Gene Tierney

Gene Eliza Tierney (November 19, 1920 – November 6, 1991) was an American stage and film actress. Tierney was a prominent leading lady during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She starred as Laura Hunt in Otto Preminger's Laura, a film noir classic, and as Ellen Berent in John M. Stahl's Leave Her to Heaven (1945), which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Darryl F. Zanuck, co-founder of 20th Century Fox, said Tierney was "unquestionably, the most beautiful woman in movie history."

Tierney was a 20th Century Fox contract player who did much of her work for the studio. She starred in many commercially successful Fox films, including The Return of Frank James (1940; her film debut), Tobacco Road (1941), Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake (1942), Heaven Can Wait (1943), A Bell for Adano (1945), The Razor's Edge (1946), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), The Iron Curtain (1948), Whirlpool and Night and the City (both 1950), The Mating Season (1951), On the Riviera (1951), The Egyptian (1954), The Left Hand of God (1955), and The Pleasure Seekers (1964; her last film role). After her Hollywood career began to decline, Tierney made sporadic appearances on many television shows. Her role in the miniseries Scruples (1980), marked her last work credit.

Early life Tierney was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Howard Sherwood Tierney and Belle Lavinia Tierney (née Taylor). She was named after a beloved uncle, who died young. Tierney spent two years in Europe, attending Brillantmont International School in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she learned to speak fluent French. She returned to the US in 1936 and attended Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut. On a family trip to the West Coast, she visited Warner Bros. studios, where her mother's cousin worked as a producer of historical short films. Director Anatole Litvak, taken by the 17-year-old's beauty, told Tierney that she should become an actress. Warner Bros. wanted to sign her to a contract, but her parents advised against it because of the relatively low salary; they also wanted her to take her position in society. She became a protégée of Broadway producer-director George Abbott.

Film career

Tierney signed with 20th Century-Fox

Tierney starred as Miranda Wells in Dragonwyck (1946), along with Walter Huston and Vincent Price. It was Joseph L. Mankiewicz' debut film as a director. In the same period, she starred as Isabel Bradley, opposite Tyrone Power, in The Razor's Edge (also 1946), an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novel of the same name. Her performance was critically praised.

Tierney played Lucy Muir in Mankiewicz's The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), opposite Rex Harrison. The following year, she co-starred again with Power, this time as Sara Farley in the successful screwball comedy That Wonderful Urge (1948). As the decade came to a close, Tierney reunited with Laura director Preminger to star as Ann Sutton in the classic film noir Whirlpool (1950), co-starring Richard Conte and José Ferrer. She appeared in two other films noir: Jules Dassin's Night and the City, shot in London, and Otto Preminger's Where the Sidewalk Ends (both 1950), reunited with both Preminger and leading man Dana Andrews, with whom she appeared in five movies total including The Iron Curtain and, before Laura, Belle Starr and Tobacco Road.

Tierney was lent to Paramount Pictures, giving a comic turn as Maggie Carleton in Mitchell Leisen's ensemble farce, The Mating Season (1951), with John Lund, Thelma Ritter, and Miriam Hopkins. Tierney played Marya Lamarkina opposite Clark Gable in Never Let Me Go (1953), filmed in England.

Tierney struggled for years with episodes of manic depression. In 1943, she gave birth to a daughter, Daria, who was deaf and mentally disabled, due to congenital rubella syndrome.

In late December 1957, Tierney, at her mother's apartment in Manhattan, stepped onto a ledge 14 stories above ground and remained for about 20 minutes in what was considered a suicide attempt. Police were called, and afterwards, Tierney's family arranged for her to be admitted to the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. The following year, after treatment for depression, she was discharged. Afterwards, she worked as a sales girl in a local dress shop with hopes of integrating back into society.

Later in 1958, 20th Century Fox offered Tierney a lead role in Holiday for Lovers (1959), but the stress upon her proved too great, so only days into production, she dropped out of the film and returned to Menninger, for a time. and Christina.

In June 1943, while pregnant with Daria, Tierney contracted rubella (German measles), likely from a fan ill with the disease. Tierney's friend Howard Hughes paid for Daria's medical expenses, ensuring the girl received the best care. Tierney never forgot his acts of kindness. Daria died on September 11, 2010, at the age of 66. Through Christina, Tierney had four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Tierney and Cassini separated October 20, 1946, and entered into a property settlement agreement on November 10. Periodicals during this period record Tierney with Charles K. Feldman, including articles related to her "twosoming" with Feldman, her "current best beau". Her divorce from Cassini was to be finalized in March 1948, but they reconciled before then. They later divorced in 1952, but remained friends until her death in November 1991. Their divorce settlement specified that at Cassini’s death, half of his wealth would go to their daughters. Christina sued Cassini's widow Marianne Nestor for one quarter of the estate, based on the agreement in the divorce settlement, but Nestor argued that the divorce decree was overridden by the will. Nestor claimed the provision was unenforceable because it had been made more than 60 years previously. Despite the New York Surrogate Court ruling in favour of Christina,

During her separation from Cassini, Tierney met John F. Kennedy, a young World War II veteran, who was visiting the set of Dragonwyck in 1946. They began a romance that she ended the following year after Kennedy told her he could never marry her because of his political ambitions. Later, while filming for Personal Affair in Europe, she began a romance with Prince Aly Khan. They became engaged while Khan was going through a divorce from Rita Hayworth. Their marriage plans, however, were met with fierce opposition from his father, Aga Khan III. Lee and Tierney married in Aspen, Colorado, on July 11, 1960. They lived quietly in Houston, Texas, and Delray Beach, Florida, Tierney is survived by her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren.

