Lively, entertaining reviews of, and essays on, old and newer films and everything relating to them, written by professional author William Schoell.

Thursday, October 6, 2016

LANA: THE LIFE AND LOVES OF LANA TURNER

LANA: THE LIFE AND LOVES OF LANA TURNER. Jane Ellen Wayne. St. Martin's; 1995.

This fairly short, readable volume provides an overview of the life and career of Lana Turner, whose acting talents were always questioned (in spite of giving some effective performances in certain films such as These Glamour Girls and A Life of Her Own), and whose troubled marriages and love life were widely reported on in the press. Lana, who apparently was always "Lana Turner," seemed to marry men who were less interested in the woman herself and more in her beauty, fame and money. She is a perfect example of someone who seems to have everything but whose personal life provides only heartbreak and emotional turmoil. The biggest scandal in La Turner's life was when her daughter, Cheryl Crane, stabbed Lana's brute of a lover, Johnny Stompanato, to death -- Crane wrote her own book, but questions still remain about this incident, which was turned into the book and movie Where Love Has Gone with Susan Hayward in the Lana role. Lana documents virtually every affair Turner had, as well as most of her movies, medical issues, and later years which were undeniably difficult for an aging glamour queen. One of Turner's ex-husbands, actor Stephen Crane, appeared in Cry of the Werewolf. Jane Ellen Wayne also wrote Stanwyck.

Verdict: Page turner for Turner fans and movie star enthusiasts in general. ***.

2 comments:

angelman66 said...

Loved Lana's autobiography, and now need to read this to fill in the blanks.
- Chris

William said...

Yes, the author claims Lana was less than honest in her memoirs.