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Thread: Gene Tierney

  1. #1
    susalu Guest

    Gene Tierney

    Similar to Frances Farmer, mental illness issues... but perhaps a better known actress? I loved "Leave her to heaven" about a woman so insecure and jealous that she commited suicide and made it look like her husband killed her...

    Maybe that's what Laci Peterson did, huh Jefe? Since there is so much reasonable doubt in your mind that Scott didn't do it??? Just razzing you some!

    Susan

  2. #2
    Genevieve Guest
    Yeah I was gonna mention her. I read somewhere that she had an affair with JFK, was heart broken and had to spend time in a sanitorium. I was under the impression she had died in one back in the 60s but a quick look at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Tierney shows I'm wrong. Blimey that story about German Measles?! I'd never heard that before - terrible! My favourite was the Ghost and Mrs Muir. That film bloody breaks my heart. I've seen it so many times but I always bawl my eyes out at the end. I like Rex Harrison's performance in that and I've been fond of him since I was a child but I was disappointed to read on FAD that he was having an affair with a starlet and his refusal to make an honest woman of her led to her suicide. His nickname "Sexy Rexy" was always dead funny to me - I had thought we invented "sexy" in the early 90s! You see I always hated Bob Hope and reading the FAD on him where the same thing happened gave me a good reason to dislike him, then I found my favourite old charmer did the same thing so I had to take a good long look at my attitudes. There you are, you can't win 'em all and sometimes you just dislike someone from a gut instinct and then you can like someone who turns out to be a cad. Life is disappointing.

  3. #3
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    Gene Tierney

    If any one has ever heard of Gene Tierney, it was known that her daughter was born with severe mental retardation due to her mother's exposure to German measels. But I found this today which I never knew about the incident. Tierney learned from a fan who approached her for an autograph that the woman, then a member of the women's branch of the Marine Corps, had sneaked out of quarantine while sick with German measles to meet Tierney, at her only Hollywood Canteen appearance. In her autobiography, Tierney related that after the woman had recounted her story, she just stared at her silently, then turned and walked away. She wrote, "After that I didn't care whether ever again I was anyone's favorite actress." Man what price these people have to pay for fame.

  4. #4
    motherogod Guest
    That is terribly sad... here's something even more sad: who was Gene Tierney?

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by motherogod View Post
    That is terribly sad... here's something even more sad: who was Gene Tierney?
    Lol I just busted out laughing when I seen your comment. And I should have offered some more info. Let me work on that. Or hopefully KELT or someone can help me here.

  6. #6
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Tierney

    Gene Tierney (November 19, 1920November 6, 1991) was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as one of the most beautiful women of the twentieth century, she is probably best-remembered for her performance in the title role of LauraAcademy Award-nominated performance for Best Actress in (1944) and her Leave Her to Heaven (1945). Other notable roles include Martha Strable Van Cleve in Heaven Can Wait (1943), Isabel Bradley Maturin in The Razor's Edge (1946), Lucy Muir in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), Ann Sutton in Whirlpool (1949), Maggie Carleton McNulty in The Mating Season (1951) and Anne Scott in The Left Hand of God (1955).

    Heh. My maiden name was Tierney. I can remember my father always joking about "cousin Gene."

    "Death doesn't really worry me that much, I'm not frightened about it... I just don't want to be there when it happens."

  7. #7
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    My cousins lived next to her for a while during WWII at Ft. Riley, KS. They said that her nose was so far up in the air that she turned everybody off. I was told that apparenty GENE acted as if she was just "so above" everyone that after a while many of the officers' wives just rolled their eyes when she'd enter a room. Personally, I always felt sorry for her.

    She'd had a major love affair with JOHN F. KENNEDY, but his parents didn't approve of her (divorce) and so, the relationship came to an end. She was one of the few movie stars who actually came from something; I mean she had some breeding. (Most of the stars came from backgrounds that were lacking or were borderline WT, or WT itself. Some other exceptions include ROBERT STACK, ROBERT WAGNER, DINA MERRILL. I digress.)

