Lana Turner had an acting ability that belied the "Sweater Girl" image MGM thrust upon her, and even many of her directors admitted that they knew she was capable of greatness (check out The Postman Always Rings Twice). Unfortunately, her private life - seven marriages, affairs almost too numerous to mention, a long bout with alcoholism and the famous incident where her gangster lover, Johnny Stompanato, was killed by her daughter, Cheryl Crane - came to overshadow her professional accomplishments.
Imitation of Life (1959): 50% of the film's profits
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946): $4,000 a week

Born at 12:30pm-PST Her eyebrows were shaved off for the bit part of a harem girl early in her screen career. They never grew back. In her autobiography, she stated that her true birthdate is February 8, 1921. She stated that "I am one year younger than the records show." Fainted during her 1953 wedding to Lex Barker. One daughter: Cheryl Crane (fathered by Steve Crane). Billy Wilkerson of The Hollywood Reporter found her sipping a Coke in a drugstore and was so taken by her he blurted out that standard Hollywood line, "How'd you like to be in pictures?". Her first role, sure enough, had her in a tight skirt and even tighter sweater sitting at a drugstore counter. She was set to appear in Anatomy of a Murder with James Stewart until she objected to the off-the-rack wardrobe that director Otto Preminger had selected for her. Lee Remick took over the role. Her daughter, Cheryl Crane, wrote a book about her life with her mother, her mother's 7 husbands and numerous boyfriends and living in Hollywood. It was entitled "Detour: A Hollywood Story" and was published in 1988 (ISBN:o-380-70580-X) Measurements: 34C-25-34 ("The Sweater Girl" -1940), 35 1/2C-24 1/2-36 (from "Movieland Pin-Ups"- 1954), 34C-26-38 (from her auto-biography), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine) Once when she was being interviewed by Hedda Hopper, Lex Barker, Lana's future husband, was in the same room. There was a large vase of flowers blocking her view of Lex, so Lana got up, walked across the room and removed them, remarking, "He's brand new and I want to look at him!" Her auburn hair was bleached for Idiot's Delight. She was withdrawn from the film, but the fact that she had become a blonde not only changed her screen image but gave her such an outgoing, swinging personality that Hollywood called her the Nightclub Queen. She was called the Sweater Girl. Interestingly, Lana, translated into Spanish means "wool." In the movie Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with Spencer Tracy and Ingrid Bergman she was originally supposed to play the part of Ivy, the tart, and Bergman was supposed to play the innocent girl engaged to Tracy but Bergman wanted Turner's part and so the roles were switched. Once she was forced to evacuate her apartment building when a fire broke out. Having only minutes to collect what she needed, Lana grabbed her lipstick, her eyebrow pencil and her hairdryer. She was a true American hybrid, with a mixture of Scotch, Irish, Dutch and English ancestry. Is one of the many movie stars mentioned in Madonna's song "Vogue" Is portrayed by Brenda Bakke in L.A. Confidential Once said that her turn as Cora Smith in The Postman Always Rings Twice was "the role I liked best".