Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Gene Tierney (November 19, 1920 – November
6, 1991) was an United States|American
actor|actress. Acclaimed as one of the great
beauties of her day, she is probably
best-remembered for her performance in the title
role of Laura (1944 movie)|Laura in the 1940s.

==Early years==
She was born Gene Eliza Tierney in Brooklyn, New
York|Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Howard
Sherwood Tierney and Belle Lavina Taylor. Her
elder brother was Howard Sherwood "Butch" Tierney,
Jr., and her younger sister was Patricia "Pat"
Tierney. Her father was a prosperous insurance
broker; her mother a former gym teacher.

Gene attended St. Margaret School, Waterbury,
Connecticut, and Unquowa School, Bridgeport,
Connecticut|Bridgeport. Among her studies, she
learned Equestrianism|horseback riding. Her first
poem, titled Night, was published in the school
magazine. Writing verse became an occasional
pastime during the rest of her life. She then
spent two years in Europe and attended the
finishing school Brillantmont in Lausanne,
Switzerland, where she learned to speak perfect
French language|French.

She returned to the U.S. in 1938 and attended
Farmington School. On a trip to the West Coast of
the United States|West Coast, she visited Warner
Bros. and was told by Anatole Litvak she should
become an actress. Her coming out party as a
debutante was September 24, but she soon found she
was bored with society life and decided to pursue
a career in acting. Warners wanted to sign her to
a contract, but her parents advised against it
because of the low salary offered.

==Broadway & modeling==
In her first part on Broadway theatre|Broadway,
she carried a bucket of water across the stage in
What a Life (1939). That same year, she appeared
in the role as Molly O'Day in the Broadway
production Mrs. O'Brien Entertains, and also
played Peggy Carr in Ring Two.

Tierney also worked as a photographic model
(person)|model in New York City|New York. Photos
of her appeared in Life (magazine)|Life, Harper's
Bazaar and Collier's Weekly.

Her wealthy father set up a corporation,
Belle-Tier, to fund and promote her career.
Columbia Pictures|Columbia offered her a six-month
contract, which she accepted. She met Howard
Hughes, who tried unsuccessfully to seduce her. He
subsequently remained a lifelong friend. A
cameraman advised her to lose a little weight,
saying "a thinner face is more seductive." She
then wrote to Harper's Bazaar for a slimming diet,
which she followed for the next twenty years.

The movie studio|studio failed to find her a
project, however, so she returned to New York and
starred as Patricia Stanley in The Male Animal
(1940) on Broadway.

==Motion pictures==
Tierney was offered the lead in
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM's National Velvet, but
when the production was delayed she signed with
20th Century Fox. Her film|motion picture debut
was in the starring role as Eleanor Stone in Fritz
Lang's Western movie|Western The Return of Frank
James (1940 in film|1940) opposite Henry Fonda. A
small role as Barbara Hall in Hudson's Bay
(movie)|Hudson's Bay followed, released that same
year.


1941 in film|1941 was a busy year for the actress,
as she starred in the role as Ellie May Lester in
John Ford's drama Tobacco Road (novel)|Tobacco
Road, the title role in Belle Starr (movie)|Belle
Starr, as Zia in Sundown (movie)|Sundown, and as
Victoria Charteris AKA Poppy Smith in The Shanghai
Gesture. In 1942 in film|1942, she played Eva in
Son of Fury, the dual role as Susan Miller and
Linda Worthington in Rings on Her Fingers, the
role as Kay Saunders in Thunder Birds, and Miss
Young in China Girl.

A supporting role in Ernst Lubitsch's classic 1943
in film|1943 comedy Heaven Can Wait (1943)|Heaven
Can Wait, in which she played the dual role as
Martha Strabel and Van Cleve, signaled an upward
turn in Tierney's career as her popularity
increased.

In 1944 in film|1944, she starred in what became
her most famous role as the intended murder
victim, Laura Hunt, in Otto Preminger's masterful
mystery film|mystery Laura (1944 movie)|Laura.

After playing Tina Tomasino in A Bell for Adano
(1945 in film|1945), she played the jealous
hearted femme fatale Ellen Berent Harland,
opposite Cornel Wilde, in the film noir Leave Her
to Heaven, a performance that won her an Academy
Award nomination for Academy Award for Best
Actress|Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Tierney starred in the role as Miranda Wells in
Dragonwyck (1946 in film|1946). That same year,
she played Isabel Bradley opposite Tyrone Power,
with John Payne, Anne Baxter, and Clifton Webb, in
The Razor's Edge, an adaptation William Somerset
Maugham|Somerset Maugham's novel. She followed
that with her role as Lucy Muir in The Ghost and
Mrs. Muir (1947 in film|1947) opposite Rex
Harrison, with George Sanders, Anna Lee, and
Natalie Wood.

==Marriages, children & affair==
Tierney had two husbands, costume designer|costume
and fashion design|fashion designer Oleg Cassini
(married July 11, 1941-divorced February 28,
1952); and Texas oilman W. Howard Lee (married
July 11, 1960-his death February 17, 1981).

She and Cassini had two daughters, Antoinette
Daria Cassini (born October 15, 1943) and
Christine "Tina" Cassini (born November 19, 1948).

Her husband, Cassini, became a second lieutenant
in the United States Army|Army in World War II,
and Tierney was accorded the honor of pinning the
regulation gold bars on his uniform. While she was
pregnant, in June 1943, she came down with German
measles, probably contracted during a USO tour.
Their baby, Daria, was born prematurely in a
hospital in Washington, D.C., weighing 3 pounds, 2
ounces. Daria was deaf and partially blind, with
cataracts, requiring a total blood transfusion,
and was diagnosed as mental retardation|mentally
retarded. Tierney's grief over the tragedy
eventually led to years of mental illness.

