Johnny Stompanato

Johnny Stompanato, Jr. aka Handsome Harry, John Steele and Oscar (October 9, 1925 – April 4, 1958) was a former United States Marine who became a bodyguard/enforcer for gangster Mickey Cohen. He was also the boyfriend of actress Lana Turner.

Early Years

John "Jackie" R. Stompanato was born into an Italian-American family in predominantly Irish-American Woodstock, Illinois. Stompanato was the youngest of four children; his brother Carmine, as of 2006, still lived in Indiana and served as a Presbyterian elder. His father John Sr. was a successful barber and dabbler in real estate. The Stompanato family lived in a big clapboard house on Blakely Street with a much envied garden with a florid statuary. John's mother died after his birth, and his father married a woman named Verena Freitag.

Wartime Service

In 1940, after Stompanato's freshman year at Woodstock High School, his father sent him to Kemper Military School for boys in Boonville, Missouri, and from which he graduated at the age of seventeen. In 1943, Stompanato joined the U.S. Marines; he saw action in the South Pacific theater, in Peleliu and Okinawa, and then landed in China with the Marines, in 1945.

Marriage

Stompanato later claimed that he stayed in China after the war, operating night clubs and going bankrupt in the process. Fact|date=September 2008 He may have also worked as a minor bureaucrat at a U.S. government office in Tianjin, China. Fact|date=September 2008 While working for the government, he met and married a Turkish woman six years his senior, and converted to Islam. Fact|date=September 2008 Soon the couple returned to Woodstock, Illinois, where Stompanato's son, John Stompanato III, was born. Stompanato worked as a bread salesman for a few months before leaving for Hollywood, California. Fact|date=September 2008

Boyfriend to a Star

In Los Angeles, John owned and managed "The Myrtlewood Gift Shop" in Westwood, California. He sold inexpensive pieces of crude pottery and wood carvings as fine art. The few shoppers who entered the store were either served by a part-time clerk or ignored altogether. When he started dating Lana Turner, he wore a heavy gold-link bracelet on his wrist with "Lanita" inscribed inside. Turner's daughter with second husband J. Stephen Crane, Cheryl Crane, described Stompanato in her autobiography, "Detour: A Hollywood Story" (1988) as having:

"...B-picture good looks... thick set... powerfully built and soft spoken... and talked in short sentences to cover a poor grasp of grammar and spoke in a deep baritone voice. With friends he seldom smiled or laughed out loud but seemed always coiled, holding himself in... had watchful hooded eyes that took in more than he wanted anyone to notice... His wardrobe on a daily basis consisted of roomy, draped slacks, a silver buckled skinny leather belt and lizard shoes."

However, the reality was that Stompananto was very jealous and possessive of Turner and severely abused her on many occasions. Turner attempted to end their relationship several times, but he always persuaded her not to do so. During one incident, Stompanato stormed onto a movie set in the UK and pointed a gun at actor Sean Connery, her costar in "Another Time, Another Place", only to have Connery take the gun from him, beat him, and force him from the movie set. Stompanato was deported for this offense, as handguns were illegal in the UK. [http://www.total-movies.com/content_pages/000710_a.asp] [http://www.granta.com/extracts/2144] [ [http://www.granta.com/extracts/2144 Granta: 'In Lana Turner's Bedroom' by Gaby Wood ] ]

Public Murder Trial

On April 4, 1958, Johnny Stompanato was stabbed to death at Turner's Beverly Hills, California home. The assailant was Turner's then-teenage daughter, Cheryl Crane. The girl claimed that Stompanato was attacking her mother and she had to defend her. The courts agreed, ruling Stompanato's death to be justifiable homicide. After the ruling, Stompanato's family sued Turner for $7 million; gangster Mickey Cohen supposedly paid the family's legal costs. The case was finally settled out of court.

There have been endless rumors since 1958 that Turner was the actual killer. Her daughter supposedly took the blame because she was a minor and would face minimal judicial punishment under the circumstances. However, there is insufficient evidence to prove such claims. [ [http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/lana_turner/13.html All about Lana Turner and Johnny Stompanato, by Mark Gribben ] ]

Johnny Stompanato is interred at Oakland Cemetery in Woodstock, McHenry County, Illinois.

ee also

"Hollywood's Celebrity Gangster. The Incredible Life and Times of Mickey Cohen" by Brad Lewis. (Enigma Books: New York, 2007. ISBN 978-1-929631-65-0)

In popular culture

* In the film adaptation of "L.A. Confidential", Stompanato was portrayed by Italian actor Paolo Seganti.
* A previously announced film featuring Keanu Reeves as Stompanato has been cancelled. [http://www.keanu-reeves.net/upcoming.php]
* While filming "Another Time, Another Place", Lana Turner was rumored to be having an affair with her costar, actor Sean Connery. In actuality, there was no evidence of an affair. Nevertheless, one day an enraged Stompanato stormed onto the set and started arguing forcefully with Connery. Finally, Stompanato waved a gun in Connery's face. Connery took away the gun, beat up Stompanato, and kicked him off the set. After Stompanato's death, rumors flew that the mob held Connery responsible; the actor allegedly laid low until it blew over. [ [http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/lana_turner/6.html All about Lana Turner and Johnny Stompanato, by Mark Gribben ] ] [http://www.total-movies.com/content_pages/000710_a.asp] [ [http://www.freeinfodirectory.com/Movies/Who_Is_James.htm Who Is James Bond? ] ] [http://www.granta.com/Magazine/86/In-Lana-Turners-Bedroom/ From Granta Magazine ]
* The Tom Russell song "Tiajuana Bible" was allegedly set around Stompanato's death

References