With prominent cheekbones and the most appealing overbite of her day, her striking good looks helped propel her to stardom. Her best known role is the enigmatic murder victim in Laura. She was also Oscar-nominated for Leave Her to Heaven. Her acting performances were few in the 1950s as she battled a troubled emotional life that included hospitalization and shock treatment for depression.



Her first daughter was born mentally retarded because Gene had contracted measles during her only appearance at the Hollywood Canteen. This served as the uncredited inspiration for the plot of the 1980 Agatha Christie movie The Mirror Crack'd (1980). Two daughters: Daria Cassini and Christina Cassini. Was represented by the John Robert Powers Agency as a fashion model in the 1930s. Howard Hughes provided the funds for her retarded daughter's medical care. Had her share of love affairs during her Hollywood reign, including a notorious one with John F. Kennedy, whom she met while filming Dragonwyck (1946). Kennedy broke it up because of his political aspirations. She also had dalliances with Tyrone Power during production of The Razor's Edge (1946) and with Prince Aly Khan in the early 1950s. Received extensive shock treatment in the 1950s while battling her mental instability. Fox offered Gene a lead role in Holiday for Lovers (1959) following her rehabilitation therapy. However, the stress proved too great and she was forced to leave the production. Discovered she was expecting daughter Daria while filming Heaven Can Wait (1943). Began filming Laura (1944), after returning from her maternity leave. Gave her name as "Gene Eliza Taylor Tierney" upon her marriage to Oleg Cassini in Las Vegas. Ex-sister-in-law of Igor Cassini. When Gene saw herself on screen for the first time, she was horrified by her voice ("I sounded like an angry Minnie Mouse"). She began smoking to lower her voice, but it came at a great price - she died of emphysema. Despite her earlier romance with John F. Kennedy during the Forties, she voted for Richard Nixon in 1960 instead. She did send JFK a congratulatory note when he was elected president, however. No relation to actress Maura Tierney.