Editing Gene Tierney (section)

===Film career===
[[File:Gene Tierney - Studio portrait (1941).png|thumb|Publicity photo (1941)]]

Tierney signed with [[20th Century-Fox]]<ref name="selfportrait"/>{{rp|39}} and her motion picture debut was in a supporting role as Eleanor Stone in [[Fritz Lang]]'s [[Western (genre)|Western]] ''[[The Return of Frank James]]'' (1940), opposite [[Henry Fonda]].

A small role as Barbara Hall followed in ''[[Hudson's Bay (film)|Hudson's Bay]]'' (1941) with [[Paul Muni]] and she co-starred as Ellie Mae Lester in [[John Ford]]'s comedy ''[[Tobacco Road (film)|Tobacco Road]]'' (also 1941), and played the title role in ''[[Belle Starr (1941 film)|Belle Starr]]'' alongside co-star [[Randolph Scott]], Zia in ''[[Sundown (1941 film)|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 film|screwball comedy]] ''[[Rings on Her Fingers]]'', and roles as Kay Saunders in ''[[Thunder Birds (1942 film)|Thunder Birds]],'' and Miss Young in ''[[China Girl (1942 film)|China Girl]]'' (all 1942).

Receiving top billing in [[Ernst Lubitsch]]'s comedy ''[[Heaven Can Wait (1943 film)|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'':

<blockquote>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.<ref name="selfportrait"/></blockquote>

Tierney starred in what became her best-remembered role: the title role in [[Otto Preminger]]'s [[film noir]] ''[[Laura (1944 film)|Laura]]'' (1944),<ref name="bbc"/> opposite [[Dana Andrews]] (with whom she would work again in ''[[The Iron Curtain (film)|The Iron Curtain]]'' and Preminger's ''[[Where the Sidewalk Ends (film)|Where The Sidewalk Ends]]''). 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),<ref name="bbc"/> adapted from a bestselling novel by [[Ben Ames Williams]]. Appearing with [[Cornel Wilde]], Tierney was nominated for an [[Academy Award]] for [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]]. This was 20th Century-Fox's most successful film of the 1940s. It was cited by director [[Martin Scorsese]] as one of his favorite films, and he assessed Tierney as one of the most underrated actresses of the Golden Era.<ref>{{YouTube|ATfhKmkM-rE|Martin Scorsese discusses ''Leave Her to Heaven'' at the 45th New York Film Festival}}</ref>

[[File:Gene Tierney and Jeanne Crain in Leave Her to Heaven.jpg|thumb|left|Gene Tierney and [[Jeanne Crain]] in ''[[Leave Her to Heaven]]'' (1945)]]

Tierney starred as Miranda Wells in ''[[Dragonwyck (film)|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 (1946 film)|The Razor's Edge]]'' (also 1946), an adaptation of [[W. Somerset Maugham]]'s [[The Razor's Edge|novel]] of the same name. Her performance was critically praised.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}}

Tierney played Lucy Muir in Mankiewicz's ''[[The Ghost and Mrs. Muir]]'' (1947), opposite [[Rex Harrison]].<ref>''Gene Tierney: A Shattered Portrait''.''[[Biography (TV program)|Biography]]''. March 26, 1999. Interview with film scholar Jeanine Basinger.</ref> 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 film)|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 (film)|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 cast|ensemble]] [[farce]], ''[[The Mating Season (film)|The Mating Season]]'' (1951), with [[John Lund (actor)|John Lund]], [[Thelma Ritter]], and [[Miriam Hopkins]].<ref name="selfportrait"/> 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.<ref name="selfportrait"/> 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 [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]]. Tracy and she had a brief affair during this time.<ref name="Osborne 2006 p. 195">{{cite book| first1=Andrea Cornell| last1=Sarvady| date=March 30, 2006| publisher=Chronicle Books| title=Leading Ladies: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actresses of the Studio Era| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XvKV3-wqDrgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Leading+Ladies:+The+50+Most+Unforgettable+Actresses+of+the+Studio+Era&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj_7su47suMAxV6wvACHe2nPU0Q6AF6BAgFEAM#v=onepage&q=tierney&f=false| pages=193-195| isbn=978-0-8118-5248-7}}</ref> Tierney played Marya Lamarkina opposite [[Clark Gable]] in ''[[Never Let Me Go (1953 film)|Never Let Me Go]]'' (1953), filmed in England.<ref name="selfportrait"/>

In the course of the 1940s, she reached a pinnacle of fame as a beautiful leading lady, on a par with "fellow sirens Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner and Ava Gardner".<ref name=TCMTierney /> She was called “the most beautiful woman in movie history" and many of her movies in the 1940s became classic films.<ref name=Vogel2009 /><ref name="bbc"/>
[[File:Dragonwyck (1946) 1.jpg|thumb|left|L–R: [[Glenn Langan]], Gene Tierney, and [[Vincent Price]] in ''[[Dragonwyck (film)|Dragonwyck]]'']] 
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]].<ref name="Portrait179"/> Early in 1953, Tierney returned to the U.S. to co-star in the film noir ''[[Black Widow (1954 film)|Black Widow]]'' (1954) as Iris Denver, with [[Ginger Rogers]] and [[Van Heflin]].