How Lana Turner Broke Peter Lawford's Heart

Peter and Lana out on the town in 1944

Peter Lawford--handsome, young, athletic, debonaire, English--had his pick of the most beautiful and vibrant women on the MGM lot in the early 1940s. He dated Rita Hayworth, Ava Gardner, June Allyson, Lucille Ball, Anne Baxter, Judy Garland, and scores of  lesser lights. Lana Turner, one of the loveliest ladies on the lot, was the only one who left him brokenhearted.

For eight months they were inseparable; the sight of Peter's car outside her Beverly Hills home all night became the talk of the neighborhood. Every workday morning they'd go to the Metro lot together; if Peter hadn't spent the night at her house, she'd pick him up in her Jeep at his. One morning she failed to come by. For the next three days she was missing, and Peter was frantic--he wanted to marry Lana, and couldn't bear the thought that she was injured or dead.

Finally she called him. She was in Boston. "When will you be coming back?" Peter asked, trying to sound nonchalant. "I don't know," Lana said--and then she dropped the bombshell. "It's over between us, Peter." He felt as though he'd been punched in the stomach, but fought to remain calm. "Oh. Is there someone else then?" "Yes," Lana replied, "Gene Krupa."

Peter later told his manager Milt Ebbins that it took him a year to get over Lana. But there was one lingering effect. "Ater that, Milt recalled, "he started to just drop women when he was finished with them. He could be cruel, heartless. It was Lana who taught him that."

--from Peter Lawford: The Man Who Kept the Secrets