5 Things About Lana Turner You Never Knew You Needed to Know.
She was much more than just “The Sweater Girl.”
When you think about some of the most popular actresses from Hollywood’s golden age, you’ll find a number of have one thing in common: the great studio PR nickname. It started in the late ‘20s with Clara Bow being christened “The It Girl” and took off from there as a popular way for studio publicity to package their starlet’s sex appeal. Thelma Todd, “The Ice Cream Blonde,” Carole Lombard, “The Profane Angel,” and Ann Sheridan, “The Oomph Girl,” — to name but a few. Now, as silly (and sexist) as these monikers might have been, they were very effective publicity moves. And one of the biggest — if not the biggest — of them all, was “The Sweater Girl”: Lana Turner.
Here at Warner Archive, we’ve got Hollywood’s “Sweater Girl” in three movies. Don’t have Warner Archive? Don’t worry! Join now and receive a *free* Roku streaming stick with your annual subscription.
In honor of the movie legend’s birthday today, we’re taking a look at the golden girl of MGM’s long and storied career with some fun facts about her that you probably didn’t know.
1.) She lost her father at age 9.
Lana (born Judy Turner) came from humble beginnings in Idaho. At age 9, she lost her father who happened to be something of a gambler: he was killed in cold blood on the street following a card game that left him with a sizable haul.
2.) Her fairytale story about being “discovered” is… mostly true.
The story of how Lana Turner was discovered by Hollywood is the stuff of legend (at a soda fountain at Hollywood’s iconic Schwab’s Drugstore) and it’s sort of true. Lana was a student at Hollywood High School when, one day, she ditched school and went for a soda at a spot close to the school, called “The Top Hat Cafe.” There, she was spotted by the owner of The Hollywood Reporter who was struck by her looks, and asked her if she wanted to be in the movies
3.) She was the original “Sweater Girl”.
After deciding to nix her name “Judy” for something a bit less plain (by the way, it’s pronounced Lahhhh-nuh, not Laaaa-nah) Hollywood gave her the nickname “the sweater girl” — an entirely sexist nickname based solely on how nicely her figure looked in tight sweaters. They also dyed her hair blonde. As a result, she became a huge Hollywood sex symbol, especially during WWII. Turner was a regular on the USO circuit and even campaigned for FDR in 1944. (She had been invited to his birthday dinner in D.C. in 1941.)
4.) Her gangster lover was murdered … by her 14 year old daughter.
This is not a plot to some seedy film noir, this is real life. In 1958, Turner’s 14-year-old daughter stabbed her lover, Johnny Stompanato — a notorious gangster — to death. The court ruled it as “justifiable homicide”, citing that the young girl was trying to protect her mother from Stompanato who had been openly abusive to Turner. Turner was such a big star, that even a major scandal did not break her career.
5.) More than just a pretty face.
Turner’s personal life often overshadowed her work onscreen, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t serious about her career. After scoring the sizzling lead in the classic film noir The Postman Always Rings Twice, Turner confided she was tired of making movies where all she had to do was ‘walk across the screen and look pretty,’ and that she wasn’t going to go back to that sort of film ever again. True to her word, Turner is today one of the best femme fatales in film noir history, and went on to act well into the 1980s, appearing on such TV shows as Falcon Crest.
Watch Lana Turner now on Warner Archive in Diane, Bachelor in Paradise, and The Prodigal, now streaming on the newly revamped Warner Archive! Available on desktop as well as Roku, Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, and Android, Warner Archive is the perfect streaming service for anyone who loves classic movies and TV. Explore the archive and get a *free* Roku Streaming Stick with your annual subscription:
