In June 1995, one of Hollywood’s most brilliant stars ever – Lana Turner – passes away.
For five decades Lana Turner defined stardom: from beauty, to talent, to influence there was not one aspect of classic Hollywood that she did not impact.
From the moment she blazed across the silver screen wearing her sweater in the cultural classic ‘They Won’t Forget’ until her inclusion in the seminal documentary ‘That’s Entertainment III’ just a year prior to her passing Lana Turner was the real deal the entire way.
Turner held her own against the biggest stars of her age from Clark Gable, to John Garfield, to Kirk Douglas just to name a few.
Two of Turner’s iconic performances came while working with those actors including ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’ with Garfield and ‘The Bad and the Beautiful’ with Douglas.
It was in 1957 at the age of 36 (considered past prime in those days) that she gave what many considered her finest performance in ‘Peyton Place’ for which she received a Best Actress nomination from the Academy Awards.
Lana Turner captured the imagination and the attention of the world with both her professional and personal life, most notably dealing very publicly with the abusive relationship she endured at the hands of Johnny Stompanato.
Did you know later in her career she would star with a young Sean Connery in ‘Another Time, Another Place’ where Connery confronted the abusive Stompanato?
Did you also know Lana Turner helped convince “Cubby” Broccoli that Connery was the right actor to play James Bond?
Check out all the seasons of The Latch Key Kids Podcast especially Season One ‘Breaking Bond’ streaming now on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, Audible, and Apple Podcasts.