Her Long Road to HAPPINESS

AFTER YEARS OF SUFFERING, THE GOLDEN AGE ACTRESS FINALLY RECEIVED THE HELP SHE NEEDED

In 1959, a reporter found Laura actress Gene Tierney working in a dress shop in Topeka, Kansas. She had taken the job to quietly reenter society after being hospitalized and treated for bipolar disorder. Gene blamed her illness on “my lack of understanding of what I could cope with and what I could not.”

A stunningly beautiful woman born into a wealthy New York family, Gene had every advantage in life, yet anxiety and misfortune pushed her to the brink. “She talked about having nervous stomach pains in childhood,” says Will Scheibel, author of Gene Tierney: Star of Hollywood’s Home Front. “These events of her life — the disability of her daughter, the breakup of her marriage — they just exacerbated problems that she already had.”

After graduation and her debutante debut, Gene set her sights on acting. By 1940, she had signed with 20th Century Fox and played small roles until 1943’s Heaven Can Wait and Laura, the following year, made her a star. She even received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for 1945’s Leave Her to Heaven.

But as her fame rose, Gene’s personal life grew complicated. In 1941, over the objections of her family, she wed playboy fashion designer Oleg Cassini. “It was a whirlwind marriage. She was a rising star, and he would design clothes for her,” says Scheibel.

Heartbreak struck in 1943 when the pregnant actress came down with German measles after entertaining U.S. servicemen. The couple’s daughter Daria was born deaf, partially blind and severely mentally disabled. “That was my war effort,” said Gene, who never got over it. “She felt in some way responsible,” says Scheibel. “Also, her daughter required full-time care, so she felt guilty about putting her in a care facility.”

Gene would give birth to another daughter, Christina, but her relationship with Oleg would not survive. They separated in 1946, reconciled, and eventually broke up for good in 1952.

Along the way, the actress grew more emotionally frail. “Everyone suggested psychoanalysis, and I always resisted,” said Gene, who was finally institutionalized after being coaxed down off a building ledge in New York City. “I just couldn’t go on,” she admitted. “It took three years for me to get well. The longer you delay, the longer it takes. I should have gone to a doctor three or four years earlier.”

A QUIETER LIFE

In the 1960s, Gene waged a film comeback, but by then she had wed Texas oilman W. Howard Lee. Acting became less important, although she took occasional roles. “She continued to suffer flare-ups and bouts of depression, but her husband was very supportive and the marriage was largely happy,” says Scheibel.

Gene died in 1991 at age 70. “I learned that the mind is the most beautiful part of the body,” she said. “I am so grateful to God to have mine back.” –Reporting by Katie Bruno

“I learned that carrying on while you’re broken is not the answer.”

—Gene Tierney