Cheryl Crane

Cheryl Crane
Born Cheryl Christina Crane
(1943-07-25) July 25, 1943
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation Writer, real estate broker
Years active 1992–2011
Partner(s) Jocelyn "Josh" LeRoy
Parent(s) Steve Crane
Lana Turner

Cheryl Christina Crane (born July 25, 1943[1]) is the only child of actress Lana Turner, from her marriage to actor-restaurateur Stephen Crane, her second husband.

Killing of Johnny Stompanato

On April 4, 1958, at age 14, Crane stabbed her mother's boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato, to death.[2][3] The killing was ruled a justifiable homicide: she was deemed to have been protecting her mother.[3] Stompanato was well-known to have been abusive, extremely jealous of Turner and had previously pointed a gun at actor Sean Connery, her co-star in Another Time, Another Place, only to have Connery "take the gun from him, beat him and force him from the movie set"[4] and "Scotland Yard had him deported".[5]

Following Stompanato's death, Crane was made a ward of the State of California and was placed in the El Retiro School for Girls in Sylmar, Los Angeles for "psychiatric therapy" in March 1960.[6][7] Six weeks later she and two other girls climbed a 10-foot wall and fled.[8][9] They were eventually returned to the school after she telephoned her father.[10][11] Five weeks later, she again fled the campus with two other girls. They walked into Sylmar and were driven by a new acquaintance to Beverly Hills, where they were taken into custody a few hours later after being seen near her grandmother's home.[12] She was released from the school in January 1961 to the custody of her mother and stepfather, Frederick D. May.[13]

In 1969, Crane was detained by the Los Angeles Police Department when three half-grown marijuana plants were discovered in the back seat of her car.[3]

Later life

In her autobiography, Detour: a Hollywood Tragedy – My Life With Lana Turner, My Mother (1988), Crane discussed the Stompanato killing publicly for the first time and admitted to the stabbing. She further alleged that she was subject to a series of sexual assaults at the hands of her stepfather and her mother's fourth husband, actor Lex Barker.

Years later, Crane publicly revealed that she had told her mother she was a lesbian and that she had taken the news well. She said she regarded Crane's partner, Joyce "Josh" LeRoy, "as a second daughter".[3]

Crane currently lives in the Palm Springs, California, area, retired from real estate and is married to her long time companion Joyce "Josh" LeRoy. She has written a mystery novel titled The Bad Always Die Twice, published in 2011.[14]

Bibliographic references

Further reading

Writings

References

  1. ↑ Staff editor (August 2, 1943). "Milestones". Time. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
  2. ↑ Lana Turner & Cheryl Crane
  3. 1 2 3 4 Paiva, Fred Melo (2008-04-06). "Go, Johnny, go". O Estado de S. Paulo (in Portuguese). p. J8.
  4. ↑ Stephen Schochet (2004-08-26). "Who Is James Bond?". total-movies.com. Archived from the original on November 14, 2006. Retrieved 2014-08-03.
  5. ↑ Gaby Wood (July 15, 2004). "In Lana Turner's Bedroom". Granta. ISBN 1929001169. Archived from the original on April 23, 2006. Retrieved April 23, 2006.
  6. ↑ "Cheryl Crane Taken From Her Grandmother," Los Angeles Times, March 16, 1960, page 2
  7. ↑ Walter Ames, "Lana Tells Why Cheryl Has Been Put in School," Los Angeles Times, March 17, 1960, page 5
  8. ↑ "Cheryl Crane Escapes From Home for Girls," Los Angeles Times, April 30, 1960, page B-1
  9. ↑ "Cheryl Crane Flees Home," The New York Times, April 30, 1960
  10. ↑ "Cheryl and 2 Friends Turn Selves In to Crane," Los Angeles Times, May 3, 1960, page 4
  11. ↑ "Cheryl Crane Ordered Returned to El Retiro," Los Angeles Times, May 5, 1960, page 33
  12. ↑ "Cheryl Crane Again Flees School, Recaptured With 2 Other Girls," Los Angeles Times, June 5, 1960, page A-4
  13. ↑ "Cheryl Crane Wins Release From School," Los Angeles Times, January 21, 1961
  14. ↑ Diane Anderson-Minshall. "Cheryl Crane Tells Us Why the Bad Always Die Twice". Advocate.com.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.