Lana Turner as Star (Lecture)
From Screenpedia
Born 1921, died 1995.
Contents |
Polysemy
Ordinariness
- Enduring Hollywood myth: Discovery at Schwabb’s drugstore
- Suggests that any ordinary person can become a star.
- Turner qualifies the myth; it was really the Top Hat Malt Shop
- Discovered by Billy Wilkerson, of the Hollywood Reporter
- Hired by MGM
- The studio manufactured a family background (promotion)
- That her father was a wealthy mining engineer
- Later it was revealed that (publicity) her father was a gambler, murdered by friends, when she was 10.
- The studio manufactured a family background (promotion)
Glamor
- Turner’s image emphasizes transition from ordinary to glamorous.
- The manufacturer of her image is not concealed, unlike "natural" beauty (e.g., Natalie Portman).
- False eyebrows
- Bleached blond hair
- High-fashion clothes
- Make-up
- She traveled from film to film with her own make-up crew (see in The Bad and the Beautiful):
- Del Armstrong – make-up
- Helen Young – hair
- She traveled from film to film with her own make-up crew (see in The Bad and the Beautiful):
- The manufacturer of her image is not concealed, unlike "natural" beauty (e.g., Natalie Portman).
Romance, marriage
- Seven marriages
- Signifies her as a hopeless romantic (i.e., drawn to bad or unattainable men).
- Artie Shaw
- Musician
- Married in Las Vegas, after knowing each other just a few days.
- Divorced 6 months later
- She had an abortion, which was not publicly revealed until much later.
- Stephen Crane
- Restaurateur
- Married 1942/1943
- Had her only child with him — daughter Cheryl Crane (born 1943).
- Bob Topping
- Wealthy jet-setter
- Married 1948
- Divorced him, claiming adultery.
- Lex Barker
- Actor (“Tarzan”)
- Married in 1953/divorced 1957
- Had stillborn child — not publicly revealed until later.
- Connotes "problems" with motherhood.
- Fred May
- Married from 1960 to 1962.
- He raised horses in the country. She had simple, bucolic life with him; which she eventually became dissatisfied with.
- Robert Eaton
- Married from 1965 to 1969.
- Divorced for adultery
- "Dr" Ron Dante
- Nightclub hypnotist
- Deserted her after 6 months, taking thousands of dollars with him.
- Married from 1969 to 1972.
- Numerous romances/affairs were seen in her publicly available private life.
- Tyrone Power
- Actor
- Married
- Turner proclaimed him the "love of her life" in her autobiography.
- Typical of the unattainable men to which she was drawn.
- Johnny Stompanato
- Affair began in 1957, just two years before Imitation of Life (1959)
- Tempestuous relationship, with many fights and break-ups.
- 4 April 1958: Stompanato's murder
- Cheryl (then 14) heard arguing
- Got a knife from the kitchen
- Went to their bedroom
- He lunged at her, she stabbed him one time
- At coroner's inquest, she was cleared: justifiable homicide
- Cheryl was removed from Lana’s custody, as she was judged to be an unfit mother.
- She was placed with Turner’s mother
- At this time, her publicity represents Turner as a bad mother
- But despite negative publicity:
- Imitation of Life is a huge success.
- Sympathy for her maintained
- She is perhaps seen as victim?
- But despite negative publicity:
- Tyrone Power
Sexuality
- Well-known sex symbol
- Began with her image as the "Sweater Girl"
- Rooted in 1937’s They Won’t Forget, in which she plays a young woman in a Southern town who is raped and killed.
- A walk down the street in a tight-fitting sweater established her sexuality.
- Ordinariness connoted through sweater
- Rooted in 1937’s They Won’t Forget, in which she plays a young woman in a Southern town who is raped and killed.
- During World War II (1941-45)
- She was a major pin-up figure
- Following the War, her sexuality took a dark turn.
- E.g., in 1946’s The Postman Always Rings Twice
- She plays a devious femme fatale in this film noir.
- E.g., in 1946’s The Postman Always Rings Twice
