The Mammoth Book of Celebrity Murders (31 page)

After the death of her husband Mildred decided to move with her child to California in the hope of better job prospects. Lana continued her education at Hollywood High where she was a very
popular, lively member of the school. She enjoyed spending time with her friends and on Saturdays she loved to go to the movies which she watched intently, marvelling at the wonderful costumes
which the actresses wore.

As a very attractive young lady, she caught the eye of the publisher of the
Hollywood Reporter
, Billy Wilkerson. He couldn’t help noticing the beautiful 15-year-old girl and took
the opportunity to give her a card, advising her that she should contact Zeppo Marx, a local talent agent. She did contact him and was soon introduced to director Mervyn LeRoy.

LeRoy recognized that her good looks and fantastic physique could take her far – the only thing he was unhappy about her was her relatively plain name of Julia Jean, with her nickname,
Judy, being not much better. After a name-suggesting session they came up with Lana – and Lana it was, Lana Turner.

The first role she was offered was in a film called
They Won’t Forget
, in which Lana had the small part of a murdered schoolgirl, Mary Clay. She took her mother with her for support
but soon realized that she was confident in front of the camera and was declared “a natural”, finding the whole experience both exciting and relatively easy. When the reviews came in
Lana was delighted with them; one newspaper read, “Short on playing time is the role of the school girl. But as played by Lana Turner it is worthy of more than passing note. This young lady
has vivid beauty, personality and charm.” After the release of the film it wasn’t long before Lana found herself with yet another name – owing to the tight blue sweater which she
had worn in the film, she was known as “The Sweater Girl”, not a label that Lana ever really cared for, but nonetheless she couldn’t shake it off.

At this point in her career Lana had no expectations of becoming a famous actress and would have been satisfied with just the one role to her credit. But LeRoy had other ideas and was soon
preparing her for her next film,
A Star Is Born
, in which she managed the minor role with ease. She took similar roles in several other films during the late 1930s including
The Great
Garrick
. Almost as soon as filming had ended she found that she was being sent on loan to Samuel Goldwyn to take a part in
The Adventures of Marco Polo
. One of the requirements for the
part was that she had to have her eyebrows removed, to be replaced by fake, thick black ones; unfortunately for Lana her eyebrows never recovered and she spent the rest of her life having to have
them falsely applied, rather like false eyelashes, or having them drawn on.

In early 1940, Lana married her first husband, Artie Shaw, the band leader, on the set of her current film. When she first met him she had just broken up with her boyfriend and Shaw appealed to
Lana, as he was a handsome, confident, almost arrogant man; she later admitted that if she hadn’t been at a low ebb following the break-up with her boyfriend, she probably would have never
married Shaw. The marriage was in trouble from the start, with Shaw insisting that Lana dress more demurely when not filming and that she should spend more time around the house, preferably without
makeup. At this point of her life the last thing Lana needed was a jealous, insecure husband to be reining her in and calling all the shots. She was not averse to airing her views and the two
clashed often. The marriage managed to limp on for just under seven months when the two parted as they were no longer able to tolerate one another.

A big financial advantage came Lana’s way when LeRoy left Warner Bros and moved to MGM, taking Lana with him – she found that her wages of around $50 per week practically doubled,
enabling her to provide some financial stability for both her mother and herself. The two ladies found themselves a house, which they shared, and as Lana’s movie career continued to blossom
so too did her salary.

In July 1942, Lana was married for the second time, to restaurateur Stephen Crane, who owned the famed Laua Restaurant on Rodeo Drive, Beverley Hills. Shortly after the marriage, the tabloid
press were quick to point out that Crane’s Mexican divorce from his first wife was not valid as it was not recognized in the US. In a bid to quell her public embarrassment, Lana’s
marriage to Crane was quietly annulled in February the following year, the couple being legally married in March 1943. This was Lana’s third marriage and she was only a month past her
twenty-second birthday. They were tremendously happy when they found out that Lana was expecting their first child, and wasted no time in telling Mildred that she was to become a grandmother.
Lana’s mother was pleased for the couple as she could see the excitement and anticipation in their faces, but reminded Lana to be careful and look after herself during her pregnancy.

