Lana: The Life and Loves of Lana Turner [Hardcover]

Jane Ellen Wayne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1995

A provocative biography of Lana Turner explains how the screen goddess's exceptional career nearly pales in comparison to her seven marriages, romances with such men as Clark Gable, and deadly love affair with mobster Johnny Stompanato. By the author of Marilyn's Men.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Has enough time passed so that an assessment of Lana Turner will not put the murder of her boyfriend by daughter Cheryl Crane on center stage? Of course not--just open to the middle, and there it is--but this is a good star bio of Turner, anyway. Wayne doesn't stint on details of the 1958 slaying of reputed mobster Johnny Stompanato but also affords quite a look at the life of one of the last studio-created American movie stars. Turner was the original "sweater girl" and, according to Hollywood legend, was discovered sipping a soda at a Sunset Boulevard cafe{‚}. From that portentous beginning, her career careened through years as a starlet and pinup girl to real acting parts to the studio bosses discovering she was the perfect leading lady for high-budget melodramas. Meanwhile, her incredibly stormy offscreen life included a marriage to the eerily tempestuous bandleader Artie Shaw. Wayne covers it all admirably, showing sympathy but avoiding whitewashing or fawning. Mike Tribby

Product Details

• Hardcover: 198 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (February 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312113560
• ISBN-13: 978-0312113568
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,250,510 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A derivative, cut-and-paste cheapie., September 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Lana: The Life and Loves of Lana Turner (Hardcover)

A definitive biography of Lana Turner has yet to be written. Wayne has read Turner's memoirs and those of her daughter Cheryl Crane and Turner's ex-secretary to produce this trifle. The book is not sourced, there is no original research, and the result is a rehash of old info. Wayne even relies on supermarket tabloids for details she includes about Turner's final illness. A few pages of grainy snapshots of Turner round out this meager effort. Save your money.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars TIDBITS FROM THE GOLDEN AGE OF HOLLYWOOD, March 28, 2004

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lana: The Life and Loves of Lana Turner (Hardcover)

Lana, the story of the ravishing blonde actress who reigned as queen of MGM studio, is another reminder that fame, fortune, and beauty can't buy happiness. In fact, sadly for La Turner, sometimes it is just the opposite.

Jane Ellen Wayne, the author of bios of other screen luminaires packs her book with data, not much of which is new but its neatly compiled in these pages.

Cosseted and marketed by Louis B. Mayer, the dictator-paterfamilias of MGM, Lana, according to this author, was ill equipped to recognize reality. Celluloid was her milieu; that was where she worked and tried to live.

The history of her screen roles is well known to fans as well as the many romances with her leading men. Her personal life took a toll: murder, seven mis-marriages and seven wrenching divorces left her with little else but her reflection on the screen.