Gene Tierney

Gene Tierney
File:Studio publicity Gene Tierney.jpg
Born	Gene Eliza Tierney (1920-11-19)November 19, 1920 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	Houston, Texas, U.S.
Cause of death	Emphysema
Resting place	Glenwood Cemetery
Nationality	American
Education	St. Margaret's School (Waterbury, Connecticut) Unquowa School (Fairfield, Connecticut) Brillantmont International School Miss Porter's School
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1938–1980
Spouse(s)	Oleg Cassini (m. 1941; div. 1952) W. Howard Lee (m. 1960; his death 1981)
Children	Daria Cassini (1943-2010) Christina Cassini (1948-2015)
Website	www.cmgww.com/stars/tierney

Gene Eliza Tierney (November 19, 1920 – November 6, 1991) was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as a great beauty, she became established as a leading lady. Tierney was best known for her portrayal of the title character in the film Laura (1944), and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Ellen Berent Harland in Leave Her to Heaven (1945).

Tierney's other 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).

Early life

Tierney was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Howard Sherwood Tierney and Belle Lavina Taylor. She was named after a beloved uncle, who died young. She had an elder brother, Howard Sherwood “Butch” Tierney, Jr., and a younger sister, Patricia “Pat” Tierney. Their father was a successful insurance broker of Irish descent, their mother a former physical education instructor.

Tierney attended St. Margaret's School in Waterbury, Connecticut, and the Unquowa School in Fairfield. She published her first poem, entitled "Night", in the school magazine and wrote poetry occasionally throughout her life. Tierney played Jo in a student production of Little Women, based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott.

Tierney spent two years in Europe, attending Brillantmont International School in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she learned to speak fluent French. She returned to the U.S. in 1938 and attended Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut . On a family trip to the West Coast, she visited Warner Bros. studios, where a cousin worked as a producer of historical short films. Director Anatole Litvak, taken by the 17-year-old’s beauty, told her 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 in a higher social position.

Tierney's society debut occurred on September 24, 1938, when she was 17 years old. Soon bored with society life, she decided to pursue an acting career. Her father said, “If Gene is to be an actress, it should be in the legitimate theatre.” Tierney studied acting at a small Greenwich Village acting studio in New York with Broadway director and actor Benno Schneider. She became a protégée of Broadway producer-director George Abbott.

Career

Broadway

In Tierney's first role on Broadway, she carried a bucket of water across the stage in What a Life! (1938). A Variety magazine critic declared, "Miss Tierney is certainly the most beautiful water carrier I've ever seen!" She also worked as an understudy in The Primrose Path (1938).

The following year, she appeared in the role of Molly O'Day in the Broadway production Mrs. O'Brien Entertains (1939). The New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson wrote, "As an Irish maiden fresh from the old country, Gene Tierney in her first stage performance is very pretty and refreshingly modest." That same year, Tierney appeared as Peggy Carr in Ring Two (1939) to favorable reviews. Theater critic Richard Watts, Jr. of the New York Herald Tribune wrote, "I see no reason why Miss Tierney should not have an interesting theatrical career – that is, if cinema does not kidnap her away."

Tierney's father set up a corporation, Belle-Tier, to fund and promote her acting career. Columbia Pictures signed her to a six-month contract in 1939. She met Howard Hughes, who tried unsuccessfully to seduce her. From a well-to-do family herself, she was not impressed by his wealth. Hughes eventually became a lifelong friend.

After a cameraman advised Tierney to lose a little weight, she wrote Harper's Bazaar magazine for a diet, which she followed for the next 25 years. Tierney was initially offered the lead role in National Velvet, but production was delayed. When Columbia Pictures failed to find Tierney a project, she returned to Broadway and starred as Patricia Stanley to critical and commercial success in The Male Animal (1940). In The New York Times, Brooks Atkinson wrote, "Tierney blazes with animation in the best performance she has yet given". She was the toast of Broadway before her 20th birthday. The Male Animal was a hit, and Tierney was featured in Life magazine. She was also photographed by Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, and Collier's Weekly.