In 1944 Lana gave birth to a beautiful daughter who was named Cheryl. Lana was once reported to have said that she would have liked one husband and seven children, but Lana’s dreams for a
large family were dashed and she would only have Cheryl – although she did manage to notch up seven husbands, eight if you count Stephen twice. During the Second World War Lana did what she
could for the war effort, giving speeches to the troops and even offering to kiss any man if he would buy a war bond for $50,000. She did keep her promise and later claimed that she managed to
increase the defence budget by several million dollars.

By the end of the war Lana secured a new contract with MGM, which saw her salary rise to a then staggering $4,000 a week. Her next role was that of Cora in the movie
The Postman Always Rings
Twice
. It was a fantastic role for her and she was delighted, feeling that she had proved herself to be a first-class actress. Lana played the sexy, adulterous wife quite breathtakingly in the
film which was a massive success and she became really big news. She was often adorning front pages of fancy magazines and newspapers, the model that every girl was envious of and that every boy
dreamed about.

Her successful working life unfortunately proved to be a great strain for Lana and Stephen’s marriage. Her punishing filming schedule forced the couple to spend extended periods apart,
inevitably the marriage was soon in trouble and the couple were divorced in the summer of 1944.

In 1948, at the age of 27, Lana was now an accomplished actress and was ready to take on her first technicolour movie, playing Lady de Winter in
The Three Musketeers
. Her leading man was
Vincent Price who played Cardinal Richelieu. She found Price to be a great mentor and as she watched him perform she noticed that he would add his own touches to his character, which gave an extra
dimension to his role. She managed, with some success, to copy this style and thoroughly enjoyed the whole process. The elaborate costumes, and her inspiration from Price, made this one of
Lana’s all-time favourite movies. After the release of the movie the reviews came in – Lana was praised beyond her wildest dreams, with quotes like “she is unreal” and
“a proper goddess” in some of them.

As she celebrated by enjoying an evening with her mother and young daughter Cheryl – Mildred was so proud of her daughter – the trio enjoyed a special toast to Lana’s success,
but there was also a tinge of sadness that John, Lana’s late father, was not able to share their joy.

In April 1948 Lana married husband number three (marriage number four), millionaire socialite Henry J. Topping Jr, who despite his formal name was known as Bob. Bob was a tinplate millionaire
and the proud owner of the Yankee Stadium. The couple’s marriage lasted for four years before they chose to go their separate ways and were divorced in December 1952.

The following year she married again, this time her husband was Lex Barker, the star of the Tarzan movies. Once again Lana was front page news with congratulatory photographs which sold
newspapers by their thousands, but after three years this marriage was to end bitterly when Cheryl confided in her grandmother that Lex had sexually molested her when she was only ten years old.
Sadly it took Cheryl three years to pluck up the courage to tell her as she was terrified at what the consequences would bring. With the help of her grandmother Cheryl was able to tell Lana her
devastating news.

Lana was to marry three more times: firstly to a rancher, Fred May, then a businessman Robert Eaton and finally to a night-club hypnotist, Ronald Dante, all of which inevitably ended in divorce,
with none lasting longer than four years.

She continued to star in many movies although she became less satisfied with the roles, each one a sure-fire sign that her career was slowing down, although she did enjoy one last shot at the
big time. In 1958 she starred in
Peyton Place
which turned out to be a phenomenal success and for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

Believing that her career was once again in the ascendancy, Lana was pleased to enjoy the attentions of a new admirer, John Steele, an extremely handsome man with wavy hair and olive-skinned
good looks. He was very charming and attentive, commencing his courtship of Lana with regular telephone calls, before inundating her with an array of romantic gestures, even taking the time to
discover her taste in music so that he could buy the songs she liked best. Under the weight of such heavy duty romancing the flames of passion were soon ignited and Lana was swept away by the
attention her new lover was bestowing on her. Cheryl was also included in the fabulous gifts from Steele, who presented her with every child’s dream – a stunning Arabian horse.

