Most of Lana's MGM output (from 1938-1956 and with the exception of the Flame and the Flesh which has been lost to the ages) are available through Warner Home Video. Amazon.Com or Ebay is a great place to start. I also like Bob's List of Hard to Find Films which can be accessed through http://www.bpm123.net.

What Ever Happened To?

Lana's Ex Husbands

Artie Shaw passed away from complications from diabetes in December 2004, Stephan Crane passed away from chronic alcoholism and anemia in February 1985 and Lex Barker  died of a heart attack while walking down a New York City street in May of 1973 (to which Lana quipped: What took him so long?). As of November 2005, Ronald Dante is still alive in his mid seventies. He has a criminal record a mile long, mostly due to white collar crimes. He is currently doing a prison term for screwing people out of millions of dollars for a fake correspondence school that he was running (think Sally Struthers Correspondence School. The only difference being that her school is/was legit and Dante's school was fraudulent). I've always been intrigued by Sally's school and would be curious to talk to anyone who has passed it successfully. Email me at liza@lanaturneronline.com. I have no idea what happened to Bob Topping, Bob Eaton or Fred May. (Bob Topping passed away in 1968. Thanks Jarlethy for sending that in to us)

DEGREES OF SUSPICION
The Hypnotist Who Married Lana Turner

By THOMAS BARTLETT and SCOTT SMALLWOOD

An accordion folder packed with documents is all that's left of
Columbia State University. Inside are slick brochures ("Earn a
college degree in 27 days"), a catalog that lists majors like
computer science and hospital administration, and advertisements
claiming that Columbia State has the same accreditation as Harvard
and Yale. Among the papers is a stack of canceled checks held
together by a green rubber band. The checks, dated from December 1997
to June 1998, are made out from the university to its owner, most for
exactly $50,000. Their total comes to $3.5-million.

In its heyday, Columbia State was the boldest and perhaps most
profitable diploma mill in the United States. By one estimate it
earned more than $70-million during the 1990s. A former employee says
the university often made a million dollars per month selling degrees
by placing advertisements in USA Today and other newspapers. With
only a handful of employees working in rented office space, its costs
were low and profits high.

The catalog says the university's founder is Austen Henry Layard.
That's not true: Austen Henry Layard, a British archaeologist, died a
century before Columbia State opened. In fact, nearly everything
about Columbia State is a lie. The bogus testimonials from students,
the nonexistent curriculum -- even the photograph on the cover of the
catalog is deceptive. The lovely Gothic building pictured is the
Lyndhurst mansion, in Tarrytown, N.Y., and has nothing to do with
Columbia State.

The creator of this fraudulent seat of learning sometimes goes by the
name Doctor Dante. On other occasions he calls himself Phil Harris or
Earl Clevenger or even Bonnie Ritchie. Over the years he has used at
least 40 aliases, changing identity and career and hair color so many
times it's hard to believe he is only one man.

His real name, according to authorities, is Ronald Pellar. He is a 74-
year-old great-grandfather and former nightclub hypnotist who is
either a "lovable scoundrel" or a "truly evil man," depending on whom
you believe. He has sold bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees
to thousands of customers, many of whom -- according to searches of
the Internet and résumé databanks -- continue to use their
credentials.

At the moment, Mr. Pellar is in a prison cell in Los Angeles, serving
an eight-month sentence for mail fraud related to Columbia State. He
is among the very few diploma-mill operators who have spent time in
jail for running fraudulent institutions. And it was another scheme,
not his multimillion-dollar degree business, that first attracted the
attention of federal authorities. If not for that, Columbia State
might still be in business, and Mr. Pellar might still be living on
his $1.5-million yacht off the coast of Mexico.

From Hypnosis to Hit Man

He didn't start out as the owner of a fake university. For decades he
billed himself as Doctor Dante, "the world's most famous and imitated
hypnotist." His stage shows included convincing audience volunteers
that they were strippers or farm animals. "Your legs are getting
very, very heavy," he would say. He might stand on a woman's stomach
to demonstrate the power of mind control.

In photographs he used to promote his act, Mr. Pellar is seen
hobnobbing with the likes of Bill Cosby, Bob Hope, and Sammy Davis
Jr. Whether he was friends with these celebrities or simply
approached them at parties is unclear. He was, in fact, married for a
short time to Lana Turner, star of The Postman Always Rings Twice,
among other films. "He had a persuasive voice and strange, compelling
eyes," the late actress wrote in her autobiography. Mr. Pellar told
her one night that he was going out for a sandwich and never
returned, thus ending one of his several marriages.

Their 1972 split made the news, as did his conviction three years
later for attempted murder. Mr. Pellar hired someone to kill a rival
hypnotist. The hit man turned out to be an undercover police officer,
and Mr. Pellar spent four years in prison.

After his release from prison, he began offering hypnotism workshops
around the country. Those classes -- and the money he earned teaching
them -- may have inspired him to start his own university. When,
precisely, Columbia State began is uncertain, though Mr. Pellar used
the name in correspondence as early as 1990. Lauri Gerald, who worked
for Mr. Pellar and pleaded guilty this year to being a co-conspirator
in his operation, says there is evidence that it dates back as far as
the mid-1980s.