Two weeks after The Male Animal opened, Darryl F. Zanuck, the head of 20th Century Fox, was rumored to have been in the audience. During the performance, he told an assistant to note Tierney's name. Later that night, Zanuck dropped by the Stork Club, where he saw a young lady on the dance floor. He told his assistant, "Forget the girl from the play. See if you can sign that one." It was Tierney. At first, Zanuck did not think she was the actress he had seen. Tierney was quoted (after the fact), saying: "I always had several different 'looks', a quality that proved useful in my career."

Film career

File:Gene Tierney in Laura trailer.jpg

Gene Tierney in the film trailer for Laura (1944)

Tierney signed with 20th Century-Fox and her motion picture debut was in a supporting role as Eleanor Stone in Fritz Lang's western The Return of Frank James (1940), opposite Henry Fonda.

A small role as Barbara Hall followed in Hudson's Bay (1941) with Paul Muni and she co-starred as Ellie Mae Lester in John Ford's comedy Tobacco Road (also 1941), and played the title role in Belle Starr, Zia in Sundown, and Victoria Charteris (Poppy Smith) in The Shanghai Gesture. She played Eve in Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake (1942), as well as the dual role of Susan Miller (Linda Worthington) in Rouben Mamoulian's screwball comedy Rings on Her Fingers, and roles as Kay Saunders in Thunder Birds, and Miss Young in China Girl (all 1942).

Receiving top billing in Ernst Lubitsch's comedy Heaven Can Wait (1943), as Martha Strable Van Cleve, signaled an upward turn in Tierney's career. Tierney recalled during the production of Heaven Can Wait:

"Lubitsch was a tyrant on the set, the most demanding of directors. After one scene, which took from noon until five to get, I was almost in tears from listening to Lubitsch shout at me. The next day I sought him out, looked him in the eye, and said, 'Mr. Lubitsch, I'm willing to do my best but I just can't go on working on this picture if you're going to keep shouting at me.' 'I'm paid to shout at you', he bellowed. 'Yes', I said, 'and I'm paid to take it – but not enough.' After a tense pause, Lubitsch broke out laughing. From then on we got along famously."

Tierney starred in what became her best remembered role: the title role in Otto Preminger's film noir Laura (1944), opposite Dana Andrews. After playing Tina Tomasino in A Bell for Adano (1945), she played the jealous, narcissistic femme fatale Ellen Berent Harland in Leave Her to Heaven (1945), adapted from a best selling novel by Ben Ames Williams. Appearing with Cornel Wilde, Tierney won an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. This was 20th Century-Fox' most successful film of the 1940s. It was cited by director Martin Scorsese as one of his favorite films of all time, and he assessed Tierney as one of the most underrated actresses of the Golden Era.

Tierney then 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 (1949), co-starring Richard Conte and José Ferrer. She appeared in two other film noirs: Jules Dassin's Night and the City, shot in London, and Otto Preminger's Where the Sidewalk Ends (both 1950).

File:Gene Tierney in Ghost and Mrs Muir trailer.jpg

From the trailer for The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)

Tierney was loaned 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. She gave a tender performance as Midge Sheridan in the Warner Bros. film, Close to My Heart (1951), with Ray Milland. The film is about a couple trying to adopt a child. Later in her career, she was reunited with Milland in Daughter of the Mind (1969).

After Tierney appeared opposite Rory Calhoun as Teresa in Way of a Gaucho (1952), her contract at 20th Century-Fox expired. That same year, she starred as Dorothy Bradford in Plymouth Adventure, opposite Spencer Tracy at MGM. She and Tracy had a brief affair during this time. Tierney played Marya Lamarkina opposite Clark Gable in Never Let Me Go (1953), filmed in England.

Tierney remained in Europe to play Kay Barlow in United Artists' Personal Affair (1953). While in Europe, she began a romance with Prince Aly Khan, but their marriage plans met with fierce opposition from his father Aga Khan III. Early in 1953, Tierney returned to the U.S. to co-star in film noir Black Widow (1954) as Iris Denver, with Ginger Rogers and Van Heflin.

Health issues

Tierney had reportedly started smoking after a screening of her first movie to lower her voice, because she felt, "I sound like an angry Minnie Mouse." She subsequently became a heavy smoker.

