In 1958, while filming Another Time, Another Place (1958) in London, England, she was visited by her boyfriend, gangster Johnny Stompanato. Stompanato suspected that she was having an affair with co-star Sean Connery and at one point confronted Connery and threatened to kill him. Connery knocked him unconscious with one punch. He then waited until Stompanato regained consciousness and told him that if he ever saw Stompanato again he would kill him. Stompanato left London the next day.

Her auburn hair was bleached for Idiot's Delight (1939). She was withdrawn from the film, but the fact that she had become a blonde not only changed her screen image but gave her such an outgoing, swinging personality that Hollywood called her the Nightclub Queen.

She was born in a small mining town, where her father Virgil, an itinerant miner and one of 12 children, eloped with 15-year-old Mildred Frances Cowan. Mildred's parents objected until they learned she was pregnant with what would be her only child, Lana.

Turner's father was murdered in December 1930 after participating in an all-night crap game in San Francisco, where the family had moved. The case was never solved.

At one point in her life, she counted and discovered that she owned 698 pairs of shoes.

Once said that her turn as Cora Smith in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) was "the role I liked best".

Suffered three stillbirths (in 1949, 1951 and 1956) during her life as a result of having the Rh factor.

Daughter Cheryl Crane fatally stabbed Turner's lover, gangster Johnny Stompanato, during a physical altercation in 1958. Stompanato physically attacked Turner, and Crane, who was 14 at the time, wanted to protect her mother. Jerry Giesler represented Crane. The murder was deemed justifiable homicide at a coroner's inquest and Crane was acquitted.

Once when she was being interviewed by Hedda Hopper, Lex Barker, Lana's future husband, was in the same room. There was a large vase of flowers blocking her view of Lex, so Lana got up, walked across the room and removed them, remarking, "He's brand new and I want to look at him!"

Once she was forced to evacuate her apartment building when a fire broke out. Having only minutes to collect what she needed, Lana grabbed her lipstick, her eyebrow pencil and her hairdryer.

Bequeathed her companion & housekeeper her entire trust estate, valued at almost $2 million, including her apartment in Century City and rights to all income producing assets, such as the profit participation in films such as The Imitation of Life. She changed the beneficiary of her trust estate in the last years of her life, from her daughter to her housekeeper, and instead left her daughter a cash bequest of only $50,000.

Her daughter, Cheryl Crane, wrote a book about her life with her mother, her mother's 7 husbands and numerous boyfriends and living in Hollywood. It was entitled "Detour: A Hollywood Story" and was published in 1988 (ISBN:o-380-70580-X)

When she was a young girl, she had dreams of becoming a dress designer.

In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) with Spencer Tracy and Ingrid Bergman Turner was originally supposed to play Ivy, the tart. Bergman was supposed to play the innocent girl engaged to Tracy, but she wanted Turner's part and so the roles were switched.

According to the Richard Burton biography "And God Created Burton" Turner had an affair with the actor when they were filming The Rains of Ranchipur (1955) together.

"The Private Diary of My Life With Lana", a memoir, written by one of her closest friends, Eric Root, was published one year after her death. Root, a long time friend and hairdresser of Turner's, has a large collection of jewelry that belonged to Miss Turner. He still owns the beauty salon in Beverly Hills where Turner and many other iconic stars were clients.

In her autobiography, she stated that her true birthdate is February 8, 1921. She stated that "I am one year younger than the records show."

In her autobiography she wrote that she had skipped a typing class at Hollywood High School. She went to the Top Hat Cafe, on Sunset Boulevard, and was sitting at the counter sipping a Coke. According to the Sunset Boulevard website, William Wilkerson, who wrote for the Hollywood Reporter, noticed her and thought she was attractive enough to be in films. With her mother's approval, he introduced Turner to the agent, Zeppo Marx, who was Groucho Marx's brother. Soon she was put under contract to MGM.

According to the book "Golden Girls of MGM" by Jane Ellen Wayne, she lost her eyebrows due to the glue used to attach false ones to give her an Asian look.

Favourite actresses as a child included Kay Francis and Norma Shearer.