She met John F. Kennedy in the spring of 1946,
while making Dragonwyck, and they had an affair.
She had domestic arguments with her husband,
Cassini, during this time, and a relationship with
newly divorced Tyrone Power while making The
Razor's Edge led to speculations by the press. The
following year, Jack Kennedy told her he could
never marry her because of his political
ambitions.

Her daughter, Daria, was institutionalized in 1946
to be looked after. Tierney was heartbroken. She
fell down some stairs and fractured her anklebone
just before filming was to begin on The Ghost and
Mrs. Muir and the production was held up while she
recovered. She then had a reconciliation with
Cassini.

==Career, affair & mental breakdown==
Tierney gave memorable performances in two classic
film noirs, Jules Dassin's Night and the City and
Otto Preminger's Where the Sidewalk Ends (both in
1950 in film|1950).

After playing Teresa opposite Rory Calhoun in Way
of a Gaucho (1952 in film|1952), which was filmed
on location in Argentina, her contract at 20th
Century Fox expired. That same year, she starred
as Dorothy Bradford in Plymouth Adventure opposite
Spencer Tracy at MGM, which was followed by her
role as Marya Lamarkina Sutherland opposite Clark
Gable in Never Let Me Go (1953 in film|1953). She
remained at the studio to play Kay Barlow in
Personal Affair, which was released that same
year.

While Tierney was in Europe, she began an affair
with Prince Aly Khan, but their marriage plans met
with fierce opposition from the Aga Khan III|Aga
Khan. She returned to the U.S., where she played
Iris Denver in Black Widow (1954 movie)|Black
Widow (1954 in film|1954), about a woman murderer
co-starring Ginger Rogers, Van Heflin, George
Raft, with Peggy Ann Garner.

While playing the role as Anne Scott in The Left
Hand of God (1955 movie)|The Left Hand of God
(1955 in film|1955) opposite Humphrey Bogart,
Tierney's long string of personal troubles finally
took their toll. She said that Bogey could see
that she was mentally unstable.

Worried about her mental health, she consulted a
psychiatrist. She then left Hollywood,
California|Hollywood and was admitted to Harkness
Pavilion in New York. Later she went to the
Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut.
After 27 shock therapy|shock treatments, she tried
to run away, but was caught and led back.

Tierney was seen by a neighbor in 1957 as she was
about to jump from a ledge. The police were called
and she was admitted to the Menninger
Foundation|Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, on
December 25. She was released from Menningers the
following year, after a treatment that included,
in its final stages, working as a sales girl in a
large department store, where she was spotted by a
customer and it resulted in sensational newspaper
headlines. She then met Howard Lee in Aspen,
Colorado.

20th Century Fox offered her a lead role in
Holiday for Lovers. However, the stress proved too
great. Days into production, she quit and was
readmitted to Menningers briefly in 1959.

==Later life==
Years after the tragedy of her daughter Daria,
Tierney learned from a fan (aficionado)|fan who
approached her that the woman had sneaked out of
quarantine while sick with German measles to meet
her during her USO tour in the early 1940s.
Tierney said that when the woman recounted the
story to her, she just stared at her silently,
then turned and walked away. She said she did not
remember her, but after that second meeting she
would remember her for the rest of her life.

In 1960, Tierney sent a telegram of
congratulations to Kennedy on his election
victory, although she voted for Richard Nixon.

She married oil baron Howard Lee in Aspen in 1960
and moved to Houston, Texas|Houston. Tierney loved
life in Texas with Lee and became an expert
contract bridge|bridge player. In 1962, 20th
Century Fox announced she would play the lead role
in Return to Peyton Place, but she became pregnant
and dropped out of the project. She later had a
miscarriage.

Her comeback to the screen was in her role as
Dolly Harrison in Advise and Consent (1962 in
film|1962) co-starring Franchot Tone, Lew Ayres,
Henry Fonda, Walter Pidgeon, Charles Laughton, Don
Murray, Peter Lawford, and Burgess Meredith. A
year later she played Albertine Prine in Toys in
the Attic (1963 movie)|Toys in the Attic starring
Dean Martin and Geraldine Page.

Tierney played Jane Barton in The Pleasure Seekers
(1964 in film|1964) starring Ann-Margret, Anthony
Franciosa, and Carol Lynley, then again retired. 

She played Lenore Constable, however, in the
television movie Daughter of the Mind (1969 in
television|1969) with Don Murray and Ray Milland.

Her autobiography, Self-Portrait, where she
candidly discussed her life, career and mental
problems, was published in 1979 in
literature|1979.

Tierney's final show business performance was as
Harriet Toppingham in the TV
miniseries|mini-series Scuples (TV
mini-series)|Scruples (1980 in television|1980)
starring Lindsay Wagner.

She died at age 70 of emphysema in Houston. She is
interred in Section E-1 of Glenwood Cemetery,
Houston, beside her second husband, Howard Lee.

Gene Tierney has a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame at 6125 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood,
California|Hollywood.

==Trivia==
*Some have speculated that Agatha Christie used
the real life tragedy of Tierney and her eldest
daughter to construct her fictional plot in The
Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1962 in
literature|1962), as the motive behind the murder
in the novel is similar.
*Tierney's second husband, Howard Lee, was married
to Hedy Lamarr from 1953 to 1960.

==External links==
* http://www.classicactresses.com/gene.html Gene
Tierney at Classic Actresses
* http://www.michellevogel.com/GeneTierney.html
Gene Tierney by Michelle Vogel
*imdb name|id=0000074|name=Gene Tierney
*ibdb name|id=62344|name=Gene Tierney