TikiSoo wrote: ↑August 1st, 2023, 6:08 am
speedracer5 wrote: ↑July 31st, 2023, 12:58 pm
(Veronica Lake) She is so blasé and nonchalant about the fact that she didn't have a relationship with her children, I can honestly see why none of them claimed her cremains upon her death in 1973.
Now I am reading Lana Turner's autobiography. If only Lana had devoted as much time to picking a decent husband as she did to being a movie star.
I read Lake's book a long time ago & was left just as cold.
Nowadays celebrity autobiographies will not mention their children, their names/ages etc in attempt to keep their info somewhat private.
Although I bet every one of their kids has an internet account with pictures & names mentioned.
Agree about Lana Turner impressions too. Just wait until you get to the bad blood (literally) between her husband & daughter!
Yes. Veronica didn't seem like a happy person and much of her unhappiness was her own doing, so it was hard to feel sorry for her. She struck me as a bit immature at times and seemed to struggle with responsibility. I have to wonder if she would have been better off had she not become "Veronica Lake," but then I guess we would be deprived of some of the wonderful performances she gave. While she is not the best actress in the world, she has screen presence, which sometimes is more than enough.
I just finished reading about Lana's heartbreaking affair with Tyrone Power. He did her dirty leading her on the way he did. She seemed genuinely crushed by him marrying Linda Christian while they were (supposedly) together. She had just aborted their baby (something she felt obligated to do to protect Tyrone's career, since he was not yet divorced from Annabella; but she didn't want to do it. She wanted the baby very much) and finds out that he's with another woman. That was very sad and I was angry at Tyrone on her behalf. She wrote her memoir in 1982, some 25 years after Tyrone's death, and she still seemed to be longing for him; but emotionally and physically she cut herself off from him as soon as he walked out the door after telling her about Christian--back in 1947.
I also felt terrible for Lana that besides her mother and a few select people around her, she seemed to struggle with having friends, because she never knew if they were legitimate friends or were just using her. She discusses a woman with whom she traveled to South America, thinking that she and her were good friends. Lana would learn after the trip that her friend was selling information about Lana to newspapers and magazines.
Celebrities are probably smart to not mention their kids. Both Joan Crawford and Bette Davis' children exploited their names and respective mothers in an attempt to make a few bucks. There's also the whole stigma about achieving success due to nepotism, e.g., the "nepo baby" label, that maybe the parents are trying to shield their children from that. But some "nepo babies" e.g., Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Douglas... all had the talent to stand on their own. They didn't need their famous fathers to pull strings for them; but there's no doubt that their family connections helped them. Lana discusses Cheryl by name and discussed her horrible birth experience and how Cheryl had to get a full-body blood transfusion because Lana's genetic blood disorder was deadly. I'm about 10 years away from the Johnny Stompanato drama.
I'd read previously that John Garfield and Lana had an affair during "The Postman Always Rings Twice," but Lana didn't mention it. All she said was that she was looking forward to working with Garfield and that he was a ladies man. She then said that he died in his bed and she wasn't surprised. That seemed to be a little catty, so I wonder what that was all about.
So far, I'm really loving the tone of Lana's book. She comes across as generally being happy, but does have some regrets and is introspective. Unlike Veronica, she is much more self-aware of how her mistakes caused the unhappiness in her life, and she even seems to be upset with herself that she keeps making the same mistake over and over. Lana seems like she'd be fun to have a glass of wine with and gossip about her movie star co-workers.