Lana’s friends were keen to find out more about her new love; the rumour mill had already produced a number of unsavoury stories regarding the new man’s background and if the stories
were true, Lana would need to know – and fast. By the time Lana and Steele had fully established their relationship it had become common knowledge that his business dealings brought him into
contact with the seedier side of the LA underworld. When Lana’s friends found out the truth they were quick to inform the now besotted actress that the man she was with was not who he claimed
to be. John Steele was in fact the cover name for one Johnny Stompanato, a man whose background held a number of dark secrets. With a career which was full of twists and turns, he had at one time
or another been a Marine war veteran, a night-club bouncer and a bodyguard who allegedly carried money for gangsters. Police records showed that he had once been stopped and was found to be
carrying several tens of thousands of dollars, the owner of which was never fully established. He had established himself as something of a gigolo, often seen in the company of older, wealthier
women. He had been married a number of times, once to a Turkish woman, but more notably to an actress called Helen Gilbert, who admitted that it was her wealth that supported the couple. Stompanato
certainly had expensive tastes, loved to frequent expensive restaurants and would ingratiate himself with his chosen target, usually an older woman who might be more receptive to his obvious
charms. He would invariably indulge in a relationship with them, fleecing them gradually, until they eventually discovered his true intentions, then, as the relationship fell apart, he would simply
move on.

For Lana, still in the first flush of love, all of these cascading facts were uninvited and she sought initially to ignore them, not prepared to admit that all the facts were true – her
new lover was, in her eyes, a wonderful, considerate, handsome man, just what she needed. She believed the lies he told her and described him as “utterly considerate” – even the
news that his real name was Stompanato, and not Steele, seemed to appear irrelevant.

When Lana was on location in England filming
Another Time, Another Place
she found that she was lonely and missing Stompanato quite badly, so she decided to call him to see if she could
persuade him to come over and join her, hoping to enjoy some discreet sightseeing together. Keen to accept, he was soon on an aeroplane and heading for a romantic reunion.

Initially they enjoyed each other’s company and spent quiet evenings together at small night spots. Lana was all too aware of the British press and made every attempt to keep her new lover
out of the limelight, determined not to make the front pages. Unfortunately Stompanato wasn’t happy with being kept in the dark, even though Lana tried to explain that she was trying to
protect him from the media who would surely envelope them if they were seen out in public. Stompanato didn’t take the news well and for the first time the couple argued, only it didn’t
end there – as the argument escalated the couple had their first physical scuffle, during which Lana sustained a number of injuries. Unable to visit the set as her face was obviously bruised,
she was shocked by his aggression and wished that she had never invited him over to join her. She confided in a friend, explaining how Stompanato had turned nasty during what she thought was just a
quarrel. After talking the whole thing through Lana realized that he had entered Britain with a false passport. The authorities were informed and a furious Stompanato was returned to the United
States where he simmered, his anger never far off boiling point.

Lana was no fool and was well aware that Stompanato would be biding his time, awaiting his chance to force a confrontation. She was exhausted after filming and decided that she could do with a
rest; she needed to recharge her batteries before the inevitable showdown with him. As Cheryl was being well cared for by her father and grandmother, Lana decided to secretly book a trip to
Acapulco, hoping to have a few days to clear her head before returning to Los Angeles. To her horror, when she arrived in Mexico she was surprised to walk directly into a media storm – and if
the cameras and microphones weren’t bad enough, things got worse when Stompanato emerged from behind the glare of the flash bulbs, seeming very pleased with himself. She had told nobody about
her arrangements and assumed that he must have used some high-level contact to have tracked her down so easily. Stompanato’s actions no longed contained the thread of romance which were
evident early on; his shock appearance in Acapulco only added to her worries and she now felt that she could go nowhere and confide in no one as he appeared to have eyes and ears everywhere. Years
later she admitted that she never did find out how he learned of her trip and conceded that his ability to uncover her whereabouts confirmed to her that he had the power to do almost anything he
wanted.