hollywoodland
Lana Turner: The Preeminent Pinup Girl, the King of Los Angeles, and the Death of Johnny Stompanato
Listen Free:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | iHeart | Audacy | Pandora | Amazon Music
As captivating as actress Lana Turner was on screen, her personal life off screen was more dramatic than any movie could hope to be. Her father, turning up dead over a poker pot. Her co-star, Sean Connery, throwing down with pre-Bond panache when her boyfriend threatened to beat her up. And that same boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato, winding up dead in her Hollywood home after another of their infamous arguments.
This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to some listeners, including domestic violence and child sexual assault.
Sources
True Hollywood Noir: Filmland Mysteries and Murders, by Dina Di Mambro
The Bad & The Beautiful: Hollywood in the Fifties, by Sam Kashner and Jennifer MacNair
The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickland and the MGM Publicity Machine, by E. J. Fleming
Lana: The Public and Private Lives of Miss Turner, by Joe Morella and Edward Z. Epstein
Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, ed. Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward
MGM Stories Part Twelve: Lana Turner (You Must Remember This)
Hollywood: Johnny Stompanato & Lana Turner, the Gangster and the Film Star (The Dark Side Of)
Sean Connery, Lana Turner and the Murder of Johnny Stompanato (Birth. Movies. Death.)
In a 1958 inquest, killing of Lana Turner’s boyfriend was detailed (LA Times)
Death of Lana Turner’s Father (San Francisco History)
Death of Virgil Turner (Oakland Tribune)
Lana Turner: A San Francisco Noir (Sparkletack)
The Sensational Murder of Johnny Stompanato, the LA Mobster Stabbed to Death by Lana Turner’s Daughter (All That’s Interesting)
Mickey Cohen: The Life and Crimes of L.A.’s Notorious Mobster, by Tere Tereba
Suitor of Lana Turner Is Killed by Her Daughter, 14, With Knife (New York Times)
Great Scot: Nobody Pushes Sean Connery Around (Rolling Stone)
Johnny Stompanato (Mafia Wiki)
‘Detour’ A Powerful Hollywood Horror Story (Washington Post)
Aggie Underwood (Deranged LA Crimes)
The Bad and the Beautiful: Lana Turner and the murder of Johnny Stompanato (Scandalous Women)
American Gigolo (Chicago Magazine)
Credits
Hosted by Jake Brennan.
Written by Zeth Lundy.
Copy edited by Pat Healy.
Scored and mixed by Matt Tahaney.
Additional music and score elements by Ryan Spraker.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak