# Gene Tierney, rubella, and the obsessed fan **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 23, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022 "2009-07-23T18:06:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/1 "2009-07-23T18:06:44Z")
I just heard the story of how the actress Gene Tierney contracted German measles during her only appearance at a nightcluc called the Hollywood canteen. She was pregnant at the time, and her daughter was born prematurely, deaf, blind, and with severe mental retardation. She was devastated. Some time later, Tierney was approached for an autograph by a woman at a tennis party, who, gushing over how big a fan she was of the actress, told Tierney that she had met her once before. She was such a big fan, she explained, that she had snuck out of quarantine, sick with rubella, just so she could see Tierney at the Hollywood Canteen. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/2 "2009-07-23T18:11:38Z")
Yeah, I’d heard of this, years back. I wonder if the fan ever heard the story and recognized herself as the culprit. Agatha Christie wrote a book based on this incident: > **[The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mirror_Crack%27d_from_Side_to_Side)** > > The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, a novel by Agatha Christie, was published in the UK in 1962 and a year later in the US under the title The Mirror Crack'd. The story features amateur detective Miss Marple solving a mystery in St. Mary Mead. > Jane Marple falls while walking in St. Mary Mead. She is helped by Heather Badcock, who brings her into her own home to rest. Over tea, Heather tells Miss Marple how she met American actress Marina Gregg, who recently moved into the area and bought Go... ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/3 "2009-07-23T18:21:38Z")
Holy cow, I’d never heard this but just read the [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Tierney) on it. According to it she just stared at the woman then, silently, walked away. I’d have been hard pressed to keep from saying “Come here… there’s someone I’d like you to meet.” Thanks for telling this. She had an ‘interesting’ life, one I’m not inclined to trade for. Admittedly, at first I thought [this](http://piercework.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54f11b8be883401157083e12e970b-800wi) is who you were talking about. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/4 "2009-07-23T19:20:36Z")
Wow, I never heard that story - that is just awful. I have always felt that Gene Tierney was [one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen](http://blog.nj.com/whitty/2007/11/large_tierney.jpg) (link to a photo where she has a stern expression on her face, but you can see she has the facial structure of Nefertiti…). ETA: Now that I think about it, you can see where [Megan Fox](http://mimg.sulekha.com/megan-fox/Stills/thumbnail/Megan-Fox-gallery30.jpg)has a similar appeal (if framed in a far more skanky way…) ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/5 "2009-07-23T19:33:30Z")
Wow, I had no idea that _The Mirror Crack’d_ was based on a real incident. How sad ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/6 "2009-07-23T19:41:45Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Holy cow, I’d never heard this but just read the [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Tierney) on it. According to it she just stared at the woman then, silently, walked away. I’d have been hard pressed to keep from saying “Come here… there’s someone I’d like you to meet.” I’d have been hard pressed not to slap that woman silly. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/7 "2009-07-23T20:06:00Z")
Wow! I know more than my share of facts and trivia from Hollywood’s “Golden Age” and I did not know that. Add me to the list of folks who would not have shown the same restraint as Ms. Tierney apparently did. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/8 "2009-07-23T20:20:01Z")
Wow, and I just read _The Mirror Crack’d_ for the first time not three months ago. I thought it was all a product of Dame Christie’s great imagination. Who knew? I wonder if the fan ever found out what she had done? ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/9 "2009-07-24T01:07:11Z")
Oh my. Add me to that list. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/10 "2009-07-24T04:21:26Z")
Wow. I definitely would have introduced the woman to my daughter. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/11 "2009-07-24T05:02:30Z")
:eek: Not sure how I would have responded to the woman. I either would have been speechless, or I would have totally exploded. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/12 "2009-07-24T10:03:20Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > I wonder if the fan ever heard the story and recognized herself as the culprit. A woman who is a big fan of Gene Tierney breaks rubella quarantine to meet her idol at a nightclub. Tierney subsequently contracts rubella and gives birth to a daughter with all sorts of problems. The birth of this child, the circumstances surrounding it, and the effect it had on Tierney must have been widely publicised at the time. Any fan of the actress will have known about the matter, for sure. Years later, the fan goes to a tennis party and tells Tierney that she herself had rubella when the two women originally met at the Hollywood Canteen. This is at best insensitive and at worst downright sadistic. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/13 "2009-07-24T15:42:12Z")
Is it possible the woman was (maliciously) lying? ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/14 "2009-07-24T15:43:58Z")
I’d have beaten her senseless on the spot. No jury on earth would convict me. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/15 "2009-07-24T16:00:16Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Wow, I never heard that story - that is just awful. > > I have always felt that Gene Tierney was [one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen](http://blog.nj.com/whitty/2007/11/large_tierney.jpg) (link to a photo where she has a stern expression on her face, but you can see she has the facial structure of Nefertiti…). I imagine she looked something like that before walking away from the woman. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/16 "2009-07-24T21:24:04Z")
> [@Chez\_Guevara](#): > > The birth of this child, the circumstances surrounding it, and the effect it had on Tierney must have been widely publicised at the time. Any fan of the actress will have known about the matter, for sure. Well, in the book, which of course had some poetic license so may or may not match reality, the child’s condition was kept very hush-hush and out of the public eye, which didn’t seem inconsistent with treatment of the mentally disabled at the time. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/17 "2009-07-27T17:09:48Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > :eek: Not sure how I would have responded to the woman. I either would have been speechless, or I would have totally exploded. Or handed her a drink with a fatal dose of poison in it. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/18 "2009-07-27T17:47:58Z")
Yes but vaccines are bad. You can survive rubella. Anyway the alternative would have been autism and there is no cure for autism and it’s the worse disease on the planet. And just think the lucky baby and mommy wound up with natural immunity. Because vaccines have terrible side effects whereas diseases are fun! You get to stay home and eat good foods and home someone fuss over you. This woman actually did Tierney a favor here. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/19 "2009-07-27T17:54:26Z")
Oh dear God…here we go… ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/20 "2009-07-27T18:01:42Z")
Are we sure this story is true? It just feels so UL-ish. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022.md?page=2)