Gene Eliza Tierney

As a young woman she fell in love with Oleg Cassini, a costume and fashion designer who hailed from a Russian-Italian family. Her parents were opposed to the match so she eloped with him and got married in 1941. The couple had two daughters, of who one was severely mentally disabled.The marriage did not last long and ended in a divorce in 1948.

After a string of affairs with several prominent men, she remarried Texas oil baron, W. Howard Lee, in 1960. This marriage lasted till Lee’s death in 1981.

Her personal life was in stark contrast to her glittering film career. Struggling with the pressure of raising a mentally challenged daughter, Tierney suffered for years with episodes of manic depression. She was also a heavy smoker. She died of emphysema on November 6, 1991, shortly before her 71st birthday.

Gene Tierney was born on November 19, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York, U.S. to Howard Sherwood Tierney and Belle Lavina Taylor. Her father was a successful insurance broker while her mother was a former physical education instructor. She had one brother and one sister.

Hailing from a wealthy family, she enjoyed a privileged childhood. Tierney attended St. Margaret's School in Waterbury, Connecticut, and the Unquowa School in Fairfield before moving to Europe to study at the Brillantmont International School in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Upon her return to the U.S. in 1938, she enrolled at Miss Porter's School. As a student she loved to write poems and would write poetry occasionally throughout her life.

While visiting the West Coast with her family, she went to the Warner Bros. Studios where a cousin worked. There she got noticed by the director Anatole Litvak who suggested that she consider becoming an actress.

Even though her parents were initially against the idea, young Gene persisted and studied acting at a small Greenwich Village acting studio in New York with Broadway director and actor Benno Schneider.

She made her Broadway debut in ‘What a Life!’ (1938) and played the role of Molly O'Day in the Broadway production ‘Mrs. O'Brien Entertains’ (1939). Her flawless beauty and youthful appeal caught the fancy of the critics and audience alike.

Even though her parents were initially against an acting career, they began to support her eventually. After several years on the stage, she decided to venture into films and her father set up a corporation, Belle-Tier, to fund and promote her acting career.

She made her first film appearance as Eleanor Stone in Fritz Lang's western ‘The Return of Frank James’ (1940), opposite Henry Fonda. Other roles followed in quick succession and she acted in ‘Hudson's Bay’ (1941),’Tobacco Road’ (1941), ‘Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake’ (1942), Rings on Her Fingers (1942), and ‘China Girl’ (1942).

In 1944, she played the title role in ‘Laura’ opposite Dana Andrews. Her portrayal of a mysterious murder victim cemented her position as a superstar in Hollywood. Her role of a vicious and narcissistic woman, Ellen Berent, in ‘Leave Her to Heaven’ (1945) further strengthened her image as a character actress.

Her string of successful films continued throughout the late 1940s with diverse roles in ‘The Ghost and Mrs. Muir’ (1947), ‘That Wonderful Urge’ (1948), ‘Whirlpool’ (1949), ‘Night and the City’ (1950), and ‘Where the Sidewalk Ends’ (1950).

Gene Tierney played a beautiful and highly successful advertising executive, Laura Hunt, in the film ‘Laura.’ Her character, which is believed to have been murdered, reappears mysteriously causing much chaos. The film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in 1999.

Her performance as Ellen Berent Harland in ‘Leave Her to Heaven’ earned her an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. Her portrayal of an evil and manipulative woman was well received by the critics and audience alike.