Editing Gene Tierney (section)

==Early life==
Gene Eliza Tierney was born on November 19, 1920, in [[Brooklyn]], New York, the daughter of Howard Sherwood Tierney and Belle Lavinia Taylor. She was named after a beloved uncle, who died young.<ref name="selfportrait"/>{{rp|25}} She had an elder brother, Howard Sherwood "Butch" Tierney Jr., and a younger sister, Patricia "Pat" Tierney. Her father was a successful insurance broker of Irish descent on his paternal side; their mother was a former physical education instructor.<ref name="selfportrait"/>

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 of the United States|West Coast]], she visited [[Warner Bros.]] studios, where her mother's cousin – Gordon Hollingshead – 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.<ref name="selfportrait"/>{{rp|11–13}}

Tierney's [[debutante|society debut]] occurred on September 24, 1938, when she was 17 years old.<ref name="selfportrait"/>{{rp|14}} 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]]."<ref name="life"/> Tierney studied acting at a small [[Greenwich Village]] acting studio in New York with Yiddish Broadway actor/director Benno Schneider.<ref>Goldstein, Malcolm. ''[https://archive.org/details/politicalstage0000unse/mode/2up The Political Stage]''. (Oxford University Press, 1974). 45. {{ISBN|978-0-1950-1745-8}}; Amey, Claude. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=TWw9dgzLzPkC&pg=PA206&dq=Le+Th%C3%A9%C3%A2tre+d%27agit-prop+de+1917+%C3%A0+1932&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwif97PW2suMAxWtG9AFHcFOD7AQ6AF6BAgGEAM#v=onepage&q&f=false Le Théâtre d'agit-prop de 1917 à 1932]''. (Lausanne: L'âge d'Homme, 1977). 160; and [[Edna Nahshon|Nahshon, Edna]], ed. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ku0dDAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=New+York%27s+Yiddish+Theater:+From+the+Bowery+to+Broadway&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi71qLe28uMAxXopIkEHaecCMsQ6AF6BAgNEAM#v=onepage&q&f=false New York's Yiddish Theater: From the Bowery to Broadway]''. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2016). 179–86. {{ISBN|978-0-2315-4107-7}}</ref> She became a ''[[protégée]]'' of Broadway producer-director [[George Abbott]].<ref name="life">{{cite news| title=Debutante Gene Tierney Makes Her Entrance In A Broadway Success| url=https://archive.org/details/Life-1940-02-19-Vol-8-No-8/page/34/mode/2up?q=tierney| magazine=Life| date=February 19, 1940| volume=8| number=8| page=25| access-date=April 9, 2025}}</ref><ref name="patriciatierney"/>