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Lana
The Lady, The Legend, The Truth
by Lana Turner and Alicia Malone
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At what age does a lady become a legend?
Lana Turner asked herself this question after decades of success, scandal, romance, marriage and motherhood, and not a little heartbreak. Long after the span of her extraordinary career, an adoring public remains fascinated by a woman who was arguably the epitome of a Hollywood movie star. Immensely talented and equally beautiful, Lana lived the glamorous life to the hilt, rising to the heights of fame and experiencing everything that came with it, both good and bad.
Lana’s early story is virtually that of Cinderella’s: a girl discovered at a soda shop aged fifteen and then made a star overnight. From blonde bombshell to box-office queen of the ’40s, Lana led a whirlwind life ultimately marked by eight marriages and a murder trial that made her and her daughter infamous.
The death of Johnny Stompato in 1958 was one of the most notorious scandals in Hollywood history, and the true facts of the case are still hotly disputed.
Lana’s remarkable memoir was originally published in 1982. This new edition features an introduction by Turner Classic Movies host and author Alicia Malone.
From the back cover:
She was the Sweater Girl, provocatively sexy but with a small-town winsomeness-a combination that meant dynamite at the box office. She was the image of coolness and glamour, in diamonds and white fur, but she always drew the hottest, blackest headlines. Even before her teenage elopement with the mercurial Artie Shaw, her private life was considered public property. Now, at last, in this long awaited autobiography, Lana Turner separates fact from gossip-sparing no one, least of all herself-to reveal the sometimes humorous, often heartbreaking reality of the life behind the legend.
With the face of an angel and the body of an alluring woman, Lana Turner was one of the greatest natural beauties in screen history-and a hardworking actress as well. From her first small part in They Won't Forget, which she thought was 'just a job,' she rose quickly to become MGM's top female star. She created classic roles in The Postman Always Rings Twice (still called one of the steamiest films ever made, despite the censors); Peyton Place, for which she received an Academy Award nomination; and Imitation of Life. Her story captures life on the set during Hollywood's golden days, and is studded with anecdotes about her dashing leading men, among them Robert Taylor, Clark Gable, John Garfield, and Spencer Tracy; the MGM brass, her famous directors, and her friends, including Mervyn LeRoy and Pop Leonard, Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra.
Lana Turner had everything-or did she? 'I expected to have one husband and seven babies,' she says, but it would turn out the other way around. Trouble came early and often involved a man, some notable, like her beloved Tyrone Power, and one notorious, John Stompanato, when trouble would turn to tragedy. There would be a bout with alcohol and depression, but with humor and spunk she would fight back to become the 'new woman' she is today-'more disciplined, less gullible and persuadable . taking responsibility for my life.'
Told with relentless honesty by the woman who lived it, here is the explosive and touching story of the very real human being behind the myth-from the innocent fifteen-year-old who was discovered at a Hollywood soda fountain to the Dream Factory's most glamorous, most provocative star.
See the publisher website: Dean Street Press
See the complete filmography of Lana Turner on the website: IMDB ...
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