LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Lana Turner: Mother
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By the mid-1950's, Lana Turner had segued from sexpot roles into romantic melodramas such as Peyton Place (1957), which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. The real-life melodrama of her mobster lover's murder by her daughter (Cheryl Crane) not only increased Turner's notoriety, but ... her popularity. She then teamed up with director Douglas Sirk and producer Ross Hunter, who specialized in lavishly-produced women's pictures, for Imitation of Life (1959), a tearjerker about a conflicted mother-daughter relationship. It was a huge hit and was quickly followed by another, equally glossy Turner and Hunter collaboration, Portrait in Black (1960).
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Cheryl Crane talks about her mother, Lana Turner, in this 2001 documentary, "Lana Turner...A Daughter's Memoir." Turner's private life often overshadowed her film work, some of which was excellent. Beautiful as well as sexy, the actress started out at MGM as a teenager. Her career lasted 54 years.
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Hislop, Julia: Friend of the Turner family when Julia Jean (Lana) was a child. When times were hard and Mildred had to find work and place young Julia Jean in a foster home, she chose the Hislops. This proved to be a grievous error, as the mother of the family, Julia Hislop (who was more than likely mentally ill) would often fly into a rage when something (such as a household chore) wasn't done to her satisfaction. She was often abusive and usually Julia Jean was her target. Julia Jean endured two years of painful silence after being threatened with more beatings if she told her mother. One Sunday when Mildred Turner came to take her daughter shopping for new under things she noticed bruises and welts on her daughter's body.
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No one suffers better in mink than Lana Turner did. And in March 2008 on Universal Studios comes a great Lana double bill, both produced by Ross Hunter. Madame X (1966) the oft-filmed tale of a woman on trial for murder (Lana) who is being defended by her own lawyer son (Keir Dullea) who is unaware that this woman is his mother.
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This star-studded film stars Lana Turner (Lady Edwina Esketh) as a spoiled wife of British royalty. Under the invitation of the Maharani (Eugene Leontovich), Lana and her husband travel to India, where the bored housewife proceeds to fall for Richard Burton's Dr. Safti. Despite his shunning her initial advances, the two begin an illicit affair. It is an affair that is complicated, or perhaps symbolized, by a series of disasters by Mother Nature, complete with earthquakes and a devastating flood. A cinematic coup, the movie was nominated and won an Academy Award® for Best Visual Effects.
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In search of greater job opportunities, Lana and her mother moved out to California. One school day, shortly after their arrival, fifteen-year-old Lana went for a Coke. Despite the legend, she wasn't at Schwab's Drugstore, but The Top Hat Café, a shop across the street from Hollywood High. When W.R. Wilkerson, publisher of the Hollywood Reporter, happened to be quenching his thirst at the same time, he caught sight of Lana. He introduced himself, gave her his card and asked her to call newly operating talent agent Zeppo Marx.
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