Pin-up photo in World War II magazine Brief

With difficult events in her personal life, Tierney struggled for years with episodes of manic depression. In 1943, she gave birth to a daughter Daria who was deaf and mentally disabled, the result of a fan breaking out of rubella quarantine and infecting the pregnant Tierney while she volunteered at the Hollywood Canteen. In 1953, she suffered problems with concentration, which affected her film appearances. She dropped out of Mogambo and was replaced by Grace Kelly. While playing Anne Scott in The Left Hand of God (1955), opposite Humphrey Bogart, Tierney became ill. Bogart had a personal experience as he was close to a sister who suffered from mental illness, so during the production, he fed Tierney her lines and encouraged her to seek help.

Tierney consulted a psychiatrist and was admitted to Harkness Pavilion in New York. Later, she went to The Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut. After some 27 shock treatments, intended to alleviate severe depression, Tierney fled the facility, but was caught and returned. She later became an outspoken opponent of shock treatment therapy, claiming it had destroyed significant portions of her memory.

In late December 1957, Tierney, from 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 released. Afterwards, she worked as a sales girl in a local dress shop with hopes of integrating back into society, but she was recognized by a customer, resulting in sensational newspaper headlines.

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.

Comeback

Tierney made a screen comeback in Advise and Consent (1962), co-starring with Franchot Tone. Soon afterwards, she played Albertine Prine in Toys in the Attic (1963), based on the play by Lillian Hellman. This was followed by the international production of Las cuatro noches de la luna llena, (Four Nights of the Full Moon - 1963), in which she starred with Dan Dailey. She received critical praise overall for her performances.

Tierney's career as a solid character actress seemed to be back on track as she played Jane Barton in The Pleasure Seekers (1964), but then she suddenly retired. She returned to star in the television movie Daughter of the Mind (1969) with Don Murray and Ray Milland. Her final performance was in the TV miniseries Scruples (1980).

Personal life

Tierney married two men: the first was Oleg Cassini, a costume and fashion designer, on June 1, 1941, with whom she eloped. Her parents opposed the marriage, as he was from a Russian-Italian family and born in France. Cassini and she had two daughters, Antoinette Daria Cassini (October 15, 1943 – September 11, 2010) and Christina "Tina" Cassini (November 19, 1948 – March 31, 2015), born after their first divorce, paternity of whom was the subject of intrigue and speculation at the time due to Tierney's links with Howard Hughes, Tyrone Power, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and Charles Feldman.

In June 1943, while pregnant with Daria, Tierney contracted rubella (German measles), likely from a fan ill with the disease. Daria was born prematurely in Washington, DC, weighing three pounds, two ounces (1.42 kg) and requiring a total blood transfusion. The rubella caused congenital damage: Daria was deaf, partially blind with cataracts, and severely mentally disabled. She was institutionalized for much of her life. Daria passed September 11, 2010, at the instruction and consent of her sister Christina Grenada Belmont under the supervision of Kindred Hospital Faculty. This was partial inspiration for the Agatha Christie novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side.

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.

Tierney and Cassini separated October 20, 1946, and entered into a property settlement agreement November 10, 1946. Periodicals during this period record Tierney with Charles K. Feldman, including articles related to her "twosoming" with Feldman, her "current best beau". An uncontested divorce followed in California; their final divorce decree was dated March 13, 1948. It was reported by the Los Angeles Times that the couple reconciled on April 19, 1948, but did not remarry.

During their separation, Tierney met John F. Kennedy, a young veteran from WWII, 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. In 1960, Tierney sent Kennedy a note of congratulations on his victory in the presidential election. During this time, newspapers documented Tierney's other romantic ensnarements, including Kirk Douglas

"Cassini promised in his 1952 divorce from Gene Tierney that he would write a will leaving both of his daughters half of his fortune". Cassini later bequeathed $500,000 in trust to Daria and $1,000,000 to Christina. Cassini and Tierney remained friends until her death in November 1991.

In 1958, Tierney met Texas oil baron W. Howard Lee, who had been married to actress Hedy Lamarr since 1953. Lee and Lamarr divorced in 1960 after a long battle over alimony, then Lee and Tierney married in Aspen, Colorado, on July 11, 1960. They lived quietly in Houston, Texas, and Florida until his death in 1981.

