TCM Schedule for Fri, Aug 1, 2025: Summer Under The Stars - Lana Turner

Julia Jean Turner (February 8, 1921 – June 29, 1995) was an American actress. Over a career spanning nearly five decades, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized personal life. In the mid-1940s, she was one of the highest-paid American actresses, and one of MGM's biggest stars, with her films earning approximately one billion dollars in 2024 currency during her 18-year contract with them. Turner is frequently cited as a popular culture icon due to her glamorous persona, and a screen legend of the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Born to working-class parents in Idaho, Turner spent her childhood there before her family relocated to California. In 1936, at the age of 15, she was discovered by a talent scout, while shopping at the Top Hat malt shop in Hollywood. At the age of 16, she was signed to a personal contract by Warner Bros. director Mervyn LeRoy, who took her with him when he transferred to MGM in 1938. She soon attracted attention by playing a murder victim in her screen debut, LeRoy's film They Won't Forget (1937), and she later moved into supporting roles that often cast her as an ingénue.

During the early 1940s, Turner established herself as a leading lady, and one of MGM's top stars, appearing in such films as the film noir Johnny Eager (1941), airing tonight, the musical Ziegfeld Girl (1941), the horror Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), and the romantic war drama Somewhere I'll Find You (1942), the latter being one of several films in which she starred opposite Clark Gable. Her reputation as a glamorous femme fatale was enhanced by her critically acclaimed performance in the film noir The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), also airing tonight, a role which established her as a serious dramatic actress.

Full bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lana_Turner


DAYTIME: (EST)

6:00 AM These Glamour Girls (1939)
A drunken college boy invites a taxi dancer to spend the weekend at his snobbish school.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon Cast: Lew Ayres, Lana Turner, Tom Brown

7:30 AM Dancing Co-Ed (1939)
A college girl fights to survive in academia and show business.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon Cast: Lana Turner, Richard Carlson, Artie Shaw and His Orchestra

9:00 AM Honky Tonk (1941)
A young girl falls for a western gambler.
Dir: Jack Conway Cast: Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Frank Morgan

11:00 AM Green Dolphin Street (1947)
In 19th-century New Zealand, two sisters compete for the same man.
Dir: Victor Saville Cast: Lana Turner, Van Heflin, Donna Reed

1:30 PM The Three Musketeers (1948)
Athletic adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' classic adventure.
Dir: George Sidney Cast: Lana Turner, Gene Kelly, June Allyson

4:00 PM A Life of Her Own (1950)
An innocent small-town girl climbs to the top of the modeling business man by man.
Dir: George Cukor Cast: Lana Turner, Ray Milland, Tom Ewell

6:00 PM The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
A frustrated wife seduces a drifter into murdering her husband.
Dir: Tay Garnett Cast: Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway


PRIME TIME, LATE NIGHT, EARLY MORNING

8:00 PM Imitation of Life (1959)
A white actress takes in an African American widow whose mixed-race daughter wants to be seen as white.
Dir: Douglas Sirk Cast: Lana Turner, John Gavin, Sandra Dee

10:15 PM The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
An unscrupulous movie producer uses everyone around him in his climb to the top.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli Cast: Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon

12:30 AM Portrait in Black (1960)
A woman and her lover kill her husband and are targeted by someone who knows of their crime.
Dir: Michael Gordon Cast: Lana Turner, Anthony Quinn, Richard Basehart

2:30 AM Johnny Eager (1942)
A handsome racketeer seduces the DA's daughter for revenge, then falls in love.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy Cast: Robert Taylor, Lana Turner, Edward Arnold

4:30 AM Mr. Imperium (1951)
An exiled king and a film star try to rekindle a romance from the past.
Dir: Don Hartman Cast: Lana Turner, Ezio Pinza, Marjorie Main