Early life Cheryl Crane was born July 25, 1943, at Hollywood Hospital in
Los Angeles to actress
Lana Turner and actor
Steve Crane. At the time of her birth, Crane suffered near-fatal
erythroblastosis fetalis due to her mother's
Rh-negative blood. Her parents divorced in August 1944. She was raised primarily in
Bel Air, Los Angeles, and described her early life as: "famous at birth and pampered silly." She attended
St. Paul the Apostle School, a Catholic primary and secondary school in Los Angeles, and later
Emerson Junior High School. In 1957, she began attending the
Happy Valley School in
Ojai, California.
Killing of Johnny Stompanato and aftermath On April 4, 1958, at age 14, Crane stabbed her mother's boyfriend,
Johnny Stompanato, to death. The killing was ruled a
justifiable homicide: she was deemed to have been protecting her mother during a domestic altercation. after which "
Scotland Yard had him deported." Following Stompanato's death, Crane was made a
ward of the State of California and was placed in the
El Retiro School for Girls in
Sylmar, Los Angeles, for "psychiatric therapy" in March 1960. Six weeks later she and two other girls climbed a wall and fled. They were eventually returned to the school after she telephoned her father. Five weeks later, she again fled the campus with two other girls. They walked into Sylmar and were driven by a new acquaintance to
Beverly Hills, where they were taken into custody a few hours later after being seen near her grandmother's home. Crane was released from the school in January 1961 to the custody of her mother and stepfather, Frederick D. May. Worried she was still suffering from the
trauma of Stompanato's death, Turner sent Crane to the
Institute of Living in
Hartford,
Connecticut.
Later life and career Standing at , Crane initially decided to pursue a career as a
model after high school, and briefly modeled for several Los Angeles women's clothing stores. Crane then decided to work for her father at his restaurant, the Luau, on
Rodeo Drive. In April 1970, Crane was detained by the
Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) when three half-grown
marijuana plants were discovered in the back seat of her car. to whom she was introduced by
Marlon Brando at a party held by
Wally Cox. Around 1986, the couple relocated to
San Francisco. The book went on to become a
New York Times Best Seller. In it, Crane also publicly revealed how at age thirteen she had
come out as a
lesbian to her parents: Turner would later state that she regarded Crane's partner, LeRoy, "as a second daughter." Crane challenged the
will and Lopez claimed that the majority of the estate was consumed by
probate costs, legal fees, and medical expenses. In 1998, Crane was diagnosed with
breast cancer and successfully underwent a double
mastectomy as well as radiation and
chemotherapy to treat the cancer. Crane published her second memoir in 2008, titled
Lana: The Memories, the Myths, the Movies, which focused on her mother. As of 2011, Crane resided in the
Palm Springs, California area working in real estate. In 2013 and 2014 she published two additional novels,
Imitation of Death and
The Dead and the Beautiful. Both are mystery novels featuring Nikki Harper, a real estate agent featured in
The Bad Always Die Twice. In November 2014, Crane married LeRoy, her longtime partner, after having been together for over four decades. Crane still worked as a real estate agent as of 2018. ==Publications==