American actress onscreen from 1937, nominated for an Oscar in “Peyton Place” in 1957. Discovered while she was ditching school one day at Schwab’s Drugstore, she rose to notoriety upon her outstanding qualifications in a sweater. She was publicized as the “Sweater Girl” and became noted as a pin-up throughout WW II.
During the ’40s, she was manufactured by MGM into a starlet and gave creditable performances in such great films as “The Postman Rings Twice,” “Peyton Place” and “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” With over 50 films to her credit, most of her roles were due to her elegance, poise and the ability to project promiscuous sensuality.
Turner’s personal life was as melodramatic as her films. Eight marriages (to one man twice), she was always in-and-out of personal dilemmas. Her father was murdered when she was nine, she had a poor childhood, one abortion, several miscarriages, suicide attempts, lawsuits and sexual escapades. In 1958, her name was exploded on the news when her daughter stabbed her lover, Johnny Stompanato, to death. Cheryl was the daughter from her brief second marriage, to restaurateur Stephen Crane. Cheryl revealed that she had been raped repeatedly by Lex Barker, one of her mom’s eight husbands, between the ages of 10 ½ and 13. When she told her grandmother, who told Turner, Turner said she held a gun to Barker’s head while he slept, then thought, “Is this bastard worth the rest of my life in prison?” When Barker woke in the morning, she ordered him out of the house. They divorced, but to avoid a scandal, no criminal action was taken.
She had throat cancer twice, 1992 and 1994. Turner died at her Century City home 6/29/1995 at age 74.
Link to Wikipedia biography