Muse of the Month

Gene Tierney

Gene Eliza Tierney was born in Brooklyn, New York to prosperous Irish family in 1920.  Attended finishing school in Switzerland where is learned to speak fluent French. Stared on several Broadway plays before signing with 20th Century-Fox in 1940.

Tierney was married twice. First to costume/fashion designer Oleg Cassini having two kids- Daria and Tina. While pregnant with Daria, Tierney contracted rubella during her only appearance at the Hollywood Canteen.  Daria was born prematurely weighing only 3 pounds and required a total blood transfusion. Tierney's rubella caused Daria's deaf, partial blindness with cataracts and severe mental retardation. Tierney's grief over this tragedy led to a long lasting depression and bipolar disorder. She suffered from many mental illnesses throughout her life which many speculate were a consequence of Daria's condition.During this time, Howard Hughes, an old friend of Tierney, made sure Daria received only the best medical care and kindly paid for all of her medical expenses. 

After her divorce she dated John F. Kennedy for well over a year but ended when Kennedy told her he could never marry her due to his political ambitions.  Tierney sent a congratulatory note to Kennedy after the elections but later admitted she voted for Nixon stating "I thought he would make a better president"

Tierney married Texas oil baron W. Howard Lee in 1960. They had an extremely happy marriage in Texas till the day he died in 1981. Tierney died ten years later from emphysema. She began smoking after watching the screening of her first movie. She wanted to lower her voice because she thought she sounded "like an angry Mini Mouse"