In the mid-1950’s, gangster Johnny Stompanato (inset) was an enforcer and bodyguard for crime family boss Mickey Cohen. What most people remember about Stompanato is that actress Lana Turner’s 14-year-old daughter, Cheryl Crane, stabbed him to death during a domestic struggle. The death was deemed a justifiable homicide and the young girl was not charged. What most people don’t know is that Stompanato had another celebrity run-in, this time with actor Sean Connery. In 1958 film Another Time, Another Place, Connery was playing the role of a reporter named Mark Trevor, who was caught in a love affair with Sara Scott (Lana Turner). During filming in Cornwall, England, Stompanato, who was visiting from Los Angeles, believed that Turner was having an affair with Connery in real life. He stormed onto the set and pointed a gun at Connery, only to have the actor disarm him and knock him flat on his back. Stompanato was banned from the set and two Scotland Yard detectives escorted him to the airport, where he boarded a plane back to the U.S. Connery later recounted that he had to lay low for a while after receiving threats from men linked to Stompanato’s boss, Mickey Cohen.