    The combination of the retarded daughter (DARIA), bad breaks, bad love affairs (another one that went south was with PRINCE ALY KHAN) all resulted in several breakdowns. GENE was committed to the MENNINGER CLINIC which was a big scandal at the time (mid-1950s). It also took a big toll on her looks. She later married HOWARD LEE who collected beautiful actresses for his lovers. He'd been married to the exquisite HEDY LAMARR. HOWARD made no demands of GENE and accepted her illness. They were married in '60. GENE had many 'bad days'. As MRS. LEE, she was a fixture of the upper echelon(s) of Houston society and she enjoyed the role. She volunteered at a local hospital and relished playing hostess. She also enjoyed her family immensely. She'd had another daughter who was healthy who gave GENE grandchildren. GENE died of emnphysema at age 70 give or take a year.

    Speaking of the retarded daughter and that whole incident of the fan who'd been hospitalized with German measles but left to go meet GENE TIERNEY and inadvertently infectingn the beautiful actress resulting in her baby being born with Downs' Syndrome, well, believe it or not, that tale was supposedly the inspiration for AGATHA CHRISTIE'S [SIZE=3]THE MiRROR CRACKED[/SIZE].

    IMO, GENE' best performances were in the following films:
    LAURA, LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN, DRAGONWYCK, THE GHOST & MRS. MUIR, WHIRLPOOL, and ADVISE & CONSENT.


    GENE in her late teens.


    GENE in the mid-1940s at the height of her appeal.


  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by KELT View Post
    My cousins lived next to her for a while during WWII at Ft. Riley, KS. They said that her nose was so far up in the air that she turned everybody off. I was told that apparenty GENE acted as if she was just "so above" everyone that after a while many of the officers' wives just rolled their eyes when she'd enter a room. Personally, I always felt sorry for her.

    She'd had a major love affair with JOHN F. KENNEDY, but his parents didn't approve of her (divorce) and so, the relationship came to an end. She was one of the few movie stars who actually came from something; I mean she had some breeding. (Most of the stars came from backgrounds that were lacking or were borderline WT, or WT itself. Some other exceptions include ROBERT STACK, ROBERT WAGNER, DINA MERRILL. I digress.)

    The combination of the retarded daughter (DARIA), bad breaks, bad love affairs (another one that went south was with PRINCE ALY KHAN) all resulted in several breakdowns. GENE was committed to the MENNINGER CLINIC which was a big scandal at the time (mid-1950s). It also took a big toll on her looks. She later married HOWARD LEE who collected beautiful actresses for his lovers. He'd been married to the exquisite HEDY LAMARR. HOWARD made no demands of GENE and accepted her illness. They were married in '60. GENE had many 'bad days'. As MRS. LEE, she was a fixture of the upper echelon(s) of Houston society and she enjoyed the role. She volunteered at a local hospital and relished playing hostess. She also enjoyed her family immensely. She'd had another daughter who was healthy who gave GENE grandchildren. GENE died of emnphysema at age 70 give or take a year.

    Speaking of the retarded daughter and that whole incident of the fan who'd been hospitalized with German measles but left to go meet GENE TIERNEY and inadvertently infectingn the beautiful actress resulting in her baby being born with Downs' Syndrome, well, believe it or not, that tale was supposedly the inspiration for AGATHA CHRISTIE'S [SIZE=3]THE MiRROR CRACKED[/SIZE].

    IMO, GENE' best performances were in the following films:
    LAURA, LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN, DRAGONWYCK, THE GHOST & MRS. MUIR, WHIRLPOOL, and ADVISE & CONSENT.


    GENE in her late teens.



    GENE in the mid-1940s at the height of her appeal.

    Thank you Kelt for your help you always come through.

  9. #9
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    She was wonderful in The Ghost And Mrs. Muir. She and Rex Harrison had good chemistry in that movie. A very sweet and magical love story.
    Stay in Drugs. Eat your School. Don't do Vegetables.

  10. #10
    Miss Swallow Guest




  11. #11
    susalu Guest
    loved her in Leave Her to Heaven.... get it on netflix!!!

  12. #12
    Lisamarie Guest
    my mother in law looked just like her when she was young! I maen allot..let me see if I cant get an pld pic for ya

  13. #13
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    If memory serves, the film Leave Her to Heaven has her committing suicide and making it look like her sister did it. Her sister went to prison for it I believe.

