Over the years, first-hand accounts and reported sightings have revealed visits by Hollywood celebrities throughout Colorado, with a particular attraction to Aspen, Telluride and Vail.
Estes Park has also attracted a few notable actors and writers in recent decades, including Jim Carrey, Stephen King, Kevin Bacon, Jeff Daniels and Jack Nicholson.
Other ties between Estes Park and Hollywood include Longs Peak and Bear Lake featured in the opening sequence for “Last Man Standing,” Tim Allen’s television series based in Colorado that aired from 2011 to 2021.
The Hollywood scene of the 1930s and 1940s included many notable actors that brought glamor to the big screen at a time when the movie industry was struggling to bring people to theaters. With Americans recovering from the Great Depression and a war happening in Europe, focus turned to more practical ways to spend money.
But for those looking for a getaway from the overwhelming issues of the time, movies provided a sense of escape. Actors like Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Cary Grant, James Stuart, Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers and Mae West established themselves as classic performers who emanated Hollywood glamour and created productions that continue to be enjoyed today.
In 1937, a 16-year-old-teenage girl skipped typing class at Hollywood High School in Los Angeles to buy a Coca-Cola at a nearby soda shop. While there, she was noticed by the publisher of the “Hollywood Reporter.” He introduced himself and later introduced her to agent Zeppo Marx. Marx introduced Turner to film director Mervyn LeRoy.
By the end of the year, that truant teenage girl would have three movie credits to her name, a name that started as Julia Turner at the beginning of the year. That girl adopted the screen name of Lana Turner and would go on to have a five-decade career in Hollywood.
By 1940, according to IMDb, Turner had 14 movie credits to her name and another four released in 1941. She was considered a bombshell on the big screen and had already appeared in movies with notable actors, including Gary Cooper, Judy Garland and Robert Young.
It was in spring of that year that Turner visited Estes Park.
According to an article in the May 16, 1941 issue of Estes Park Trail, predecessor to the Estes Park Trail-Gazette, Turner “carefully turned out in a red woolen spring suit, accented with blue accessories.”
The article goes on to talk about the unique welcome the town gave her by sending “a howling mob of cowboys and cowgirls” to hold up her party as they came up the Big Thompson Canyon. The escort into town was followed by a parade and then lunch at the Hupp Hotel.
Turner and her traveling party stayed at Sprague’s Lodge, visited Rocky Mountain National Park and ate fish fry. The photos produced during Turner’s visit were included in an article that ran in a July 1941 issue of “Look” magazine, according to a Mar. 30, 2021 article in the Trail-Gazette.
“I want to meet some good-looking rangers and cowboys; I want to spend the night in a sleeping bag under the stars high on a mountainside; and most of all I want to see the beauties of Rocky Mountain National Park in the early spring,” said Turner during an interview prior to her trip west, as reported in the 2021 Trail-Gazette article.
Sounds like not much has changed for what people hope to see and do in Estes Park.
One of the highest paid actresses and one of MGM’s biggest stars in the 1940s, Turner went on to appear in 58 movies and television shows during her 50-year career. She passed away at the age of 74 in 1995 after a battle with throat cancer.
To see more historic issues of the Estes Park Trail and Trail-Gazette, visit the Estes Park Museum’s historic newspaper collection on their website.
