The Fan Who Infected a Movie Star
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
Pushkin Industries
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 7 May 2021
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
German measles is a minor illness for most people - but for unborn children it can be devastating. In 1943 - when the link was only just becoming clear - a young US marine decided to break rubella quarantine to meet the movie star Gene Tierney (played by Mircea Monroe). The marine was sick... and Gene was pregnant.
The appalling consequences of that meeting tell us much about how our thoughtlessness can harm those around us - but the kind of tragedy that befell Tierney and her daughter can be averted if we appeal to the better parts of human nature.
Read more about Tim's work at http://timharford.com/
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Transcript
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| 0:43.6 | A mental health institution. |
| 0:47.2 | A psychiatrist is assessing whether a new patient needs to be admitted. |
| 0:52.6 | I'm not going to stay. |
| 0:54.4 | I'm not going to stay. |
| 0:56.3 | Please, Mr. and he relax, take a seat. |
| 1:00.1 | Mr. Tierney. |
| 1:01.6 | Miss Jean Tierney. |
| 1:04.0 | Then one of the most famous women in the world. |
| 1:07.3 | Should take a Hollywood by storm in the 1940s, starring in Laura, the Razor's Edge, and |
| 1:14.1 | as femme fatale Ellen Berent in Leave Her to Heaven, which earned her an Academy Award |
| 1:20.7 | nomination for Best Actress. |
| 1:24.1 | But now it's years later, and Jean Tierney hasn't starred in a movie for a while. |
| 1:31.2 | Sadly it's not hard to see why. |
| 1:35.0 | Nowadays she spends a lot of time sleeping, whole days, sometimes two at a time. |
| 1:42.3 | Then there are the delusions. |
| 1:45.0 | And that means the steak must be for you, ma'am. |
... |
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