  14. #14
    Reecy Guest
    This woman was soooooo depressed. Oleg Casseni was married to her.

  15. #15
    dovescry1999 Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Pammijo View Post
    If memory serves, the film Leave Her to Heaven has her committing suicide and making it look like her sister did it. Her sister went to prison for it I believe.
    Sister didn't go. The Husband did, for withholding evidence.
    Excellent Movie, but so was The Razor's Edge, and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir...

    I hated the Remake of "Leave Her To Heaven" with Patrick Duffy and Loni (These are really mine !) Anderson. GODAWFUL film ! "Too Good to be True"
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Too_Good_to_Be_True_%28film%29
    I always liked Ms. Tierney.
    Last edited by dovescry1999; 12-29-2007 at 06:12 PM. Reason: forgot something

  16. #16
    Tebssis Guest
    I once had an argument (before either of us had a computer) with a good friend that thought Gene Tierney was a MAN! I kept telling him that she was THAT beautiful brunette in the movie we were watching, but he still insisted because the name was spelled Gene instead of Jean that it was a man's name. Should have bet him money, because a few months later her obit was in the newspaper with her photo. I always loved her and thought she had a lot of class.

  17. #17
    Ruffian Guest
    In Leave Her to Heaven, not only did she frame her husband for murder, but the creepiest part of the film (other than her cold stare as she watched her crippled brother-in-law drown) was when she realized having her baby would take her husband's attention away from her so she threw herself down the stairs to kill the baby. Geesh!

    Gene was also great in the movie Laura. I loved Clifton Webb in that film, as well.

    Dovescry.....I just noticed your sig line. It's from The Women, one of my FAVORITE films of all time. There are a bajillion quotes in there that are really great.

  18. #18
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    We'd already covered GENE last month; seeLINK below.


    http://www.findadeath.com/forum/show...highlight=gene

  19. #19
    dovescry1999 Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Ruffian View Post
    In Leave Her to Heaven, not only did she frame her husband for murder, but the creepiest part of the film (other than her cold stare as she watched her crippled brother-in-law drown) was when she realized having her baby would take her husband's attention away from her so she threw herself down the stairs to kill the baby. Geesh!

    Gene was also great in the movie Laura. I loved Clifton Webb in that film, as well.

    Dovescry.....I just noticed your sig line. It's from The Women, one of my FAVORITE films of all time. There are a bajillion quotes in there that are really great.

    Yep...
    "Let's begin with posture. A lady always enters a room erect.
    Sylvia Fowler: Most of my friends exit horizontally"




    "Get me a bromide - and put some gin in it"
    or...
    "Mary Haines, don't you have any pride?
    No pride at all. That's a luxury a woman in love can't afford"

    Or, my all time Favorite...
    "I'm an old woman, my dear. I know my sex."

    Now...This looks frightening...
    http://imdb.com/title/tt0430770/

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by susalu View Post
    Similar to Frances Farmer, mental illness issues... but perhaps a better known actress? I loved "Leave her to heaven" about a woman so insecure and jealous that she commited suicide and made it look like her husband killed her...

    Maybe that's what Laci Peterson did, huh Jefe? Since there is so much reasonable doubt in your mind that Scott didn't do it??? Just razzing you some!

    Susan
    I loved Leave her to Heaven. She was so beautiful and talented. Her daughter is (or was) on ER (can't remember her first name, though).
    GOD IS NOT DEAD





  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pammijo View Post
    If memory serves, the film Leave Her to Heaven has her committing suicide and making it look like her sister did it. Her sister went to prison for it I believe.
    I don't think so, because I distinctly remember him going to prison and then coming back.
    GOD IS NOT DEAD





  22. #22
    don't_axe_me Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by cindyt View Post
    I loved Leave her to Heaven. She was so beautiful and talented. Her daughter is (or was) on ER (can't remember her first name, though).
    Maura Tierney is her daughter? I didn't know that.

  23. #23
    RaRaRamona Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by cindyt View Post
    I loved Leave her to Heaven. She was so beautiful and talented. Her daughter is (or was) on ER (can't remember her first name, though).
    No she's not. Gene had two daughters but Maura's not one of them.