Around this time he was also running Perma-Derm Academy, which helped
students become certified "dermalogists" (notice the missing "to" in
the word). The business supposedly offered courses in applying
permanent makeup with tattooing equipment. In 1987, after a slew of
complaints, the Federal Trade Commission started investigating Perma-
Derm and, in 1990, ordered it to close. It also told Mr. Pellar to
refund money to students and to stay out of the cosmetics industry.

He didn't. In 1997 he was prosecuted by the FTC for running a new
business, Permanetics Inc. In the middle of his trial he fled to
Mexico, where he lived in a series of hotels and aboard the $1.5-
million, 80-foot yacht.

Buried Treasure?

All the while, and with almost no interference from authorities, he
was making millions running Columbia State University. Students would
send their checks to a post-office box in Metairie, La. A secretarial
service forwarded the mail to San Clemente, Calif., where the
operation was actually based. The roundabout process was set up
because, at the time, Louisiana's higher-education regulations were
more permissive than California's. (Louisiana has since passed
tougher laws, forcing many diploma mills out of the state.)

Day-to-day business decisions were handled by employees in San
Clemente. But Mr. Pellar still maintained a great deal of control,
according to Ms. Gerald, who has turned over Columbia State documents
-- like the canceled checks -- to authorities.

One of her responsibilities was sending huge amounts of money to the
university's owner while he was south of the border. Mr. Pellar
prefers hard currency to bank accounts, she says. It was not unusual
for him to walk around with a suitcase filled with $100,000.

He also had a tendency to bury money -- literally -- leading to
speculation that there is a hole in Mexico or California that
contains a fortune. "Does he have anything stashed?" Ms. Gerald says.
"I have no idea."

In 1998 Mr. Pellar was nabbed by Mexican authorities working with the
FBI. After a trial, in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, Calif., he
was sentenced to five and a half years in prison on fraud charges
related to Perma-Derm and Permanetics. This year he pleaded guilty
and was sentenced to eight months for mail fraud in connection with
Columbia State -- a relatively short sentence, considering the
millions he earned with the scheme.

Mr. Pellar has declined to speak with The Chronicle. In a letter to
the judge who presided over the Columbia State case, he portrayed
himself as a sick, broken man, with "astronomically high blood
pressure" and prostate cancer. He complained that during a hearing he
urinated "embarrassingly in my pants" because the bailiffs would not
let him use the lavatory.

He also told the judge that when he is released he will be
"penniless" except for his monthly Social Security check. But if he
is broke, what happened to all that money?

At the end of the typewritten letter, the former hypnotist added a
handwritten postscript in which he said he was ready to die. "I have
had a full and rich life," wrote Mr. Pellar. That much, at least, is
true.

Update 03/05:

Just a word from Ronald Dante's youngest daughter:

Thanks From Liza

Cheryl Crane (Lana's Daughter)

Despite all that she has been through, Cheryl Crane is alive and well and selling real estate in Palm Springs, CA alongside her longtime female lover, Joyce "Josh" LeRoy. Most recently she appeared on the Turner Classic Movies original documentary Lana Turner: A Daughter's Memoir.

Taylor Pero (Lana's Personal Manager From '69-'79)

Taylor is still very much alive and is a grandfather and writer currently living near Kansas City, MO. Most recently he has published a book on opera singer Maria Callas, The Colors of Callas. He is still quite fond of Lana and welcomes your correspondence which you can send to him by emailing me.

Mildred Turner (Lana's Mother)

Mildred passed away after a long battle with emphysema while living with Cheryl in Hawaii in February, 1982. Lana was devastated by her death and dedicated her autobiography to her saying, For my beloved mother. You didn't live to read it, Mama, but you lived every minute of it with me.

Eric Root (Lana's longtime hairdresser)

The last I heard of him, he was selling some of Lana's personal possessions on EBay. He has to be getting up there, at least in his mid to late sixties. For all I know he is probably working at a Denny's someplace (nothing personal to any Denny's workers of course. I always enjoy their grand slam).

How did you get to be a Lana fan?

I get asked this question a lot. I have been a classic film fan ever since I first fell in love with Joan Crawford at aged nine. From watching Crawford, I discovered others stars, such as Bette Davis, Clark Gable and Our Very Own Lana. Lana fascinated me from the first time I ever saw her. Not only was she beautiful, but a damned good actress too! There is something about stars that separates them from the regular actors. They have a quality that makes it so that you can't take your eyes off of them. Lana had that quality in spades.

What is On Your Top Ten List of Lana Films?

I get asked this question a lot too. Here is my top ten list of Lana Turner films. Remember this is only my opinion:

1) Madame X

2) Homecoming

3) Imitation of Life

4) Slightly Dangerous

5) Two Girls on Broadway

6) The Postman Always Rings Twice

7) Keep Your Powder Dry

8) Another Time, Another Place

9) Marriage is a Private Affair

10) Peyton Place

Where is Lana Turner Buried?

Lana was actually cremated and her ashes were scattered at sea, by her daughter, Cheryl Crane. There is no place to pay your respects to Lana, sorry guys!