Want to know the best Lana Turner movies? How about the worst Lana Turner movies? Curious about Lana Turner’s box office grosses or which Lana Turner movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Lana Turner movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which movie got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Gotta make mama happy. Since I started writing movie pages, my mother, BERN1960 , has been asking me for a Lana Turner page. So after putting her request off for for almost 2 years…. now…finally my Lana Turner tribute page is complete and published.
Lana Turner (1921-1995) was an Oscar® nominated actress that appeared in over 50 movies from 1937 to 1991. In 1937 Turner got her big break when she went to a Hollywood drug store for some soda pop and was discovered by a movie producer who happened to be in the same drug store. She would appear in her first movie, They Won’t Forget, later that year and immediately was noticed by the movie going public because of the tight sweater she wore in the movie. She became known as the “sweater girl”….a label that she strongly disliked. It only took her four years to go from supporting roles to leading roles in low budget movies to leading roles in the most prestige movies being made at the time.
By 1941 was sharing top billing with superstars James Stewart, Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable. Her peak movie years happened between 1941 and 1959. During this time frame she appeared in many blockbuster hits and numerous critical hits and was one of the biggest stars working in movies. Her IMDb page shows 61 acting credits from 1937 to 1985. This page will rank Lana Turner movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies that received limited North America releases were not included in the rankings.
Lana Turner Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews, and awards.
Lana Turner Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In Ther Table
The really cool thing about ther table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Lana Turner movies by the co-stars of her movies.
- Sort Lana Turner movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Lana Turner movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Lana Turner movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Lana Turner movie received.
- Sort Lana Turner movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR). UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Lana Turner Table
- Twenty-three Lana Turner movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 46.00% of her movies listed. Peyton Place (1957) was her biggest box office hit.
- An average Lana Turner movie grossed $118.40 million in adjusted box office gross
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 26 of Lana Turner’s movies are rated as good movies…or 52.00% of her movies. The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) is her highest rated movie while Bittersweet Love (1976) was her lowest rated movie.
- Nine Lana Turner movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 18.00% of her movies.
- Three Lana Turner movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 6.00% of her movies.
- A “good movie” Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 60.00. 35 Lana Turner movies scored higher that average….or 70.00% of her movies. Peyton Place (1957) got the the highest UMR Score while Bittersweet Love (1976) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Lana Turner
1. Lana Turner was born Julia Jean Turner in Wallace, Idaho in 1921. Throughout her life family members called her Judy. It was not until she was discovered that she became Lana.
2. Lana Turner’s list of co-stars is pretty impressive……4 movies with Clark Gable, 2 movies with Spencer Tracy, once with James Stewart, John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, Richard Burton and Anthony Quinn. She even appeared opposite two James Bonds years before they became Bond….Sean Connery and Roger Moore.
3. Lana Turner received one Oscar® nomination in her career. She was nominated for Best Actress in 1957’s Peyton Place. She never received a Golden Globe® nomination.
4. Lana Turner was married 8 different times to 7 different men. They included a rancher, a hypnotist, a movie producer, an actor, a restaurant owner, a department store owner and a millionaire socialite. Lana Turner had one daughter, Cheryl.
5. In 1958 Lana Turner and her boyfriend at the time, gangster Johnny Stompanato, were in a heated argument. In an effort to protect her mother, Cheryl Turner, killed Stompanato. The amount of media coverage of the killing has been compared to the O.J. Simpson trial in 1995. It was ruled a justifiable homicide.
6. Roles Lana Turner turned down or was seriously considered for: Anatomy of a Murder, Mogambo, The Sound and the Fury, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. On the other side of this fact….she did however get the role of one of her biggest hits, Green Dolphin Street, when Katharine Hepburn dropped out of the movie.