In 1960, 20th Century Fox announced Tierney would play the lead role in Return to Peyton Place, but she dropped out of the project after becoming pregnant. She later miscarried.

Later years

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

Tierney's second husband, W. Howard Lee, died on February 17, 1981 after a long illness.

In 1986, Tierney was honored alongside actor Gregory Peck with the first Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain.

Tierney has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6125 Hollywood Boulevard.

Death

Tierney died of emphysema in 1991 in Houston. She is interred in Glenwood Cemetery in Houston. Tierney was survived by her daughters Daria and Christina. Daria died on September 11, 2010, aged 66. Tina died on March 31, 2015, of ovarian cancer in Paris, France.

Certain documents of Tierney's film-related material, personal papers, letters, etc., are held in the Wesleyan University Cinema Archives, to which scholars, media experts, and the public may have access.

Broadway credits

Year	Title	Format/genre	Role	Staged by
1938	What A Life!	Original Play, Comedy	Walk on, Water carrier	George Abbott
1938	The Primrose Path	Original Play, Drama/Comedy	Understudy	George Abbott
1939	Mrs O'Brien Entertains	Original Play, Comedy	Molly O'Day	George Abbott
1939	Ring Two	Original Play, Comedy	Peggy Carr	George Abbott
1940	The Male Animal	Original Play, Comedy	Patricia Stanley	Herman Shumlin

Filmography

List of film credits, including directors and principal cast members

Year	Title	Role	Director	Other cast members	Notes
1940	The Return of Frank James	Eleanor Stone	Fritz Lang	Henry Fonda	Technicolor
1941	Hudson's Bay	Barbara Hall	Irving Pichel	Paul Muni Vincent Price
1941	Tobacco Road	Ellie Mae Lester	John Ford	Charles Grapewin Dana Andrews
1941	Belle Starr	Belle Starr	Irving Cummings	Randolph Scott Dana Andrews	Technicolor
1941	Sundown	Zia	Henry Hathaway	Bruce Cabot
1941	The Shanghai Gesture	Victoria Charteris aka Poppy Smith	Josef von Sternberg	Walter Huston
1942	Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake	Eve	John Cromwell	Tyrone Power	Sepia tone (sequences)
1942	Rings on Her Fingers	Susan Miller (aka Linda Worthington)	Rouben Mamoulian	Henry Fonda
1942	Thunder Birds	Kay Saunders	William A. Wellman	Preston Foster John Sutton	Technicolor
1942	China Girl	Miss Haoli Young	Henry Hathaway	George Montgomery
1943	Heaven Can Wait	Martha Strabel Van Cleve	Ernst Lubitsch	Don Ameche	Technicolor
1944	Laura	Laura Hunt	Otto Preminger	Dana Andrews Clifton Webb Vincent Price
1945	A Bell for Adano	Tina Tomasino	Henry King	John Hodiak
1945	Leave Her to Heaven	Ellen Brent Harland	John M. Stahl	Cornel Wilde Jeanne Crain Vincent Price	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress Technicolor
1946	Dragonwyck	Miranda Wells Van Ryn	Joseph L. Mankiewicz	Walter Huston Vincent Price
1946	The Razor's Edge	Isabel Bradley Maturin	Edmund Goulding	Tyrone Power Anne Baxter John Payne
1947	The Ghost and Mrs. Muir	Lucy Muir	Joseph L. Mankiewicz	Rex Harrison George Sanders Edna Best
1948	The Iron Curtain	Anna Gouzenko	William A. Wellman	Dana Andrews
1948	That Wonderful Urge	Sara Farley	Robert B. Sinclair	Tyrone Power
1949	Whirlpool	Ann Sutton	Otto Preminger	Richard Conte José Ferrer
1950	Night and the City	Mary Bristol	Jules Dassin	Richard Widmark
1950	Where the Sidewalk Ends	Morgan Taylor (Payne)	Otto Preminger	Dana Andrews
1951	The Mating Season	Maggie Carleton McNulty	Mitchell Leisen	John Lund Miriam Hopkins Thelma Ritter
1951	On the Riviera	Lili Duran	Walter Lang	Danny Kaye	Technicolor
1951	The Secret of Convict Lake	Marcia Stoddard	Michael Gordon	Glenn Ford
1951	Close to My Heart	Midge Sheridan	William Keighley	Ray Milland
1952	Way of a Gaucho	Teresa	Jacques Tourneur	Rory Calhoun	Technicolor
1952	Plymouth Adventure	Dorothy Bradford	Clarence Brown	Spencer Tracy Van Johnson Leo Genn	Technicolor
1953	Never Let Me Go	Marya Lamarkina	Delmer Daves	Clark Gable
1953	Personal Affair	Kay Barlow	Anthony Pelissier	Leo Genn Glynis Johns
1954	Black Widow	Iris Denver	Nunnally Johnson	Ginger Rogers Van Heflin	CinemaScope, Deluxe color
1954	The Egyptian	Baketamon	Michael Curtiz	Jean Simmons Victor Mature Edmund Purdom	CinemaScope, Deluxe color
1955	The Left Hand of God	Anne Scott	Edward Dmytryk	Humphrey Bogart	CinemaScope, Deluxe color
1962	Advise and Consent	Dolly Harrison	Otto Preminger	Henry Fonda Walter Pidgeon Franchot Tone	Panavision
1963	Toys in the Attic	Albertine Prine	George Roy Hill	Dean Martin Geraldine Page
1963	Las cuatro noches de la luna llena		Sobey Martin	Dan Dailey	English title: Four Nights of the Full Moon
1964	The Pleasure Seekers	Jane Barton	Jean Negulesco	Ann-Margret Anthony Franciosa	CinemaScope, Deluxe color

