Murder in Hollywood: The Untold Story of Lana Turner (10 photos)

On March 26, 1958, Lana Turner returned to the Bel Air Hotel from the 30th Academy Awards. She lost the award in the Best Actress category to Joanne Woodward, who brilliantly played in the film The Three Faces of Eve. But the misfortunes that day did not end there...





After kissing her daughter Cheryl goodnight, Turner entered her room.

"It was dark, but she could make out the figure of a man sitting on a chair by the bed. Lana's heart sank," writes Casey Sherman in the book "Murder in Hollywood: The Untold Story of a Shocking Crime."

"She turned on the light, and there he was, Johnny Stompanato, her temperamental lover."



Actress Lana Turner (center) with ex-husband Stephen Crane during the trial for the murder of gangster Johnny Stompanato

A fight ensued. Stompanato hit Turner in the face and then pulled out a knife.

"No one will ever want to look at that sweet face again!" - he shouted furiously.

At this time, young Cheryl was hiding in her room.

Sherman recounts a crime that shocked show business and exposed the violent relationship between one of Hollywood's brightest stars and a fraudster.





Californian gangster Johnny Stompanato (left) with mafia boss Mickey Cohen

Stompanato was born in Woodstock, Illinois in 1925. The former Marine worked for Mickey Cohen, head of the notorious Los Angeles Cohen crime family.

In 1957, they came up with a plan to blackmail an actress who was known for her predilection for the wrong kind of men.

“Two gangsters developed a classic scheme. Stompanato was supposed to lure Lana into bed,” writes Sherman. “But this was not enough. They needed to arrange something like a threesome and secretly film the sexual act. They wanted to blackmail Turner, siphon off a lot of money from her bank account."



The tragic story of the relationship between Lana Turner and the brutal gangster Johnny Stompanato is described in the book "Murder in Hollywood: The Untold Story of a Shocking Crime"

Using the alias "John Steele", Stompanato showered Lana with flowers and gifts. The con man charmed Cheryl, allowing her to ride his horse and his new Thunderbird convertible.

What Cohen didn't expect was that his loyal assistant would fall in love with Turner.

"The game had changed. He was no longer interested in blackmail and home videos."



Lana's daughter, Cheryl Crane, killed Stompanato when she was 14 years old.

However, Johnny tormented Lana for a whole year. He abused her, drugged her and took nude photographs of her.

It was only when her friend, actor Mickey Rooney, showed an old article in Confidential magazine exposing "John Steele" that Turner tried to break off relations with the gangster.

But Stompanato did not resign himself. In 1957, he learned that Lana was having an affair with promising Scottish actor Sean Connery, with whom she starred in the film Another Time, Another Place in England.

Johnny flew across the Atlantic using a fake passport to meet his lover and during a quarrel almost strangled her.

Two weeks later, Stompanato showed up on the set and began threatening Connery.

“Stompanato pulled a revolver from his pocket and aimed at the actor’s chest. Lana let out a blood-curdling scream,” says the writer.



Turner, Stompanato and Cheryl

Connery was not afraid. He grabbed the jealous man by the wrist and twisted his arm, the weapon immediately fell. Then Sean hit his opponent in the face, blood gushed from his nose.

The police escorted the citizen with the fake passport to the airport and put him on a flight to Los Angeles.

After filming, Turner traveled to Copenhagen to catch a flight to Acapulco, Mexico, where she wanted to vacation. But at the foot of the plane, Stompanato was waiting for her with a single yellow rose. "Lana, you know I will never let you go."

Already in Mexico, he threatened her: “If you don’t be with me, you won’t be with anyone.”

For her own safety, Turner played the role of a caring lover, while she figured out how to get rid of him foreverYes.



Turner mansion in Beverly Hills, crime scene

The novel ended on April 4, 1958, a few weeks after the Oscars. That evening, Stompanato showed up at Turner's Beverly Hills home and threatened to kill her. When Lana tried to hide in her bedroom, the man burst inside. Then Cheryl's daughter intervened in the fight and plunged a knife into the gangster's stomach.



Lana appears in court for murder in 1958

"Within seconds, Johnny Stompanato, gangster, crook and rapist, was dead."

When the case went to trial, 14-year-old Cheryl Turner was acquitted. The jury decided that the murder was committed solely to save the mother's life.



Cheryl is led from a Los Angeles jail to a courtroom in April 1958



Mother and daughter in 1946