Individual Details

Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner

(8 Feb 1921 - 29 Jun 1995)

The movie star Lana Turner. See Cowan Connections by Dr. Michael S. Cole. Married seven times.

Posted at findagrave.com: Actress. According to Hollywood legend, Lana Turner was discovered sipping a soda at Schwab's drugstore. However, Turner was actually spotted at the counter of Currie's Ice Cream Parlor across the street from Hollywood High School. Following the murder of her father in a robbery, her mother brought her to California. After her discovery, the renamed Lana Turner made her screen debut in a bit part for A Star Is Born (1937). That same year she gained her nickname the "Sweater Girl" for the impression she made as the sweater-clad schoolgirl whose murder sets into motion the plot of They Won't Forget. By 1938 she was under contract to MGM and appeared in Dramatic School, Rich Man, Poor Girl, Love Finds Andy Hardy, These Glamour Girls, Dancing Co-Ed and Calling Dr. Kildare, through 1938-39. Turner became a star in a string of major 1941 movies: Ziegfeld Girl, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Honky Tonk (co-starring Clark Gable) and Johnny Eager (co-starring Robert Taylor). Turner came into her own after the war in steamy films such as The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) and Cass Timberlane (1947). Turner's private life, however, was a mess. She was married eight times, twice to Steve Crane. She also married Ronald Dante, Robert Eaton, Fred May, Lex Barker, Henry Topping and bandleader Artie Shaw. She also battled alcoholism. In 1958 her longtime boyfriend, mobster Johnny Stompanato, was stabbed to death by Turner's daughter Cheryl Crane, during one of many violent arguments Turner had with Stompanato. Cheryl was acquitted with the court ruling it was justifiable homicide. Turner got her biggest break in 1957 starring in Peyton Place, receiving an Oscar nomination for her role as a worried mother in the scandalous tale of sex and passion in a New England town. Turner continued to appear in films until 1980 and had a recurring role as Jacqueline Perrault on the TV series "Falcon Crest" (1982-83). She published her autobiography, "Lana: The Lady, The Legend, The Truth" in 1982. Lana Turner died June 25, 1995 in Century City, CA after a long bout with cancer. (bio by: Craig Johnson). Cremated.

USA TODAY (Arlington, VA) - Friday, June 30, 1995
Lana Turner, the glamorous blonde whose acting career was overshadowed by her seven marriages and the killing of a gangster boyfriend by her daughter, died Thursday after years of treatment for throat cancer, Daily Variety reported. She was 75. Turner died at her Century City home with her daughter, Cheryl Crane, at her side. "She was doing fine. This was a total shock," Crane told Variety. "She just took a breath and she was gone." The actress remained a star from the 1940s until the mid-1960s, winning an Academy nomination as best actress for Peyton Place in 1957. Her early film appearances earned her the nickname "the Sweater Girl" and a pinup place in many a GI's locker. One of her affairs ended in sensational headlines when hoodlum Johnny Stompanato, beating Turner, was fatally stabbed on April 5, 1958 by Crane, then 15. The killing was ruled a justifiable homicide.

Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007.
Lana Turner
[Lana Turner Topping]
[Lana Barker]
[Lana Dante]
SSN: 567183907
Gender: Female
Race: White
Birth Date: 8 Feb 1921
Birth Place: Wallace, Idaho
Father Name: John V Turner
Mother Name: Mildred F Turner
Death Date: 29 Jun 1995
Type of Claim: Original SSN.
Notes: Mar 1937: Name listed as LANA TURNER; Jul 1949: Name listed as LANA TURNER TOPPING; Nov 1956: Name listed as LANA TURNER BARKER; Sep 1970: Name listed as LANA TURNER DANTE

Events

Birth8 Feb 1921Wallace, Shoshone Co., Idaho
Arrival10 Sep 1948New York, New York
Death29 Jun 1995Century City, Los Angeles Co., California
DepartureLe Havre, France
BurialCremated

Families

FatherJohn Virgil Madison Turner (1894 - 1930)
MotherMildred Frances Cowan (1904 - 1982)

Endnotes