lana turner hollywood great

Lana Turner born Julia Jean Turner; February 8, 1921 – June 29, 1995) was an American actress. Over the course of her nearly fifty-year career, Turner would achieve notoriety as both a pin-up model and a serious dramatic actress, as well as for her highly publicized personal life. In 1951, she was named the most "glamorous woman in the history of international art."

Turner was discovered in 1936 at the Top Hat Malt Shop in Hollywood, California. At the age of 16, she was signed to a personal contract by Warner Bros. director Mervyn LeRoy, who took her with him when he moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1938. Turner attracted attention in her first film, LeRoy's They Won't Forget (1937), and she later starred in featured roles, often as an ingenue. Her auburn hair was bleached blonde for a 1939 film at MGM, and she remained blonde for the rest of her life, except for a few film roles.

A lifelong heavy smoker, Turner was diagnosed with oesophagal cancer in May 1992. At the urging of her daughter, Turner underwent radiation therapy to treat cancer, and in February 1993, announced that she was in remission. Despite treatment, cancer returned in July 1994. In September 1994, she made her final public appearance at the San Sebastián International Film Festival in Spain to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award and was bound to a wheelchair for much of the event. Turner died nine months later at the age of 74 on June 29, 1995
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