List of television credits, including co-stars

Year	Title	Role	Other cast members	Notes
1947	The Sir Charles Mendl Show	Herself	Host: Sir Charles Mendl
1953	Toast of the Town	Herself	Host: Ed Sullivan	Episode #6.33
1954	26th Academy Awards	Herself	Host: Donald O'Connor, Fredric March	Presenter: Costume Design Awards
1957	What's My Line?	Herself	Host: John Charles Daly	Episode: August 25, Mystery guest
1960	General Electric Theater	Ellen Galloway	Host: Ronald Reagan	Episode: "Journey to a Wedding"
1969	The F.B.I.	Faye Simpson	Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.	Episode: "Conspiracy of Silence"
1969	Daughter of the Mind	Lenore Constable	Ray Milland	TV movie
1974	The Merv Griffin Show	Herself	Host: Merv Griffin
1979	The Merv Griffin Show	Herself	Host: Merv Griffin
1980	The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson	Herself	Host: Johnny Carson
1980	The Mike Douglas Show	Herself	Host: Mike Douglas
1980	Dinah!	Herself	Host: Dinah Shore
1980	Scruples	Harriet Toppington	Lindsay Wagner	TV Mini-series
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
1946	Hollywood Star Time	Bedelia

Quotes

By Tierney

• "I don't think Howard [Hughes] could love anything that did not have a motor in it."
• "Joe Schenck, a top 20th Century-Fox executive, once said to me that he really believed I had a future, and that was because I was the only girl who could survive so many bad pictures." —quoted in The RKO Girls

Cultural references

• Tierney was ranked number 71 in Premiere Magazine's list of "The 100 Sexiest Movie Stars of All Time".
• When Grauman's Chinese Theatre resumed making cement handprints and footprints after World War II ended in 1945, Tierney was the first actress asked to add her handprint.
• A noted comedy routine between Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis involved Lewis (in boxing shorts and gear) stating that he's fighting Gene Tierney.
• In "House Arrest", a third-season episode of M*A*S*H*, the actors 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 based her 1962 novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side on the real-life German measles tragedy of Tierney and her baby, as the stories are virtually identical.

External links

• Official website
• Gene Tierney at the Internet Movie Database
• Gene Tierney at the TCM Movie Database
• Gene Tierney at the Internet Broadway Database
• Gene Tierney at AllMovie
• Gene Tierney at The Biography Channel
• Gene Tierney at Find A Grave
• Daughter Daria's grave at Find A Grave
• Photos of Gene Tierney in 'The Shanghai Gesture' by Ned Scott