Trivia of Gene Tierney

Trivia of Gene Tierney

*Tierney came from a wealthy family.Her adolescence was full of all the high society stereotypes. She attended an international school in Switzerland for two years, where she learned French and mingled with other young ladies of her rank. When she came back stateside, she then enrolled in Miss Porter’s School, a prep school with alumni like Gloria Vanderbilt and Princess Anastasia of Greece and Denmark.

*When Tierney started acting, her parents insisted that she take to the stage before she tried her hand at the camera. And so Tierney booked her first role: the slightly uninspiring part of a "water carrier." But even though all she did was carry a jug of water, Tierney still managed to make an impression. One critic raved, "Miss Tierney is certainly the most beautiful water carrier I've ever seen!".

*Tierney was painfully conscious of her supposedly “protruding” front teeth, and she often shaped her lipstick to try to camouflage them. As she once confessed in a 1948 interview, “I’d talk out of the side of my mouth in order not to show my teeth.” Thankfully, even the infamously image-conscious Fox Studios liked her pearly whites, and refused to let her cosmetically change them.

*Legendary director Martin Scorsese named her movie Leave Her to Heaven (1945) as one of his absolute favorite films, and he considers Tierney one of the most underrated actresses of her day.Tierney’s turn as Ellen Brent in the acclaimed film Leave Her to Heaven snagged her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in 1946.

*Was offered the role of Linda Nordley in Mogambo (1953), which she was forced to turn down due to pregnancy. Grace Kelly, who went on to receive a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, was cast instead.

*When she saw herself on screen for the first time, she was horrified by her voice ("I sounded like an angry Minnie Mouse"). She began smoking to lower her voice, but it came at a great price--she died of emphysema.

*Was in the throes of suicidal depression and admitted to the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas on Christmas Day 1957 after police talked her down from a building ledge. She was released from Menninger's the following year.