  24. #24
    lisalouver Guest
    What happened to Daria, the disabled child?

  25. #25
    susalu Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by KELT View Post
    We'd already covered GENE last month; seeLINK below.


    http://www.findadeath.com/forum/show...highlight=gene

    Check the dates KELT, I started this one before that one... They should actually be merged under mine.... Hey mods!!

  26. #26
    lisalouver Guest
    I found Oleg Cassini's obit in the NY times. He died at age 92 in 2006. It stated that he was survived by his two daughters by ex-wife Gene Tierney.

    So as of 2006, Daria, born in 1943 was still alive.

  27. #27
    RaRaRamona Guest
    Didn't Gene die a few years ago? Before him?

    Yes, she died in 1991.

  28. #28
    cherryghost Guest
    A Beautiful actress, I loved her in 'Laura' what a great film! 'leave her to Heaven' is a very sinister movie. Did anyone mention that Gene caught german measles on a film lot and the baby was born disabled! This contributed greatly to her Bi-polar illness! Im only recalling what I watched on a late night film show so correct me if I have it wrong!

  29. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by don't_axe_me View Post
    Maura Tierney is her daughter? I didn't know that.
    Yes. I read that in a TV Guide article.

    Here's what Wiki says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maura_Tierney
    GOD IS NOT DEAD





  30. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by don't_axe_me View Post
    Maura Tierney is her daughter? I didn't know that.
    Ooops, I goofed. Maura is not Gene's daughter. So sorry.

    http://www.mauratierney.com/Biography.htm
    GOD IS NOT DEAD





  31. #31
    Jack-O-Lantern Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by cherryghost View Post
    A Beautiful actress, I loved her in 'Laura' what a great film! 'leave her to Heaven' is a very sinister movie. Did anyone mention that Gene caught german measles on a film lot and the baby was born disabled! This contributed greatly to her Bi-polar illness! Im only recalling what I watched on a late night film show so correct me if I have it wrong!
    Yes--I recently saw an episode of A&E "Biography" which went into all of that. She really did have a very tragic life; mental and physical illness, big-time man problems, and seriously overworked on top of it all--a recipe for disaster.

    She's one of my all-time favorites, and starred in some of the best films ever to come out of Hollywood: Laura, Leave Her To Heaven, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, The Razor's Edge, Whirlpool.

    Problems or not, she sure did leave us some great movies.

    Edited to add: I forgot the most important thing: I just love watching her face!
    Last edited by Jack-O-Lantern; 01-19-2008 at 03:13 AM. Reason: add additional text

  32. #32
    leevancleef Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Genevieve View Post
    I read somewhere that she had an affair with JFK,.
    They had an affair and at some point i believe it was serious for both of them.
    i remember reading that she was madly in love with him.

  33. #33
    lisalouver Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by leevancleef View Post
    They had an affair and at some point i believe it was serious for both of them.
    i remember reading that she was madly in love with him.
    Quite true. He told her he could never marry her, so that is when it ended, from what is written.

  34. #34
    imogene schlogenwockle Guest
    I loved Gene. What a beautiful woman. After she married an oilman and retired from show business she moved to Houston. She co-wrote her moving autobiography with a writer from The Houston Post newspaper. I was so touched by the story that I spoke with the writer from the Post and he told me how to find her number in the directory, which really surprised me. So, I called her. I admit that she acted as though it was a little weird that I called though she said it was "sweet" of me. It was a thrill that I got to talk to her before she died.

  35. #35
    Tebssis Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by imogene schlogenwockle View Post
    I loved Gene. What a beautiful woman. After she married an oilman and retired from show business she moved to Houston. She co-wrote her moving autobiography with a writer from The Houston Post newspaper. I was so touched by the story that I spoke with the writer from the Post and he told me how to find her number in the directory, which really surprised me. So, I called her. I admit that she acted as though it was a little weird that I called though she said it was "sweet" of me. It was a thrill that I got to talk to her before she died.
    I'm WAY jealous!!
    Maybe she didn't realize that she was still had a fan base out there since she hadn't worked in so long but I thought she was a great talent as well as a stunning beauty. I'm totally surprised if she was in the directory, that she didn't get calls all the time.

