{"product_id":"lana-turner-book-darwin-porter-9781936003532","title":"Lana Turner","description":"\u003cp\u003eAfter Betty Grable, but before there was Marilyn, America''s penchant for popcorn blondes focused on LANA, the \"ultimate movie star.\" She had it all:  Looks to die for, money to burn, the romantic adulation of the world, and lovers who included the world''s most desirable men.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn her 1937 film, \u003ci\u003eThey Won''t Forget, \u003c\/i\u003ea 16-year-old Lana, without wearing a brassière, walked down the street with her boobs bouncing. Censors protested, but when it was shown, America cheered and nicknamed her \"The Sweater Girl.\"\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFrom there, Lana competed with Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth as the pre-eminent pinup girl (\"so many men, so little time\") of World War II. Horny GIs referred to her as \"the Girl We''d Like to Find in Every Port.\"\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFrom the start, her private life was marked with scandal: She aborted Mickey Rooney''s baby; seduced a young John F. Kennedy; and fell for Frank Sinatra, who later caught her in bed with another love goddess, Ava Gardner.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn the early 1940s, after a nationwide campaign promoting the sale of War Bonds, Carole Lombard frantically boarded a small plane headed back to Hollywood, suffering a fiery death when it crashed within 13 minutes of takeoff. The risk she took during that thunderstorm was motivated, it was said, by her obsession with rescuing her husband, Clark Gable, from the amorous clutches of Lana Turner.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTyrone Power--tall, dark, photogenic, and famous--eventually evolved into the greatest love of her life until the Aviator, Howard Hughes, arguably the most psychotic billionaire in the history of Hollywood, flew in to seduce both of them.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eLana (aka \u003ci\u003e\"The Ziegfeld Girl\"\u003c\/i\u003e) didn''t hear \u003ci\u003eThe Postman Always Rings Twice \u003c\/i\u003ebecause she was in bed with John Garfield. Later, in search of love, she spent a \u003ci\u003eWeekend at the Waldorf\u003c\/i\u003e before moving to \u003ci\u003eGreen Dolphin Street \u003c\/i\u003eand later to the notorious \u003ci\u003ePeyton Place, \u003c\/i\u003eshe found it during an experiment with an\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eImitation of Life.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eGable took her to a \u003ci\u003eHonky Tonk \u003c\/i\u003eand vowed, \"Somewhere I''ll Find You,\" before their \u003ci\u003eHomecoming \u003c\/i\u003ereunion. With Ray Milland, she found \u003ci\u003eA Life of Her Own \u003c\/i\u003ebefore dancing to \u003ci\u003eThe Merry Widow \u003c\/i\u003ewaltz with sexy Fernando Lamas.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMany notoriously hot men--many of them her filmmaking co-stars--lay in her future: Richard Burton, Sean Connery, and Errol \"in like Flynn.\" Samson (Victor Mature) was said to be \"Lana''s Biggest Thrill.\" Lana rescued Peter Lawford from Elizabeth Taylor; Ricky Ricardo from Lucy; and, when not singing \u003ci\u003eamore \u003c\/i\u003ewith Dean Martin, Kirk Douglas learned that she was \u003ci\u003eBad and Beautiful \u003c\/i\u003eboth on and off the screen.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"The bombshell\" once said, \"I wanted one husband and seven babies, but I got the reverse--seven husbands and an only child!\" She married \u003ci\u003eTarzan \u003c\/i\u003e(Lex Barker) after his designation as \"The Sexiest Man in the World,\" but the union ended when she caught him seducing her teenaged daughter.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOpinions about Lana were as varied as her changing looks. \"She was amoral,\" said MGM''s CEO, Louis B. Mayer. Robert Taylor commented: \"She was the type of woman a guy would risk five years in jail for rape.\"  Gloria Swanson sniffed, \"She wasn''t even an actress...only a trollop.\" And Ronald Reagan--a man who later became U.S. president--asked, \"In what cathouse did she learn those tricks?\"\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAnd then there was that embarrassing murder:  Did Lana fatally stab her gangster lover, Johnny Stompanato, known for his links to the Mob? Or was the heinous act committed by her daughter, a traumatized teenager who, after time in reform school, officially outed herself as a lesbian?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHow did these whirlwinds of scandal affect the gal who had it all? According to Lana, \"I''d like to think that in some small way, I''ve helped to preserve the glamour and beauty and mystery of the movie industry.\"\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNever before has there been, until now, a definitive, uncensored, and comprehensive biography of \"the Ultimate Movie Star,\" LANA TURNER. Until now.  \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49560869798161,"sku":"GOR008576973","price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49650677121297,"sku":"GOR013565575","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49740058165521,"sku":"NGR9781936003532","price":33.69,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49746002116881,"sku":"CIN1936003538G","price":10.28,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51607035543825,"sku":"CIN1936003538VG","price":13.34,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51732159463697,"sku":"GOR014383330","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52486573818129,"sku":"NLS9781936003532","price":32.89,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1936003538.jpg?v=1751156590","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/lana-turner-book-darwin-porter-9781936003532","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}