Although diagnosed with throat cancer in 1992, Turner continued to smoke until almost the very end of her life.

Was offered the role of Mrs. Cabot on the series Hotel (1983), but made so many demands that she was dropped and replaced by Anne Baxter.

Her father John Turner deserted Lana and her mother in San Francisco after Lana inadvertently tipped off police that he was manufacturing bootleg liquor in the basement.

February 14, 1954, CBS: This episode was an hour long tribute to help celebrate MGM's 30th anniversary. Lana Turner made a live appearance on the show and performed the "Madame Crematante" number (aka "A Great Lady Has An Interview") that Judy Garland had performed in 1946's "Ziegfeld Follies". Among the male singers/dancers featured were Steve Forrest, Edmund Purdom, and John Ericson.

Became pregnant by her first husband Artie Shaw in 1940 and her then-lover Tyrone Power in 1946; on both occasions she had abortions.

She was set to appear in Anatomy of a Murder (1959) with James Stewart until she objected to the off-the-rack wardrobe that director Otto Preminger had selected for her. Lee Remick took over the role.

According to her autobiography Turner lost her virginity to lawyer Greg Bautzer in March 1938 at age 17. Their relationship ended after Joan Crawford revealed to Turner that she and Bautzer had been having an affair.

She was never married for more than five years. Her longest marriage was to Henry Topping (four years, seven months, 14 days). Her shortest marriage was to Stephen Crane, which was annulled at six months, 18 days (38 days later she married him again). She was married to Artie Shaw for 1 day shy of seven months.

She was called the Sweater Girl. Interestingly, Lana, translated into Spanish means "wool."

Is portrayed by Brenda Bakke in L.A. Confidential (1997)

She became involved with co-star Fernando Lamas while filming The Merry Widow (1952). He was supposed to co-star with her again in Latin Lovers (1953), but they had a falling out and Lamas was replaced in the film by Ricardo Montalban.

Was offered the role of Eloise Y. Kelly in Mogambo (1953) but she turned it down. Ava Gardner, who went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, was cast instead.

After her small but stunning part in They Won't Forget (1937), she was signed by director Mervyn LeRoy, not by Warner Brothers as is often believed (although Leroy was working for Warner Brothers at the time). When Leroy moved to MGM, he took Turner with him.

Fainted during her 1953 wedding to Lex Barker.

Her image appears on the cover of the music CD Electro Swing Fever which was released in 2010.

She has appeared in three films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and Imitation of Life (1959).

Is mentioned by name in the Gus Kahn / Walter Donaldson song "My Baby Just Cares for Me".

Is one of the many movie stars mentioned in Madonna's song "Vogue"

Was two months pregnant with her daughter Cheryl Crane when she completed filming Slightly Dangerous (1943).

Gave birth to her only child at age 22, a daughter Cheryl Christina Crane (aka Cheryl Crane) on July 25, 1943. Child's father is her 2nd ex-husband, Stephen Crane.

Close friend Linda Darnell acted as a witness at Turner's first wedding to Stephen Crane.

William Wilkerson of The Hollywood Reporter found her sipping a Coke in a drugstore and was so taken by her he blurted out that standard Hollywood line, "How'd you like to be in pictures?". Her first role, sure enough, had her in a tight skirt and even tighter sweater sitting at a drugstore counter.

Her father John Turner was an Alabama miner. Her mother Mildred Cowan was the daughter of an Arkansas mining engineer.

Featured in "Femme Noir: Bad Girls of Film" by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry (McFarland, 1998).

Was considered for the role of Maggie Pollitt in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), which was eventually given to Elizabeth Taylor.

Her first lover was Greg Bautzer a lawyer who became known as "The Man Who Seduced Hollywood.".

Tested for the part of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind under the name of Judy Turner,.

Campaigned for Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1944 presidential election.

She was not "discovered" seated on a stool in Schwab's drugstore in Hollywood, but she was seen in an ice cram parlor across the street from Hollywood High School by William Wilkerson, founder and publisher of industry trade paper "The Hollywood Rporter," only a block or two away.

On August 12, 2020, she was honored with a day of her filmography during the Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month.