# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/21 "2009-07-27T18:27:23Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Are we sure this story is true? It just feels so UL-ish. The Wiki article cites her autobiography as the source; I don’t know if the story came out before then or was independently verified. Self-edit-before-post: Her autobiography came out in 1979, and Christie’s work was first published in 1962, so the story was known somehow before then. ---
**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, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/22 "2009-07-27T18:39:48Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > The Wiki article cites her autobiography as the source; I don’t know if the story came out before then or was independently verified. > > Self-edit-before-post: Her autobiography came out in 1979, and Christie’s work was first published in 1962, so the story was known somehow before then. Thanks, **Ferret Herder**. If true, that is a pretty horrendous thing to happen. ETA: Obviously the child part is true, but having a fan say that b/c they loved you so much they essentially did this to you is pretty bad. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/23 "2009-07-27T18:44:45Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > ETA: Obviously the child part is true, but having a fan say that b/c they loved you so much they essentially did this to you is pretty bad. I’m hoping against hope that the child’s condition (and reason for it) was hushed up, so that the babbling fan was merely clueless and inconsiderate. ---
**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, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/24 "2009-07-27T18:47:04Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > I’m hoping against hope that the child’s condition (and reason for it) was hushed up, so that the babbling fan was merely clueless and inconsiderate. Oh, yes. I assumed she didn’t know about the child. But at the very least, she should have known that this could have happened–not necessarily just to Gene Tierney but to anyone. After all, the whole reasoning behind quarantining someone with rubella is, I’m assuming, to prevent such things happening. How could she not think that infecting people would be a possibility? That is to say, even if Gene Tierney’s child was fine, saying to your favorite actress, “I love you so much I was willing to risk infecting people” is pretty damned stupid, no? ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/25 "2009-07-27T19:00:40Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > But at the very least, she should have known that this could have happened–not necessarily just to Gene Tierney but to anyone. After all, the whole reasoning behind quarantining someone with rubella is, I’m assuming, to prevent such things happening. How could she not think that infecting people would be a possibility? That is to say, even if Gene Tierney’s child was fine, saying to your favorite actress, “I love you so much I was willing to risk infecting people” is pretty damned stupid, no? Wikipedia says rubella was often a fairly mild illness. If it was, I could see someone thinking (wrongly, of course) that the quarantine was an over-reaction. ---
**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, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/26 "2009-07-27T19:05:33Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Oh dear God…here we go… Nah. [This](http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/117/4/1028) and [this](http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/) are far more my style than Jenny “I Got My Medical Degree From Google and Can Turn My Son Austistic At Whim” McCarthy and her fellow half wits. I was just having a little fun with the way the nutters think. Or rather don’t think. ---
**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, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/27 "2009-07-27T19:27:17Z")
Whew…I was royally whooshed, and fearing a pile-on the likes of which we haven’t seen since the whole \*Toilet Paper: Over or Under the Roll? Discuss \*brouhaha. ---
**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, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/28 "2009-07-27T19:29:34Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Whew…I was royally whooshed, and fearing a pile-on the likes of which we haven’t seen since the whole \*Toilet Paper: Over or Under the Roll? Discuss \*brouhaha. Not nearly as polemic as “Sit or stand to wipe?” ---
**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, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/29 "2009-07-27T19:47:59Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Whew…I was royally whooshed, and fearing a pile-on the likes of which we haven’t seen since the whole \*Toilet Paper: Over or Under the Roll? Discuss \*brouhaha. I’m not touching the toilet paper discussion under any circumstances. 😃 ---
**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, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/30 "2009-07-27T20:23:45Z")
How do you feel about Wearing Shoes in the House, Yes or No? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/31 "2009-07-27T23:35:17Z")
or wearing shoes in the bathroom while deciding how to wipe and put a new roll on the tp holder? it is a tragic story however it came about. the rubella exposure resulted in a child who was institutionalized, a marriage that crumbles, and ms tierney herself being commited to a mental institution. ---
**Author:** ![Promethea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Promethea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Promethea)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/32 "2009-07-28T10:19:46Z")
Wow. Count me in as yet another person who had no idea that the tragedy that befalls the filmstar in Christie’s novel was directly based on a real case, to the extent that it seems like all she did was change the names. I have very mixed feelings on Christie doing that. Authors have been inspired by real life unusual and shocking cases since forever but this seems so close as to what literally happened as to be exploiting something tragic for commercial gain. I wonder how the cast and crew of the movie of the novel felt - I’ve no idea if Liz Taylor, Kim Novak, Tony Curtis etc knew Tierney but they were definitely her peers. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/33 "2009-07-28T11:52:59Z")
