|
"Although she was beautiful in her films, they couldn't
quite capture all of her. Fortunately I did, even if it was late in my life."--Spencer
Tracy
Green-eyed beauty Gene Tierney was born to a wealthy New York family, and when
she expressed an interest in acting, her father established a corporation
whose sole purpose was to promote her. Tierney progressed from Broadway supporting
roles to a contract with 20th Century Fox after being discovered by David O. Selznick.
Her rise to popularity -- from 1940 through the mid-fifties -- coincided with
the
post-war fascination with neurosis, and Tierney became associated with disturbed
characters driven by torment. Her troubled souls' tumultuous passions inevitably
led to obsession and tragedy, the best illustration of which is her portrayal
of a paranoid woman who steals her sister's lover and kills her unborn baby in
1945's Leave Her to Heaven, a role that earned her a Best Actress Oscar
nomination. Her acting performances were few in the
1950s as she battled a troubled emotional life that included
hospitalization and shock treatment for depression. Her imbalance was likely the
result of twenty years of being
buffeted by tragedy in the form of her parents' shattering divorce, a bout with
German measles during pregnancy that resulted in the birth of a deaf and hopelessly
retarded daughter, her divorce from the child's father, designer Oleg Cassini,
and derailed romances with Tyrone Power and Aly Khan. In 1960, Tierney married
oil businessman W. Howard Lee (he was also the fifth Mr. Hedy Lamarr) and thereafter
ventured out cautiously in occasional roles.
|
