Lana Turner's Mafiatic Love Affair (And A Dramatic Murder)
Gosh, where to start from...
This is Lana Turner. She’s the epitome of old Hollywood. A glamorous actress with an aura of intoxicating star power. Even in this photo, I can’t take my eyes off her.
Lana was discovered as a teenager and became a pin-up girl and later a sweater girl in the 30s. Her acting talent was quickly discovered and she proved her range and ability to work with complex roles over the next few decades, with films like The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) and Peyton Place (1957). She earned an Academy Award nomination for the latter.
Lana also had a crazy personal life. We’re talking seven husbands. Shall I order them?
Lana was first married to a jazz musician named Artie Shaw when she was just nineteen. They divorced four months later.
A few years later, 1942, Lana married Stephen Crane, a businessman and fellow actor. Their marriage was annulled when it was discovered that Crane was still married to his previous wife, but the following year, they remarried, as Lana was pregnant with their child. They divorced again, in 1944.
In 1948, Lana fell in love with Henry J. Topping. He was a socialite and a co-owner of the Yankees baseball team. Their marriage lasted four years and was full of lavish presents, mostly over the top jewelry that put Topping in financial trouble. They divorced in 1952, citing personal conflict.
Lex Barker was her fourth husband. The actor, known for playing Tarzan in five movies, was allegedly abusive during the four years that he was married to Lana. The marriage reportedly ended after Barker sexually abused Lana’s daughter.
Number five was Fred May, a businessman. This was one of Lana’s more low-profile marriages. The two were together a total of two years.
In 1965, at the age of forty-four, Lana married a young real-estate investor named Robert Eaton. The marriage was seen as promising, but of course, they didn’t last more than four years and divorced in 1969.
Despite being sick of marriage, Lana had her final wedding to a Mr. Ronald Pellar, also known as Dr. William Burns. He was a hypnotist and con artist who stole money from Lana. She divorced him 1972, amidst legal disputes. Lana was fifty-one years old.
Lana Turner's Seven Husbands
Phew, that was a mouthful. Her seven husbands aren’t all, by the way. Lana spent her late twenties madly in love with actor Tyrone Power. They had a love affair that lasted years and Lana claimed to have fallen pregnant with, and later aborted, Tyrone’s child. Lana later described Tyrone as being the great love of her life and the one that got away. Rumors say that she tried to force a marriage proposal out of him, but he refused, going on to marry Mexican actress Linda Christian.
While Power was off having a wedding, Lana busied herself with another affair—this time with Frank Sinatra. They had an on-off type relationship that spanned decades; the 40s, 50s, and even 70s.
Lana Turner was also relentlessly pursued by billionaire Howard Hughes, a man famous for going after Hollywood actresses. He had many relationships with stars the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, and Ava Gardner (to name a few). Lana however, never committed fully to Hughes and the pair did not have a serious relationship. For the better, I think, because Hughes was known for emotionally and physically abusing the women he was with, even going as far as keeping them captive in hotel rooms or his house.
But Lana’s most infamous relationship is one chock full of drama. More than her usual dose. Enter: Johnny Stompanato
The guy’s got a movie-esque Italian-New-Yorker-mafia type name, and that pretty much sums up his character archetype.
Lana was busy filming The Lady Takes a Flyer, when she suddenly began receiving flowers and phone calls from a Mister John Steele.
Imagine this: It’s 1957 and Lana Turner is between husbands. John Steele is relentless and exciting, passionate, and extremely good looking.
The two began a relationship that quickly turned sour. John Steele had a controlling, jealous side. He got violent when he was angry. Lana’s life was slowly turning into hell.
Steele first claimed to be a businessman, but Lana soon noticed the criminal undertones. He was so possessive that he demanded to know where Lana was at all times. He hated her career and especially her male costars. Steele’s paranoia eventually turned into abuse, and he began to physically assault Lana- beating her and even reportedly holding her at gun point.
Around their one year mark, Lana began to suspect something was seriously off, and did an investigation into her boyfriend. What she found shocked her. John Steele is actually Johnny Stompanato, a gangster who works directly for Mickey Cohen, the head of the Cohen Crime Syndicate. He was well known for dating and extorting wealthy women, and his violent ways weren’t a secret.
Mickey Cohen and Johnny Stompanato had worked out a plan to blackmail Lana into pouring loads of cash into their bank accounts. They meant to film Lana in a compromising position and hold the footage over her head, getting her to do whatever they wanted. But Mickey hadn’t expected Stompanato to fall in love with Lana.
He was no longer interested in blackmail and money.
After finding out his true identity and suffering a few more of his temperamental episodes, Lana tried to break up with Stompanato. In fact, she attempted to leave him several times. But each time Stompanato refused, and then managed to weasel into her good graces with his charm.
As their relationship continued, Stompanato’s aggression began to show publicly. He first accused her of having an affair with her costar Sean Connery. Stompanato pulled out his fake passport and flew to England, where Lana and Connery’s film Another Time, Another Place was being shot.
In a jealous rage, Stompanato first choked Lana, and then two weeks later threatened Connery with a gun. He was promptly escorted off the set, and then out of the country after the police were tipped off on his illegal entry.
So where does the murder come in?
Lana couldn’t escape Stompanato. He swore he was madly in love with her, and once even said, Lana, you know in your blood I’m never gonna let you go.
Another time, Lana woke up to find Stompanato standing at her bedside, gun in hand. If you aren’t going to be with me, you aren’t going to be with anyone else, he said. Lana began to playact being a loving girlfriend, but tragedy loomed ahead.
April 4, 1958, Stompanato walked into Lana’s Beverly Hills home. Lana told him again, that their relationship was over. He immediately became violent, threatening her and yelling.
Lana’s fourteen-year-old daughter Cheryl was at home too. Remember the little baby girl Lana had when she was married to her second husband? She was all grown up now, and terrified of Stomapanato.
Lana tried to escape her boyfriend’s rage by hiding in her room. They fought loudly, and then the fated moment arrived.
Stompanato was leaving the room when Cheryl impaled him with an eight-inch long butcher’s knife.
The blade pierced through his abdomen, killing him in seconds.
Shock waves were sent through Hollywood. Cheryl Crane was arrested, but was acquitted, as the jury found the homicide justifiable. Everyone talked about it.
Rumors swirled that it was really Lana who had killed Stompanato, and they had let Cheryl take the blame, as she was a minor, as Lana’s career couldn’t be compromised. And true to the sayings, she continued to act successfully, cementing her place as a Hollywood legend.
Even now, decades later, the name Lana Turner conjures images of Tinseltown glamour. She’s the embodiment of beauty and tragedy, and a true icon.
But gosh, seven husbands? It kind of makes you wish she picked her men better…
