Photos of Taylor Pero and Lana
Taylor Pero spent a ten year 24/7 relationship (from '69-'79) with Lana as her manager, secretary and friend. He has graciously offered the use of his photos and memories to Lana Turner Online. I am going to keep quiet now and let the pictures (and Taylor) speak for themselves. Photos on this page are copyrighted by Taylor Pero 2006-2007. All Rights Reserved.
Taken New Year's Eve 1969 into
1970
This is the very first set of photos caught by photographers as Lana
and I made our public debut as a couple. We are entering The Beverly Hills
Hotel lobby to attend best-selling author, Harold Robbins, top-of-the-A
list annual celebration. Just a few months earlier Lana's seventh and final
husband, Ronald Dante, had left us in the Presidential Suite of The
Mark Hopkins Hotel, San Francisco, where Lana had gone for a personal
appearance/charity fundraising event. About a week later her
television series, the first of the night-time soaps, The Survivors (created by
Harold Robbins) had been dropped due to poor ratings after just a few
weeks of showings. It was about this time that the Sharon Tate/Charles
Manson murders occurred just two hilltops away from Lana's hilltop white
marble home. She did not have live-in help, so I was occupying a guest room
and her property was patrolled 24/7 by a hired security service. She had just
been embarrassed and humiliated in public, yet chose to venture out with her
ingratiating smile, wearing about $250,000 in Cabochon Emeralds
surrounded by diamonds and wearing a fire engine red lace gown created for her
wardrobe for The Survivors by Nolan Miller. I remember clearly her saying
before we left the house, Taylor, you and I are going to be an item! Note:
My tuxedo came from The Glamour Shop on La Brea, where celebrities donate
their clothes to help support the Hollywood Home in Calabassas where many
stars spend their final years. It cost me $25.00 and had Vic Damonešs name
sewed in the inside of the trouser waistline.
Lana & Taylor, Plaza Hotel NYC, after filming The David
Frost Show, 1970's
We always stayed at The Plaza in NYC, this time because Lana had agreed
to a20 minute interview on The David Frost Show. If anyone can find it,
it's the most spectacular guest appearance she ever did. The Frost
producers put me in a private viewing room to assess Lana's ability to go on,
given
her nerves and basic shyness. David Frost, being the ultimate in celebrity
interviews captured the true Lana and every time they paused for
commercials, I'd tell the producers to Let her keep rolling. Other
guests had been scheduled, but stood watching Lana on the screen in the Green
Room, marveling at her stunning beauty and ease. Her sense of humor was at
its best and she was sharp as a tack, reacting to Frost's uncanny wit and
insight. She totally rose to the challenge of his intellect and the
entire hour went by without her knowing she had been the whole show. The
producers were thrilled and when Frost announced that she had taken the entire
hour to the audience, they went wild and Lana laughed, blushed, and apologized
profusely. At that time the other scheduled guests came into my
viewing room and praised her to the skies, saying they could come back any
time, but to see Lana Turner was something they'd never forget.
This photo was taken by the room service man who brought our dinner
into the suite overlooking Central Park. He used my personal camera. I
treasure this reminder of that day, which was a personal triumph for me.
NOTE: A personal triumph for Lana came months later in the form of a
letter written by a Catholic priest from Australia. He told her that he had
never realized she was a person of deep intellect and not the fluffy creature
written of by the press. He said she came across to him as "A true
child of God." Lana placed that letter in a special bedroom drawer and kept it,
possibly until she died. She wept silently as she first read it and was
deeply touched.
Taylor
Pero Head Shot
Taken around the early 70's while I was still pursuing a career as a
solo singer; approximate age, 34-ish. There were numerous restaurants with
piano bars all over the Los Angeles area, and entertainment clubs as well as
well-paying celebrity, corporate, and private events. I played them
all sporadically while managing Lanašs professional and personal life
during the day. While Lana knew of my ambitions of a singing career and that I
had developed a following, she never encouraged it. This Head Shot was
meant for use outside of places where I might appear, but due to Lana's
complicated life and many demands for her presence or participation to
negotiate, the photo was never used for the purpose intended. That's
Hollywood, folks.
More Photos From the Taylor Pero Collection