She overcame family disapproval to pursue an acting career, first on Broadway in 1939. She was educated at private schools in Connecticut and Switzerland.

20, 1920, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, a daughter of a wealthy businessman. She still worked occasionally after that, appearing in ″Advise and Consent,″ also directed by Preminger, in 1962 and a few other films. In the 1950s, she had a celebrated romance with Prince Aly Khan, the famous playboy then came her marriage to Lee after she recovered from her illness. They had two children, Daria, born in 1943, who was born retarded, and Christina, in 1948. She was married to designer Oleg Cassini from 1941 to 1952. Tierney received her only Oscar nomination for that role, but lost out to Joan Crawford, selected as best actress for ″Mildred Pierce.″Īmong Tierney’s other films were ″Belle Starr,″ 1941 ″Heaven Can Wait,″ 1943 ″A Bell for Adano,″ 1945 ″Dragonwyck,″ 1946 ″The Ghost and Mrs. ″Leave Her to Heaven,″ 1945, was about an selfish woman who causes unhappiness for those around her and eventually commits suicide. The film also starred Vincent Price and Clifton Webb. She played a socialite who is apparently a murder victim Dana Andrews plays a police detective who falls in love with her through her portraits. ″Laura,″ directed by Otto Preminger and released in 1944, is perhaps her best-known role. I’m well now, with plenty of hope and plenty of chance to find happiness.″

″When I was ill, I thought that my emotional life was over for good,″ she said in an Associated Press interview in 1958. But she battled a series of tragedies, including the birth of a daughter who was mentally retarded because Tierney had German measles during her pregnancy, and a bout of mental illness during the mid- 1950s. The actress’ striking, high-cheekboned good looks helped propel her to stardom before the age of 20. She had lived in Houston since 1960, when she married oilman W. Lewis & Sons funeral home in Houston said Thursday that funeral arrangements were pending. Tierney, who had suffered from emphysema, died late Wednesday at her home. HOUSTON (AP) _ Actress Gene Tierney, who played the enigmatic victim in the murder mystery ″Laura″ and was nominated for an Academy Award for ″Leave Her To Heaven,″ has died, a funeral home spokesman said Thursday.

Gene tierney self portrait book