Later years Tierney's autobiography, Self-Portrait, in which she candidly discusses her life, career, her appearance, and mental illness, was published in 1979.

Tierney was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6125 Hollywood Boulevard on February 8, 1960.

Death Tierney, a lifelong smoker, died of emphysema on November 6, 1991 at her home in Houston, aged 70.

Broadway credits Year Title Format/genre Role Staged by 1938 What A Life! Original play, comedy Walk on, Water carrier Original play, drama/comedy Understudy 1939 Mrs O'Brien Entertains Original play, comedy Molly O'Day Ring Two Peggy Carr 1940 Patricia Stanley

Filmography Year Title Role DirectorOther cast members Notes 1940 Eleanor Stone Henry Fonda Technicolor 1941 Hudson's Bay Barbara Hall Tobacco Road Ellie Mae Lester Belle Starr Belle Starr Technicolor Sundown Zia Bruce Cabot Victoria Charteris akaPoppy Smith Walter Huston 1942 Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake Eve Tyrone Power Sepia tone (sequences) Rings on Her Fingers Susan Miller (aka Linda Worthington) Henry Fonda Thunder Birds Kay Saunders Technicolor China Girl Miss Haoli Young George Montgomery 1943 Heaven Can Wait Martha Strabel Van Cleve Don Ameche Technicolor 1944 Laura Laura Hunt 1945 Tina Tomasino John Hodiak Leave Her to Heaven Ellen Berent Harland 1946 Dragonwyck Miranda Wells Van Ryn Isabel Bradley Maturin 1947 Lucy Muir 1948 Anna Gouzenko Dana Andrews That Wonderful Urge Sara Farley Tyrone Power 1950 Whirlpool Ann Sutton Night and the City Mary Bristol Richard Widmark Where the Sidewalk Ends Morgan Taylor (Payne) Dana Andrews 1951 Maggie Carleton McNulty On the Riviera Lili Duran Danny Kaye Technicolor Marcia Stoddard Glenn Ford Close to My Heart Midge Sheridan Ray Milland 1952 Way of a Gaucho Teresa Rory Calhoun Technicolor Plymouth Adventure Dorothy Bradford 1953 Never Let Me Go Marya Lamarkina Clark Gable Personal Affair Kay Barlow 1954 Black Widow Iris Denver CinemaScope, Deluxe color Baketamon 1955 Anne Scott Humphrey Bogart 1962 Advise & Consent Dolly Harrison Panavision 1963 Toys in the Attic Albertine Prine Las cuatro noches de la luna llena Dan Dailey English title: Four Nights of the Full Moon Lost film. 1964 Jane Barton CinemaScope, Deluxe color

Television credits Year Title RoleOther cast members Notes 1947 The Sir Charles Mendl Show Herself Host: Sir Charles Mendl 1953 Toast of the Town Host: Ed Sullivan Episode #6.33 1954 26th Academy Awards Host: Donald O'Connor, Fredric March Presenter: Costume Design Awards 1957 What's My Line? Host: John Charles Daly Episode: August 25, Mystery guest 1960 General Electric Theater Ellen Galloway Host: Ronald Reagan Episode: "Journey to a Wedding" 1969 Faye Simpson Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Episode: "Conspiracy of Silence" Daughter of the Mind Lenore Constable Ray Milland TV movie 1974 Herself Host: Merv Griffin 1979 1980 Host: Johnny Carson Host: Mike Douglas Dinah! Host: Dinah Shore Scruples Harriet Toppington Lindsay Wagner TV miniseries 1999 Biography Herself (archive material) Host: Peter Graves "Gene Tierney: A Shattered Portrait", biographical documentary, March 26

Radio appearances Year Program Episode/source 1945 Old Gold Comedy Theatre A Lady Takes a Chance 1946 Lux Radio Theatre Dragonwyck Hollywood Star Time Bedelia

Awards and nominations

Cultural references Tierney was ranked number 71 in Premiere Magazines 2006 list of "The 100 Sexiest Movie Stars of All Time". A comedy routine between Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis involved Lewis (in boxing shorts and gear) stating that he's fighting Gene Tierney. This plays on the similarly named Gene Tunney, who held the world heavyweight boxing title from 1926 to 1928. In a third-season episode of M*A*S*H* ("House Arrest"), the characters watch Tierney in Leave Her to Heaven. After Cornel Wilde kisses Tierney passionately, Hawkeye Pierce says, "If he straightens out that overbite, I'll kill him." Tierney was featured as the heroine of a novel, Gene Tierney and the Invisible Wedding Gift (1947), written by Kathryn Heisenfelt. Agatha Christie is widely assumed to have drawn the basic idea for her 1962 novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side from the real-life German measles tragedy of Tierney and her baby. The Off-Broadway musical Violet references Gene Tierney several times. The main character Violet states that she wants a pair of "Gene Tierney eyes" due to the fact that her face was disfigured after an accident involving her father. Tierney is routinely discussed in the 2005 Irish novel An Evening of Long Goodbyes by Paul Murray