Gene Tierney

She was married to costume and fashion designer Oleg Cassini from June 1, 1941 to February 28, 1952. Her first daughter with Cassini, Antoinette Daria Cassini, was born on October 15, 1943, while their second daughter, Christina "Tina" Cassini, was born on November 19, 1948.

She got married for the second time to Texas oil baron W. Howard Lee on July 11, 1960. The couple stayed in Delray Beach, Florida and Houston, Texas, till the death of Lee in 1981.

According to sources, she was also romantically associated with Prince Aly Khan, Spencer Tracy, and John F. Kennedy at different points of time.

Gene Tierney was born on November 19, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York, US, in the affluent family of successful insurance broker Howard Sherwood Tierney and ex-physical education instructor Belle Lavinia Taylor. Her elder brother was Howard Sherwood “Butch” Tierney, Jr., and younger sister was Patricia “Pat” Tierney.

Growing up in Westport, Connecticut, she studied at the St. Margaret's School and the Unquowa School in Waterbury and Fairfield respectively. Gene wrote poetry since her childhood and maintained such pursuit all-through her life, although intermittently. Her first poem titled ‘Night’ was published in her school magazine.

She attended Brillantmont International School at Lausanne, Switzerland, for three years and returned back to the US in 1938, and studied at the Miss Porter's School.

She visited Warner Bros. studios to meet a cousin while on a family trip to West Coast when she was offered a contract, but it didn’t materialise as her parents discouraged such proposal.

On September 24, 1938, she made her society debut. In no time she got disinterested with such society life and resolved to make a career in acting. She came under tutelage of Benno Schneider while taking acting lessons in a small acting studio in Greenwich Village.

As protégée of George Abbott, Gene made her Broadway debut in 1938 in the play ‘What a Life!’ During that time she also understudied in the play ‘The Primrose Path.’

In 1939, she performed in the Broadway production of ‘Mrs. O'Brien Entertains’ as Molly O'Day, and also as Peggy Carr in ‘Ring Two.’ Both these were staged by Abbott and received kudos from critics for her brilliant performances as a newcomer.

Her father set up the ‘Belle-Tier Corporation’ to promote her acting career. In 1939, she signed a six-month contract with Columbia Pictures.

In 1940, she gave a splendid performance as Patricia Stanley in the hit Broadway production ‘The Male Animal’. As a result of this success, she featured in ‘Life’ magazine, along with Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Collier's Weekly.

She signed with 20th Century-Fox and appeared in the Fritz Lang directed western film ‘The Return of Frank James.’ She starred opposite Henry Fonda, and the film became a commercial success.