Editing Lana Turner (section)

==Public and screen persona==
{{quote box|align=right|width=25em|quote=Despite the reams of copy that have been written about me, even the supposedly private Lana, the press has never had any sense of who I am; they've even missed my humor, my love of gaiety and color&nbsp;... Humor has been the balm of my life, but it's been reserved for those closest to me.|source=– Turner on her representation in press{{sfn|Turner|1982|p=8}} }}

When Turner was discovered, MGM executive Mervyn LeRoy envisioned her as a replacement for the recently deceased [[Jean Harlow]], and began developing her image as a [[sex symbol]].{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1971|pages=24–25}} In ''They Won't Forget'' (1937) and ''Love Finds Andy Hardy'' (1938), she embodied an "innocent sexuality" portraying [[ingénue]]s.{{sfn|Jordan|2009|p=127}} Film historian [[Jeanine Basinger]] notes that she "represented the girl who'd rather sit on the diving board to show off her figure than get wet in the water&nbsp;... the girl who'd rather kiss than kibbitz".{{sfn|Basinger|1976|p=31}} In her early films, Turner did not color her auburn hair — see ''Dancing Co-Ed'' (1939), in which she was billed "the red-headed sensation who brought "it" back to the screen".{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1971|p=34}} 1941's ''Ziegfeld Girl'' was the first film to showcase Turner with [[Blond#Varieties|platinum blonde]] hair, which she wore for much of the remainder of her life, and for which she came to be known.{{sfn|Valentino|1976|pages=97, 195}}

[[File:Lana Turner 1944 photo.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|left|alt=Woman wearing flowered hairpiece looking into camera|Turner in 1944]]
After Turner's first marriage in 1940, columnist [[Louella Parsons]] wrote: "If Lana Turner will behave herself, and not go completely berserk she is headed for a top spot in motion pictures. She is the most glamorous actress since Jean Harlow."{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1971|pages=40–41}} She also likened her to [[Clara Bow]], adding: "Both of them, trusting and lovable, use their hearts, instead of their heads. Lana&nbsp;... has always acted hastily and been guided more by her own ideas than by any advance any studio gave her."{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1971|p=41}} By the mid-1940s, Turner had been married and divorced three times, had given birth to her daughter, Cheryl, and had numerous publicized affairs.<ref name=thomasmay1957>{{cite news|work=Port Angeles Evening News|location=Port Angeles, Washington|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21981658/port_angeles_evening_news/|via=Newspapers.com|date=May 8, 1957|title=Lana Turner Says She's Had It; Won't Marry Again|last=Thomas|first=Bob|publisher=Associated Press|page=12}}</ref>{{sfn|Jordan|2009|p=127}} However, her image in 1946's ''The Postman Always Rings Twice'' marked a departure from her strictly-sex symbol screen persona to that of a full-fledged [[femme fatale]].{{sfn|Jordan|2009|p=127}}

By the 1950s, both critics and audiences began noting parallels between Turner's rocky personal life and the roles she played.{{sfn|Dyer|1991|pages=186–188}} The likeness was most evident in ''Peyton Place'' and ''Imitation of Life'', both films in which Turner portrayed single mothers struggling to maintain relationships with their teenage daughters.{{sfn|Kashner|MacNair|2002|pages=257–264}} Film scholar [[Richard Dyer]] cites Turner as an example of one of Hollywood's earliest stars whose publicized private life perceptibly inflected their careers: "Her career is marked by an unusually, even spectacularly, high degree of inter-penetration between her publicly available private life and her films&nbsp;... not only do her vehicles furnish characters and situations in accord with her off-screen image, but frequently, incidents in them echo incidents in her life, so that, by the end of her career, films like ''Peyton Place'', ''Imitation of Life'', ''Madame X'', and ''Love Has Many Faces'' seem in parts like mere illustrations of her life."{{sfn|Dyer|1991|pages=186–187}}

