. Greg [Bautzer] had taken me to several parties at her house, but I didn't know her well. Those parties were all the same. After dinner the guests would be herded into a projection room to watch movies. Joan knitted constantly. During the film, you could always hear her needles clicking away. In These Glamour Girls (1939), I was billed as costar with Lew Ayres. There were so many girls in the picture that the studio had just slapped up some flats as our dressing rooms. As soon as I saw them I got Mr. Mayer on the phone. I could hear someone on the set whispering, "Uh-oh, she's going to get in trouble." But I went ahead and told him directly, "I want a dressing room of my own." And I got it. Salary (8) Lana Turner - The Private Life and Times of Lana Turner. Lana Turner Pictures.

Lana Turner (Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner) 8 February 20/21 is born in Wallace, Idaho. Her father’s a gypsy-like worker who met her mother, Mildred Frances Cowan, at a Saturday night dance in Wallace. she grows up nicknamed Judy the family moves to San Francisco when she’s 8 14 December 30 her father is found murdered, dead from a fractured skull her family moves to Los Angeles, and she enrolls at Hollywood High School January 36 is spotted at an ice cream parlor across from Hollywood High, and it is not at Schwab’s Drug Store, as the legend goes, by Billy Wilkerson, publisher of The Hollywood Reporter 37 debuts in A Star Is Born 22 February 37 director Mervin LeRoy signs her to a personal contract at $50 a week and casts her for They Won’t Forget LeRoy sells her contract to MGM, in a deal arranged by Benny Thau does a lot of nightclub hopping screen-tests for Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind ?

handsome attorney Greg Bautzer becomes her first love and fiancée until Joan Crawford comes between them 39 while filming Dancing Co-Ed, she meets 29-year-old playboy and bandleader Artie Shaw. She dislikes him from the first moment, but when her date Greg Bautzer begs off, she goes out with Artie. At midnight they decide to marry. 13 February 40 marries Shaw in Las Vegas her husband inundates her with thick books, classical records, and art gallery visits 12 September 40 her marriage to Shaw dissolves. There are rumors that MGM studio boss Louis B. Mayer feared she would become pregnant. Bautzer arranges her divorce. is off to Hawaii to recuperate from her divorce. Shaw will later marry actresses Ava Gardner and Evelyn Keyes. c.

41 actor Robert Hutton comes under her spell but eventually returns to Cleatus Caldwell, whom he will marry 41 while filming Honky Tonk, there are rumors of an off-screen romance with her co-star Clark Gable dates more than 150 men starts seeing billionaire Howard Hughes off and on until 1946 17 July 42 marries Joseph Stephen Crane, a 27-year-old tobacco heir and wanderer, who introduced himself at the Hollywood Mocambo nightclub, Las Vegas. He will join the Army soon afterwards. December 42 when she announces she’s pregnant, Cranes’ former wife announces that her divorce from Crane won’t be legally final until January 19, 1943 14 March 43 remarries Crane in Tijuana, Mexico 25 July 43 her daughter, Cheryl Christine Crane, is born April 44 sues Crane for divorce. Bautzer arranges the divorce. 21 August 44 her divorce from Crane is granted 45 earns $4,500 a week End 45 starts a torrid love affair with actor Turhan Bey.

A wedding is planned for August 1946. 46 despite dating her, Turhan Bey flirts with his co-star Jane Adams while filming A Night in Paradise during a party at the home of actress Ann Rutherford, there’s a fight between Crane and Bey over her. Two weeks later, Bey ends their relationship by never calling her again. Religious differences become the official reason for the split. is comforted by actors Rory Calhoun, Peter Shaw, and Robert Hutton over the loss of Bey Mid-46 has an affair with Frank Sinatra, who’s is separating from his wife, Nancy director Otto Preminger tries to talk Darryl F. Zanuck into casting her as Peggy Cummins’ replacement in Forever Amber, but Linda Darnell gets the part has an passionate 18-month-affair with actor Tyrone Power, who’s still married to French actress Annabella Christmas 47 spends the holidays at Round Top, in Connecticut, the home of millionaire Henry J. Topping, the ex of actress Arline Judge. Topping’s a heavy gambler and alcoholic, who becomes violent when drunk. 26 April 48 marries Topping at the Bel Air residence of Billy Wilkerson.

She sports a $30,000 trousseau for the occasion. Hedda Hopper considers her marriage to Topping the "Wedding of the Year." suffers a miscarriage, the first of two, while on honeymoon in Europe hits the headlines with an evening of strong drink and the showing of a stag film during a pool party at the Topping home 48 accepts a suspension rather than be in The Three Musketeers after an evening at the Mocambo, Topping catches her in an inappropriate moment with entertainer Billy Daniels ? slits her wrists, in her only recorded suicide attempt May 50 the Toppings attend the Bal Masque Charity Ball, paying $25-per-person admission. Her mask wins third prize. August 50 she and Topping give up their vacation to complete their house and to take care of their weimaraner dog September 51 separates from Topping. Shortly thereafter, she’s in the Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital with a lacerated arm, which she blames on a shower door.

