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Lana Turner: Johnny Stompanato
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At 9.20 p.m. on April 4, 1958 Cheryl Crane, Lana Turner's fourteen-year-old daughter, stabbed her mother's lover in the stomach. Johnny Stompanato was a suave, well-known gangster who had escorted other stars around town and had once been Mickey Cohen's bodyguard. Two weeks earlier, Stompanato and Lana had had a violent fight because she refused to take him with her to the Oscars (she had been nominated for the first time, for her role in Peyton Place). On numerous occasions he had threatened to disfigure her or harm her family if she left him—he had visited her in London on the set of her most recent movie and reportedly had such a clash with her young co-star, Sean Connery, that Scotland Yard had him deported. That Friday night the arguments escalated to such a degree that Cheryl, hoping to protect her mother, ran down to the kitchen to get a knife. She stood outside Lana's bedroom door, and when the door opened she saw Stompanato behind her mother with his arm raised, as if to strike her.
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In April of 1958, Lana Turner's teenage daughter Cheryl Crane stabbed Lana's mobster lover, Johnny Stompanato to death. Although the killing was ruled justifiable homicide because Cheryl was defending her mother, the scandal rocked Hollywood, and many people thought Lana's film career was over. Enter Ross Hunter, producer of lavish women's pictures for Universal, who had breathed new life into the careers of aging stars like Jane Wyman and Barbara Stanwyck. Hunter offered Turner the starring role in a remake of Imitation of Life (1959).
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Eric Root, a friend who claims Lana asked him to tell everyone that she killed Stompanato, has a story in his memoir about Turner's perfume. She wore Tuberose by Mary Chess, a scent Cheryl Crane ... remembers being something of a signature with her mother. The perfume was first sold in 1930, and by the time Root met Turner in 1971, it was rather hard to come by. He did some research and arranged for several bottles to be sent to her from New York. Lana, he says, wouldn't stand for any other smell in the house. If you came to visit you were not allowed to wear perfume or aftershave (unless it was a tiny dose of Old Spice, which her great love Tyrone Power used to wear).
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In 1958, Turner was nominated for an Academy Award for best actress for her role in "Peyton Place." On April 4, 1958, Lana Turner had a fight in her bedroom with Stompanato. Turner's 14 year old daughter, Cheryl Crane, used a kitchen knife to stab Stompanato to death. Cheryl Crane said she feared that Stompanato was going to harm her mother, so she stabbed him with an eight inch carving knife. The coroner's jury found the stabbing to be justifiable homicide. Santa Monica, California's juvenile court ordered Cheryl to a school for wayward girls. In the 1980's, Turner had a recurring role, appearing on the television series "Falcon Crest."
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Lana Turner fans collectively shout 'It's about time!' for two of her better remembered, aptly titled, melodramatically fun thrillers. The "Sweater Girl" with the outrageous tabloid existence (7 marriages - multiple affairs) including battles with alcoholism and the infamous incident where her 'gangster' lover, Johnny Stompanato, was killed by Cheryl Crane, her daughter - that always seem to supersede her professional career. Universal offer this very reasonable 2-seperate disc DVD set with noirish, star-studded, Portrait in Black (with Anthony Quinn, Richard Basehart , Sandra Dee, John Saxon and Anna May Wong!) and Madame X wear she shines above her co-stars John Forsythe, Ricardo Montalban and Burgess Meredith. Finally!
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Despite the turmoil of her personal life, Turner's career continued to thrive throughout the 1950s. Her performance as an abused starlet in The Bad and the Beautiful brought her first critical recognition. She ... received an Academy Award nomination for her 1957 portrayal of Constance MacKenzie in Peyton Place. Her professional success was once again eclipsed by her life off screen, however. Turner confided to her daughter in 1958 that she feared that her current lover, small-time mobster Johnny Stompanato, would become violent with her. Shortly after this discussion, Stompanato threatened to cut Turner's face with a coat hanger.
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