Eldergays, Tell Me About Gene Tierney
Eldergays, please tell me about Gene Tierney.
Tierney always seems to be overlooked. She was too young for the Hepburn-Davis-Crawford-Stanwyck types, but was a little too old for the Liz Taylor personality types. Lauren Bacall was of the same generation, but she reinvented herself in New York after Bogie died.
I know Agatha Christie took her illness and wrote a novel about it and Tierney married an oil billionaire and moved to Houston.
From what little I know, it feels like she didn't suffer fools lightly. Please, tell me more about Gene Tierney. Favorite movies, interviews, gossip, etc.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 19 | May 6, 2024 3:54 PM
|
I think she is pretty much before the time of even most Eldergays who can still post.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | May 4, 2024 8:36 PM
|
R1 Please, eldergays live for theses discussions
by Anonymous | reply 2 | May 4, 2024 8:37 PM
|
She played the baddest bitch ever. I love this character and her performance in this movie.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 4 | May 4, 2024 10:32 PM
|
I get her confused with Jeanne Crain.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | May 4, 2024 10:36 PM
|
She had lots of issues but survived.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 6 | May 4, 2024 11:04 PM
|
Gene went to Brillantmont International School, a boarding school in Lausanne, Switzerland, and was roommates with Marlene's kid, Maria Riva.
She married Texas oilman W. Howard Lee in 1960, just months after he divorced Hedy Lamarr. One of Hedy's previous husbands was Gene Markey, who had also been married to Joan Bennett and, later, Myrna Loy. I just threw that tidbit in to show how everyone in Golden Age Hollywood was intertwined, as it remains to this day.
by Anonymous | reply 10 | May 5, 2024 7:54 PM
|
OP, thanks for this thread. I'm a huge Gene Tierney fan. Love her especially in Whirlpool. So breathtakingly beautiful, and a courageous ambassador for those suffering from mental illness. Her daughter, Christina Cassini, seemed to be very close to her, which says a lot for Tierney.
I have never heard anything to suggest she didn't suffer fools gladly. On the contrary, I have read of her kindness to others. The only ungenerous comments I've heard came from actor Darryl Hickman, who played the annoying kid in LHTH. He suggested in his DVD commentary to that movie that she was a bit chilly. I believe she had just given birth to her daughter, Daria, who was severely brain-damaged from the case of German measles that Tierney caught from a fan at a WW II Hollywood canteen Tierney volunteered to appear at. Because no good deed goes unpunished.
In short, great woman.
by Anonymous | reply 11 | May 5, 2024 8:38 PM
|
I only remember her from three movies, I guess the usual three: Laura, Leave Her to Heaven, The Ghost and Mrs Muir. I should look for her others - I'll look for Whirlpool.
She didn't age well. Saw her for a few minutes in an 80s miniseries Scruples. She was barely there as an actress.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | May 5, 2024 9:45 PM
|
Jeanne Crain played her sister in Leave Her to Heaven. But I find Jeanne Crain as dull as dog water.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | May 5, 2024 9:51 PM
|
She and her husband lived one street over from my grandparents in the River Oaks neighborhood in Houston. They met her several times at parties and country club events. My grandmother thought she was lovely.
by Anonymous | reply 14 | May 5, 2024 9:55 PM
|
I just saw "Laura" for the first time last week. I must say Gene Tierney was completely underwhelming. Pretty, yes, but very little screen presence or personality. Not a STAR at all.
Love the score:
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 15 | May 5, 2024 9:59 PM
|
Gene was also in The Razor's Edge (1946) as the rich bitch Isabel. She has some funny lines like when she says of Anne Baxter, "She's soused from morning to night".
by Anonymous | reply 16 | May 6, 2024 1:38 AM
|
Here Wiki entry , if true, suggests she got around quite a bit and with top notch suitors.
Not only did she snag three Texas Oil man after he left Hedy Lamar but she almost got Prince Aly Khan after Rita Hayworth but Papa Khan seemed to think one actress was enough::
"While filming for Personal Affair in Europe, she began a romance with Prince Aly Khan.[ They became engaged in 1952, while Khan was going through a divorce from Rita Hayworth. Their marriage plans, however, met with fierce opposition from his father, Aga Khan III."
She also partnered with JFK during her separation form Oleg Cassini.
"During their separation, Tierney met John F. Kennedy, a young World War II veteran, who was visiting the set of Dragonwyck in 1946. They began a romance that she ended the following year after Kennedy told her he could never marry her because of his political ambitions. In 1960, Tierney sent Kennedy a note of congratulations on his victory in the presidential election. During this time, newspapers documented Tierney's other romantic relationships, including Kirk Douglas."
by Anonymous | reply 17 | May 6, 2024 2:07 PM
|
/ "the" Texas oil man, not three. (But I bet she could have.)
by Anonymous | reply 18 | May 6, 2024 2:09 PM
|
After Howard Lee died - neighbors say Gene would walk around the neighborhood some mornings wearing her nightgown and knocking on doors asking if anyone had seen her husband.
I wonder if she knocked on R14's grandparents' door?
by Anonymous | reply 19 | May 6, 2024 3:54 PM
|