31 December 51 MGM signs her to a new long-term contract 52 has an off-screen romance with her co-star in The Merry Window, Fernando Lamas doesn’t get along with her director Vincente Minnelli while filming The Bad and the Beautiful October 52 there are rumors that Frank Sinatra may have caught Ava Gardner and her in bed together 15 November 52 her divorce from Topping becomes final. She wins a $216,000 divorce settlement. Bautzer arranged her divorce. 53 after an open argument at a party at the home of Marion Davies concerning Lana’s new beau, actor Lex Barker, Lamas is replaced by Ricardo Montalban in her upcoming Latin Lovers Barker accompanies her to Italy where she films Flame and the Flesh. The couple makes headlines in Naples. 7 September 53 marries Barker, the ex of Arlene Dahl, in Turin, Italy December 53 ends her term with MGM April 56 with Barker she’s part of an almost inseparable foursome around town with actress Joan Caulfield and Frank Ross. The friendship started when they vacationed in Acapulco.

57 is considered for The Sound and the Fury is nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for Peyton Place 23 July 57 her divorce from Barker becomes final begins to date Johnny Stompanato, a 32-year-old gigolo and lieutenant of Los Angeles mobster Mickey Cohen. With her daughter away at Ojai’s Happy Valley School, she starts a torrid affair. 58 is off to England for Another Time, Another Place. Stompanato follows her. spends eight weeks with Stompanato, at her expense, in Acapulco Easter 58 her 14-year-old daughter Cheryl is back from school 4 April 58 after a violent argument between her and Stampanoto, Cheryl kills Stompanato by stabbing him in the back with a ten-inch butcher’s knife in her mother’s bathroom when Cheryl is arrested, Lana calls in attorney Jerry Giesler there are rumors that the reason for the murder was jealousy between her and Cheryl for the love of Stompanato Cheryl is found guilty of homicide and transferred to the El Retiro Institution at San Fernando Valley. Despite security precautions, she escapes twice.

59 a percentage of the profits of her smash hit Imitation of Life make her a wealthy woman is to star in Anatomy of a Murder, but differences with director Otto Preminger over her wardrobe have her replaced with Lee Remick 27 November 60 marries Fred May, a horse breeder from Chino, California, at the Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica. She’s 40; he’s 43. 62 will never speak to writer Harold Robbins again; he put the Stompanato case into his best-selling story Where Love Has Gone 15 October 62 gets a Mexican divorce from May, but they remain good friends 22 June 65 marries young film producer Robert Eaton. She’s 45; he’s 34. 69 talks Eaton into producing her upcoming The Big Cube 1 April 69 divorces Eaton, who will write a scandalous novel dealing with his marriage 8 May 69 marries Ronald Dante, a nightclub hypnotist, in Las Vegas, where he’s appearing at the Pussycat A-Go-Go. She’s 49; he’s 39.

69 stars in Harold Robbins’ "The Survivors," at a season budget of $8,000,000, the most expensive TV series to date. At the start she has a slapping orgy with producer William Frye over her jewelry. She later warns co-star Kevin McCarthy never to upstage her and battles for a limousine to be at her constant call. Late 69 separates from Dante and sues him for defrauding her of $35,000 8 June 71 is on the stage for the first time in the summer stock production of 40 Carats, which opens at the Shady Grove Music Fair, near Bethesda, Maryland. The show also plays in Pennsylvania and New York. 72 sells her Malibu Beach home and ranch and settles in a penthouse in Malibu 26 January 72 her divorce from Dante becomes final. He receives a settlement of approximately $200,000. her secretary-companion, Tylor Pero, becomes her steady escort Late 73 is off to London for Persecution. She will later call it the worst film she ever made.

13 April 75 is celebrated at the New York Town Hall in a special evening in a series of homages to "Legendary Ladies of the Screen" Late 75 is on stage at the Chicago Arlington Park Theatre with Louis Jourdan in The Pleasure of His Company her frequent escort is Ronald Ziegler, ex-President Nixon’s former press secretary Summer 77 tours in Bell, Book and Candle 77 her frequent escort is Charles Evans, New York businessman and brother of producer Robert Evans. He’s 11 years her junior. 29 June 95 dies at age 75 in Century City, California, of throat cancer is cremated; her ashes are given to the family Sources: Lana: The Public and Private Lives of Miss Turner by Joe Morella, The Hollywood Beauties by James Robert Parish, Movie Stars of the '40s by David Ragan, Modern Screen, Recommended Books:

Question: Which former bandleader was married to Ava Gardner and Lana Turner
Answer: Artie Shaw