  36. #36
    Daisy'sMom Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by cherryghost View Post
    A Beautiful actress, I loved her in 'Laura' what a great film! 'leave her to Heaven' is a very sinister movie. Did anyone mention that Gene caught german measles on a film lot and the baby was born disabled! This contributed greatly to her Bi-polar illness! Im only recalling what I watched on a late night film show so correct me if I have it wrong!

    'Laura' was her best work.

  37. #37
    imogene schlogenwockle Guest

    Gene Tierney

    Well, the directory listing wasn't in her name, but in her deceased husband's, so most wouldn't have thought to contact her. She ate lunch at Tony's every day, a prominent restaurant here, so she wasn't trying too hard to be anonymous.

  38. 03-31-2008, 08:49 PM

  39. #38
    Norma Desmond Guest
    I think she was the loveliest woman ever to grace the silver screen...bar none.

  40. #39
    imogene schlogenwockle Guest
    One of today's idiot directors was looking for an older actress to star in a part and a savvy individual recommended Gene Tierney, who was then close to 70. The director answered, "You mean the boxer?", thinking that the guy was talking about Gene Tunney because he had never heard of Gene Tierney despite being a Hollywood director. No wonder today's movies are so bad with that kind of idiocy.

  41. #40
    Jaynrand Guest
    Her last husband was Houston oil man Howard Lee who had previously been married to Hedy Lamarr. After he died, Gene had some bad days and would roam the neighborhood in her nightgown looking for "Howard." Her neighbors would just point her toward home.

    One of her last Fox pictures BLACK WIDOW has just been released on DVD, check it out. Not much Gene, but seeing her with Ginger Rogers is worth a look.

  42. #41
    Jaynrand Guest
    Imogene that reminds me of the Jerry Lewis-Dean Martin exchange in one of the My Friend Irma movies. Lewis insists that he's going to fight Gene Tierney, and Martin replies: "Don't you mean Gene Tunney?" And Lewis answers: "You fight who you want, and I'll fight who I want."

  43. #42
    NOVSTORM Guest
    I wonder if that woman who infected her with the GM ever found out what she did?
    What a thing to do. No wonder she had a few break downs, if that is what they really were. Everything was a nervous break down in those days.

  44. #43
    scooterkato Guest
    I'm new here but I LOVE this site.

    I live in Houston and my friend and I always go to Glenwood Cemetary (off Washington Ave.) to see her and also Howard Hughes who is also buried there. His grave is not accessible as there is a gate around it. There are tourists there sometimes. It's a beautiful old cemetary. If one did not know that Gene was married to Howard Lee you would not find her grave as she is buried in the Lee family plot. Her gravestone has an engraving of an old time movie camera on it.
    Last edited by scooterkato; 07-24-2008 at 04:30 AM. Reason: spelling

  45. #44
    John Connor Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Norma Desmond View Post
    I think she was the loveliest woman ever to grace the silver screen...bar none.

    She was a looker. Yes with an L, not an H. Don't want certain people saying I'm starting rumours Definitely top five...Frances Farmer was also very beautiful. Strangely they both spent time in the nut hut.
    I once read a quote from her saying she was starving most of her life.

  46. #45
    Seagorath Guest
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Tierney

    I used to get Gene Tierney mixed up with Lawrence Tierney...Joe Cabot in Reservoir Dogs!

  47. #46
    Vamp Guest
    She was a great beauty. Laura is one of my favorite ever film noirs.

    I always felt so bad about her child being disabled.

  48. #47
    Mach2 Guest
    She would check herself into sanitariums for long long periods. Her mother would get angry at her for that.

  49. #48
    leevancleef Guest
    Id love to read Cassini's autobiography IN MY OWN FASHION.

    Baby Daria only weighed three pounds and 2 ounces when she was born and she need a blood transfusion
    The marriage began to have problems after Daria was born, Gene suffered depression, and them both had affaires, Gene had a relationship with JFK and , it is said that she had a fling with Tyrone Power too.

  50. #49
    leevancleef Guest
    Her face was perfection


  51. #50
    cherryghost Guest
    Glamour!

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