7. The first agent that had contact with Lana Turner was Zeppo Marx, Groucho’s brother.
8. Check out Lana Turner‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
But wait….we have a few more Lana Turner Movie Stats….Adjusted Worldwide Gross on 22 Lana Turner Movies
Lana Turner Box Office Grosses – Adjusted World Wide
Steve’s Updated Lana Turner You Tube Video
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
How could I not read this. I adore Lana Turner movies. You have given some interesting history that i was unaware of. I had no idea that she was married that many times. I think my favorite movie is, ‘ The postman always rings twice ‘ with John Garfield. BTW I would love to learn more about Garfield., he was a great actor. Thank you..I really enjoyed this..
Hey always exploring….thanks for the visit and the comment. I am very glad to hear that you liked this page…..I might do one on John Garfield at a later date….he is part of that group of actors that died way too soon….I think in that 10 year span….Garfield, Bogart, Cooper, Flynn, Powers, Dean all passed away…..with none of them being over 60. It seems everybody is mentioning Postman Always Rings Twice as their favorite Lana Turner movie….really makes me want to see the movie in the near future.
Hi again, Bruce.
More statistics from me….
The top film I’ve seen is, of course, Peyton Place. The lowest scored film I’ve seen is #41-Latin Lovers, a musical (hence, why I’ve seen it).
The earliest film I’ve seen is Love Finds Andy Hardy. The most recent film I have seen is perhaps telling of the likelihood I will choose to watch a particular genre: Bachelor in Paradise, from 1961. Seriously. I have watched only two movies she made after that stabbing scandal. I’ve seen tv appearances later, though.
She was a better actress than she was given the parts to do after 1958.
This was fun. Thanks.
Flora
Hey Flora….comment three….I had never even heard of Latin Lovers before doing this page….I am award of the Andy Hardy movies…but I have never seen one of them before.
As for her scandal….I usually try and avoid talking about the negative stuff in their lives….but her scandal pretty much defines how she is remember….after the scandal it looks like she only made two more decent movies…Imitation of Life and Madame X….and then he movies are easily forgotten…..if they were even remembered to begin with.
Thank you very much for a return visit to HubPages…your effort and your detailed comments are greatly appreciated….really glad you liked this hub….PS….my mom is happy it has been published…now she wants to know where the Rita Hayworth page is….lol.
Back again.
I think you can probably guess that my favourites of Lana’s tend to do better with the critics than the public when the public and the critics don’t agree with each other and which genres I watch multiple times.
My top 5 Lana Turner films that I watch multiple times:
I cannot decide which is my favourite overall film of Lana’s between The Postman Always Rings Twice or Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. But both suspense films.
Lana’s version of The Three Musketeers is my favourite version of the book-and, of course, it is not the only musical version. I don’t tend to watch it for her, though. I watch it for Gene Kelly, so I have to put it third.
The Bad and the Beautiful is an excellent film, but I admire it more than I enjoy it as I feel uncomfortable in some scenes that are too true to life about the business.
Honky Tonk -perhaps the only film you wouldn’t expect to see me put in my top 5: a fun comedy romp in the old west with Gable and Morgan. I find myself grinning through the whole picture.
Hmm. No mention of Peyton Place in my top five either….Not surprising. Again, I admire it more than I enjoy it. Johnny Eager just missed out my top 5. I see Honky Tonk more often.
Flora
Hey Flora…comment 2. Well of the 7 movies you mention in this comment…I have actually seen 3 of them….so I am thinking I have picked the right 4 movies of hers to watch…lol.
Johnny Eager is one of the few movies that feature a Best Supporting Actor Oscar winning performance that I have not seen….I am missing four of them..Van Heflin in Johnny Eager, Jack Albertson in The Subject was Roses, Antony Quinn in Viva Zapata and Walter Brennan in Kentucky…so Johnny Eager is on my list to watch.
I watched her in Dr J and Mr. H right after I did either my Tracy or Bergman hub….and you and Steve convinced me to watch that one….I think she had the least important part in the movie…and I still tear up when I think about how poor Donald Crisp ends up in that movie…lol.