Basinger echoes similar sentiments, noting that Turner was often "cast only in roles that were symbolic of what the public knew — or thought they knew — of her life from headlines she made as a person, not as a movie character&nbsp;... Her person became her persona."{{sfn|Basinger|2008|p=182}} In addition, Basinger credits Turner as the first mainstream female star to "take the male prerogative openly for herself", publicly indulging in romances and affairs that, in turn, fueled the publicity surrounding her.{{sfn|Basinger|1976|p=14}} Film scholar Jessica Hope Jordan considers Turner an "implosion" of both a "real-life image and star image", and suggests that she utilized one to mask the other, thus rendering her representative of the "ultimate femme fatale".{{sfn|Jordan|2009|p=114}} Columnist [[Dorothy Kilgallen]] took note of the intersections between Turner's life and screen persona early in her career, writing in 1946:

{{blockquote|Lana Turner is a super-star for many reasons, but chiefly because she is the same off-screen as she is on. Some of the stars are magnetic dazzlers on celluloid, and ordinary, practical, polo-coated little things in private life. Not so Lana. No one who adored her in movies would be disappointed to meet her in the flesh. The flesh is the same. The biography is as colorful as any plot she has ever romped through on screen. The clothes she wears are just like the clothes you pay to see her in on Saturday night at the [[Bijou Theatre (Manhattan, 1917)|Bijou]]. The physical allure is just as heavy when she looks at a headwaiter as when she looks at a hero.{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1971|p=97}} }}

[[File:Lana Turner 1943.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|Turner in 1943]]
Historians have cited Turner as one of the most [[Glamour (presentation)|glamorous]] film stars of all time, an association that was made both during her lifetime{{sfn|Basinger|1976|p=11}}{{sfn|Valentino|1976|p=13}}<ref name=glamour>{{cite news|title=Glamour Award to Lana Turner|date=July 4, 1951|publisher=A. A. P.|page=4D|work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VvxUAAAAIBAJ&pg=904%2C301952|location=Sydney, NSW|via=[[Google News]]}}</ref> and after her death.{{sfn|Kashner|MacNair|2002|p=254}} Commenting on her image, she once told a journalist: "Forsaking glamour is like forsaking my identity. It's an image I've worked too hard to obtain and to preserve."{{sfn|Fields|2007|p=109}} [[Michael Gordon (film director)|Michael Gordon]], who directed Turner in ''Portrait in Black'', remembered her as "a very talented actress whose chief reliability was what I regarded as impoverished taste&nbsp;... Lana was not a dummy, and she would give me wonderful rationalizations why she should wear pendant earrings. They had nothing to do with the role, but they had to do with her particular self-image."{{sfn|Davis|2005|p=119}}

According to her daughter, Turner's obsessive attention to detail often resulted in dressmakers storming out during dress fittings.{{sfn|Crane|De La Hoz|2008|p=96}} No matter the setting, Turner also took care to ensure she was always "camera-ready", wearing jewelry and make-up even while lounging in sweatpants.{{sfn|Crane|De La Hoz|2008|p=104}} Turner often purchased her favorite styles of shoes in every available color, at one time accumulating 698 pairs.{{sfn|Crane|De La Hoz|2008|p=99}} She favored the designers [[Salvatore Ferragamo]], [[Jean Louis]], [[Helen Rose]], and [[Nolan Miller]].{{sfn|Crane|De La Hoz|2008|p=96}}{{sfn|Turner|1982|p=75}} Film historians Joe Morella and Edward Epstein have observed that, unlike many female stars, Turner "wasn't resented by female fans", and that women made up a large part of her fan base in later years.{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1971|p=30}} Turner maintained her glamorous image into her late career; a 1966 film review characterized her as "the glitter and glamour of Hollywood".{{sfn|Fields|2007|p=109}} While she consistently embraced her glamorous persona, she was also vocal about her dedication to acting,<ref name=concentrate/> and attained a reputation as a versatile, hard-working performer.<ref name=hwof/> She was an admirer of [[Bette Davis]], whom she cited as her favorite actress.{{sfn|Erickson|2017|p=119}}