10 Golden Age Scandals Hollywood Wants You To Forget

Pin-up and femme fatale Lana Turner had a penchant for walking down the aisle and amassed a total of seven husbands over her life, one of whom she married twice. It was her brief dalliance with small-time mobster Johnny Stompanato, sandwiched in between her fourth and fifth husbands, that would cause the biggest scandal though.

The pair began dating in 1957 but their relationship was a stormy and often violent one. Later that year while Turner was shooting the movie Another Time, Another Place in England with her soon-to-be James Bond co-star Sean Connery, Stompanato visited the actress and became convinced she and Connery were having an affair, eventually turning up on set and threatening the two stars with a gun. Luckily, the ever-masterful Scotsman was able to overpower Stompanato and the mobster was deported back to the US with the help of Scotland Yard.

Their relationship didn’t end there though. Just a few months later another violent argument broke out between Turner and Stompanato at her home in Beverly Hills and ended in bloodshed when Turner’s 14-year-old daughter Cheryl Crane, fearing for her mother’s life, intervened and fatally stabbed Stompanato. Luckily for Cheryl though, the ensuing trial judged Stompanato’s death a justifiable homicide.

Whereas some star’s careers would’ve been ruined by such a scandal, Turner’s was actually revived. Her movie Peyton Place saw a sharp boost in ticket sales following Stompanato’s death and her 1959 film Imitation of Life was one of the biggest box office successes of the year, proving that Hollywood is a fickle machine indeed.