I agree with you about Peyton Place…a good movie but certainly not a fun movie to watch. Bad and the Beautiful is probably my favorite of the 4 I have seen….Kirk Douglas is very good in the leading role.
Her Three Musketeers is probably the only version of that classic story that I have not seen…I just have never seen in on DVD or on tv…but I would watch it if I had the chance.
Homecoming sounds interesting and I will eventually watch her Postman Always Rings Twice.
Hi, Bruce!
Thanks for the heads up and link to your classic Turner hub. Two years, your Mom has been waiting…’bout time.
Well, I see that Steve has seen nine and you haven’t answered him yet with your tally. I know I’ve seen more than Steve…I wonder who has seen more-you or Steve?
I enjoy Lana Turner movies of several genres.
I think I will go through what I’ve seen of the top ten lists before I mention any order of my favourites, though I imagine you won’t be surprised to see musicals on my list. 🙂
Top Ten Box Office: Hmmm.
I’ve only seen five of these. (Of course, box office and critics don’t always coincide.). The five I *have* seen so far are Peyton Place, Weekend at the Waldorf (Grand Hotel remake), The Postman Always Rings Twice (far superior to the remake and I have read the book), The Three Musketeers, and Imitation of Life.
Of the five I am missing, I think that Green Dolphin Street airs the most often on TCM.
Top Ten Critics: Yes, I see a big difference in titles here in order and included at all between the two top tens. I have seen these six, in order:
The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Bad and the Beautiful
Imitation of Life
Honky Tonk
Imitation of life
Johnny Eager
Top Ten Movie Score:
The box office score must have really hurt the Bad and the Beautiful and Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde they are both excellent. I have seen only six of the top ten., but 2/3 of what I *have* seen of the top ten is in the top five.
I have already mentioned them by name, so I will only mention rank: #1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 8.
There is a big difference in what I’ve seen the lower down the list the films are, so I don’t think I can go by groups of ten here.
Instead I will do top 25, then 50 overall in terms of what I’ve seen .
Top 25:
I have seen 12 of the top 25, or 48% of Lamna Turner’s films.
The ones I have not already mentioned in this post are , in your order:
Ziegfeld Girl
love Finds Andy Hardy
The Merry Widow (not the same music as the Broadway show, similar to the earlier film)
Before going to the overall title total :
First, I should say that I have *not* seen Madame X, and have been avoiding it because of the theme being sordid after her private life was too. For a while she might as well be making tabloid films. Too bad. I mention Madame X because it was very well made despite this.
Overall:
I have seen the smallest percentage of films, I think, of any of my totals of classic stars you’ve done when it comes to how available the films are. Some of these are on TCM every now and then, but I have seen only 15 of them, or 30% of her films.
I will discuss highest, lowest, favourites, and latest/earliest in another post. This one is quite long.
Flora
Hey Flora…for comment one…..well 15 easily takes down Steve’s 9…and completely destroys my total of 4. And I do not think it is going to too much higher…as my normally awesome library does not have many of her movies….I think that is the first time that I have done a hub on a classic actor that my library does not have much to offer…for instance after I did my Fred Astaire movie…..my library had over 20 of his movies to watch….the same thing goes with Barbara Stanwyck…it had tons of her movies…..but the library has no love for Lana Turner.
You are right about the big difference between her Top Ten box office and her Top Ten critics movies…with only two of her movies making both lists….I would bet usually that total is normally in the 5-7 range in most of hubs…thanks for pointing that out to me.
The Bad and the Beautiful did indeed get hurt by it’s average box office run….most movies about Hollywood do not normally do very well at the box office…but 13th out of 50 is a pretty good showing…it is actually one of the 4 movies of hers that I have seen.
I remember my sisters loved watching her movies. She was a beautiful person and talented actress. You certainly have done your research on this actress. Well done.
Hey teaches12345….glad my hub was able to bring back those memories of Lana Turner and your sisters. I think her looks got her noticed…but I think her acting abilities kept her a star for all of those years….thanks for the comment and the visit.