> [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](#): > > 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. Perhaps more to the point, it seems consistent with the treatment of Hollywood stars of the time, too. Just as a matter of interest, does anyone know of any evidence that Tierney’s story _was_ well-known before the publication of her autobiography? Did any reviews at the time of the release of Christie’s book mention that it was partly based on a true story, for instance? Because on the evidence so far, we have an actress with a history of mental illness telling a story as having happened to her that bears a striking resemblance to a plot element in a popular novel published over a decade earlier. Everyone’s assuming that _The Mirror Crack’d_ was based on Tierney’s life, but could it be the other way around? ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/34 "2009-07-28T11:57:50Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > Wikipedia says rubella was often a fairly mild illness. If it was, I could see someone thinking (wrongly, of course) that the quarantine was an over-reaction. My Aunt was pregant with her 2nd child when she had been infected with rubella. My cousin has profound hearing loss. He has a regular, excellent paying job and a great family. Great, great guy. Had she been infected earlier in her pregnancy, he would probably be severely retarded. Don’t discount how bad these diseases were and why they had to be eradicated. FYI, whooping cough is epidemic in the Senior community ( especially nursing homes and where the old folks congregate) because the vaccinations they got back when they wore onions on their belts wore off. My mom had it a few years ago and it took six weeks before she could talk to anyone because of the horribly coughing. There is no meds to quell the coughing and it has to run its course. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/35 "2009-07-28T12:26:26Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > Don’t discount how bad these diseases were and why they had to be eradicated. I’m not. In fact, I think this story and others like it ought to be used more by people refuting the anti-vaxers. I was trying to understand what someone who would sneak out of rubella quarantine to see her favorite actress might be thinking. She might not have known about congenital rubella, either. Wikipedia says it was discovered in 1941, and this happened in 1943. Would someone who was presumably not any kind of medical professional have been expected to know how dangerous rubella was for a pregnant woman at that time? I don’t think sneaking out of quarantine is a good idea (and this story illustrates why it isn’t), but I can understand why this woman might have done it, if she wasn’t feeling very sick and didn’t know how dangerous her illness could be to others. ---
**Author:** ![Promethea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Promethea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Promethea)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/36 "2009-07-28T12:41:45Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > Perhaps more to the point, it seems consistent with the treatment of Hollywood stars of the time, too. > > Just as a matter of interest, does anyone know of any evidence that Tierney’s story _was_ well-known before the publication of her autobiography? Did any reviews at the time of the release of Christie’s book mention that it was partly based on a true story, for instance? > > Because on the evidence so far, we have an actress with a history of mental illness telling a story as having happened to her that bears a striking resemblance to a plot element in a popular novel published over a decade earlier. Everyone’s assuming that _The Mirror Crack’d_ was based on Tierney’s life, but could it be the other way around? Hmmn, interesting idea. I agree it is possible - it would be interesting to know if her story of meeting the stranger predated the novel. Still, really, once that kind of question is asked there are a couple of other explanations - such as the possibility of Tierney inventing and ciculating the story of the fan many decades prior to her autobiography as a means of trying to come to terms with what happened to her. To impart meaning to what must have seen something unbearably cruel in its sheer randomnes, that of an unknown stanger blighting her life and neither party ever knowing it. Thus, the story is reframed having a human face to it and meaning of sorts. And from there, Agatha Christie gets to hear of it because it is definitely the kind of story that would travel in gossip even if it wasn’t widely publicised in the press (I don’t know if it was, no) and eventually becomes part of her novel. I’m moved to dig further and will for a start track down Tierney’s autobiography and go from there. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/37 "2009-07-28T12:50:42Z")
I don’t really buy it. It just seems too have too much Hollywood spin. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/38 "2009-07-28T13:58:00Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > Wikipedia says rubella was often a fairly mild illness. If it was, I could see someone thinking (wrongly, of course) that the quarantine was an over-reaction. In fact, it’s nearly always mild, and it might be with roseola and fifth disease in the “Childhood Diseases Not Worth Vaccinating Against” category… if it wasn’t for the awful, awful consequences it can have if a pregnant woman happens to contract it. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/39 "2009-07-28T14:45:25Z")
So _that’s_ what that Phil Collins song was about! :smack: ---
**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 28, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022/40 "2009-07-28T21:40:49Z")
FYI, snopes board is investigating this also. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-tierney-rubella-and-the-obsessed-fan/504022.md?page=3)