Turner, Lana

Turner, Lana

 orig. Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner

(born Feb. 8, 1920/21, Wallace, Idaho, U.S.—died June 29, 1995, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. film actress. Allegedly discovered as a teenager at a Hollywood soda fountain, she made her screen debut in 1937. A sultry, shapely blonde, publicized by MGM as the “Sweater Girl,” she became a popular World War II pinup while starring in movies such as Ziegfeld Girl (1941), Honky Tonk (1941), and Johnny Eager (1942). In films such as The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), Peyton Place (1957), and Imitation of Life (1959) she established her signature role of “good girl gone bad.” Her tumultuous private life included eight marriages and the sensational 1958 stabbing death of her gangster boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato, by her 14-year-old daughter.