We've been celebrating 1957 these past few weeks. Please welcome our new contributor Baby Clyde...
Lana turner in "Peyton Place" and the closest she came to Oscar - presenting Red Buttons with his that same year
After nearly two decades as a topflight Hollywood star Lana Turner finally grabbed Oscar’s attention for her performance as the uptight mother Constance Mackenzie in the smash hit 1957 soap opera Peyton Place. It was to be their only serious encounter. Nobody argues that Lana was a great actress but by god was she a great Movie Star. Maybe the greatest of all in my estimation. There is no one in film history who ticks so many boxes or encapsulates so many Hollywood tropes and clichés.
Young Judy Turner went to Hollywood High School before literally being discovered at a soda counter by the editor of the Hollywood Reporter at age 16 (See how many times I’ve used the word ‘Hollywood’ already). Now named ‘Lana’ she made one of the most iconic debuts in movie history as the ill-fated murder victim in They Won’t Forget (1937) and was dubbed "The Sweater Girl" for the way her ample charms filled out said item of clothing...
Soon signed to the biggest studio in town MGM she served her apprenticeship playing ingenues in Andy Hardy and Dr Kildare serials, auditioning for Scarlett O’Hara and finished her education at the studios fabled Little Red Schoolhouse, alongside Judy and Mickey.
It soon became apparent that not only was she a natural in from of the camera but that her dazzling beauty suggested a bombshell in the making. Hair dyed to ice blonde she was groomed by the studio to be the next Harlow and by the age 20 was co starring alongside the biggest male stars on the lot including Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, Robert Young and The King of Hollywood himself Clark Gable. Rumour has it that it was their on set affair that caused his wife Carole Lombard to board the doomed flight that cost her life.
She made headlines and filled newspaper columns for the next 30 years. Not just because of a spectacularly successful movie run that continued for far longer than any of her glamour girl contemporaries, but also her eight marriage (To seven husbands), numerous other relationships and the biggest scandal of Golden Age Hollywood that would have sunk most careers but somehow only bolstered hers (Come on Ryan Murphy you know American Crime Story – Lana, Cheryl and Johnny Stompanato is what the word needs!!! Just give me a ring. We can knock the first draft out in an afternoon. Margot Robbie is already on the phone to her agent).
One Oscar nomination seems scant reward for all that hard work.
The problem is, of course, that even though it invented them Hollywood never had that much respect for ‘Movie Stars’, especially the sex symbols. They were there to make money and fans swoon, whilst serious actors got all the plaudits. The one thing The Academy always forgets is that Oscars are not awarded for the best acting, they’re for the Best Performance and if there is one thing Lana Turner knew how to do it was perform.
Things could have been so different……
Ziegfeld Girl
The film that really catapulted her onto the A List. Being teamed with ‘the most talented girl in town’ and ‘the most beautiful woman in the world’ must have been intimidating, but whilst Judy sings her heart out and Hedy is too gorgeous for words, this is the Lana show and she acts them off the screen. From gum chewing, wise cracking working class Brooklyn girl to the glamorous star of the Follies, a raging alcoholic and finally a beautiful movie death, it’s almost a character role and certainly far beyond anything she’d been asked to do up to that point. She was only 20. Just think if Louis B. Mayer had stopped his obsession with the dreary Greer Garson and put MGM’s block vote behind Turner. The first of many Oscar nods would have started here.
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Nothing proves my point better than the 1946 line-up. Legendary movie goddesses Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth and Lana Turner served us up their signature roles in The Killers, Gilda and The Postman Always Ring Twice. Oscar nominations went to the Roz Russell in the completely forgotten Sister Kenny and Jennifer Jones, making a total fool of herself, in Duel In The Sun. Lana, in her most iconic role, should have got a nomination for this entrance alone……..
The Bad And The Beautiful
It takes a Movie Star to play a Movie star and Lana’s brings every bit of her star power to this fabulous tale of Hollywood wealth, greed, love and betrayal. Maybe it hit a bit too close to home but 5 wins out of 6 nominations is still a record for a film with no Best Picture nom. Lana wasn’t alone in being snubbed as director Vincente Minnelli also missed out. Unaccountably Gloria Grahame won Supporting Actress for her totally forgettable wife role. Lana didn’t even get nominated for this sensational display of top rate emoting…..
Peyton Place
The start of her helmet haired, demurely dressed, mother phase which, unlikely as it seems, proved to be the most financially successful of her whole career. It’s hard to believe that this is what put her on Oscar’s radar although 1957 wasn’t exactly a banner year for Best Actress. I even know a very respected Oscarologist who give her the win (???). I won’t go that far but certainly don’t begrudge our heroine getting nommed for this gigantic hit, at an age when most stars of her ilk are beginning to fade away.
Imitation of Life
Another colossal box office smash, this classic got a lukewarm reception on release, but the subsequent critical reappraisal makes it Lana’s most beloved film today. To be honest I don’t really get the appeal. There’s something about Sirk’s artificiality that leaves me cold, but it was certainly rude of the Academy nominate her two Supporting co-stars and snub Ms Turner. Having said that, she agreed to a percentage of their films takings rather than a fee up front and made an absolute fortune when the it became one of the year’s biggest hits, so I doubt she was too disappointed.
Madame X
Madonna can’t be wrong. Ok so we can all agree that by 1966 Lana was a star out of her time and the chances receiving any kind of Academy attention for the umpteenth remake of the hoary old chestnut were slim to none. With that year’s nominees including two Foreign Language performances for the first time ever and two hot, young icons of Swinging London, Lana’s melodramatic turn was old fashioned to say the least. But as my good friend and Oscar scholar Dashiell M. Silva says…….
I’ve openly said many times that Lana really deserved a nom for MADAME X (1966). She has like 6 different hair colours, ages over 30 years, goes from Future Senator’s wife, to fugitive, to sex worker in Mexico, to death row inmate. Ugh. THE RANGE!
— Dashiell M. Silva (@dashiellsilva) June 28, 2020
It’s true. I mean good as Liz is in Virginia Woolf could she carry off this many hairstyles??? People have been nominated for far less.
Lana and her Madame X lewks
Over 30 years of an A List career Lana Turner proved time and time again that she was more than just a pretty face. While she may not be revered for her acting chops she’s firmly established in the pantheon of all time Hollywood greats. It’s just a pity Oscar didn’t appreciate her as much as audiences did.