Ava Gardner was and is considered to be one of the most stunningly beautiful women that ever lived, let alone in Hollywood. Her striking looks took her from small town southern girl to MGM’s femme fatale.
Ava was born in a small town in North Carolina on December 24, 1922, and had a normal southern upbringing by all accounts. After high school she began taking courses to become a secretary, but when she was 18 years old her brother in law took a photograph of her and placed it in a display window in New York City. The rest as they say was fate...that photo was seen by a talent scout for MGM, that led to a screen test for Louis B. Mayer and a seven year contract with Metro- Goldwyn- Mayer. In Hollywood Ava spent a lot of time doing cheesecake photos for the studio that were sent over to the troops and doing small walk on roles in different movies. That is until she finally got the attention she deserved with her performance in the film noir classic, The Killers. With that film Ava became a star. She went on to star in other films, alongside such heavyweights like Clark Gable, Gregory Peck and Humphrey Bogart. In 1953 she was nominated for her performance in Mogambo costarring Gable and Grace Kelly. Ava was a HUGE star in the late 40’s and the 50’s, and her personal life was just as exciting as anything on the silver screen...
In 1941 Ava met Mickey Rooney, who at the time was a serious superstar. He obviously fell in love with her. (But really though, who wouldn’t.) They married in January 1942 and divorced 17 months, mainly because of Mickey’s womanizing ways.
Ava’s second marriage was to band leader Artie Shaw in 1945. Artie tried to “teach” Ava, but always managed to make her feel terrible. He was extremely critical about her lack of formal education. I remember reading that he would humiliate her at social events. For example if they were having a party and he and his “educated” friends would be discussing literature or politics or something and she remained silent he would say in front of everyone, “Have you nothing to contribute?”, then on occasions she would try to say something he’d have a lovely comment like, “Oh shut up, you have no idea what you’re talking about.” What a charmer. They divorced in 1946.
Ava also had a close friendship with billionaire businessman, avatior and movie producer Howard Hughes. He, just like every other man she met was crazy about her, however she said in her own autobiography that she was never in love with Howard. He remained in her life for twenty years, in and out. He trusted her a great deal. Ava described him as “painfully shy, completely enigmatic and more eccentric...than anyone she had ever met."
And now on to the big one...the love of her life..Ol’ Blue Eye’s himself, Frank Sinatra. For Ava this would be her third and final marriage, Frank’s second. And certainly the most tumultuous and passionate either one would ever have. When they met Frank was still married to his first wife, Nancy, the mother of his three young children. The press and the public were, as you can imagine, very critical of their relationship, and especially on Ava. She was called a home-wrecker, tramp and worse. Frank didn’t have it much easier, at the time his career had hit a low and now he was being killed by the gossip columns, the Catholic Church and his fans. Nevertheless they married in November 1951, just days after his divorce from Nancy was finalized. With Ava’s help Frank’s career got back on track, she helped him land his Oscar winning role in From Here to Eternity. Frank and Ava were both extremely jealous and possesive people, add that to the heavy drinking they both did and you get some passionate fights. Most of their marriage was a series of fighting and making up, constantly. I read somewhere that on the day they married they called it off and made up THREE TIMES before the ceremony. She drove him insane and he made her crazy, but they loved each other, probably too much to ever make it work. They divorced in 1957 but always remained in each others lives. Both Frank and Ava regarded the other as the one true love of their lives. Frank’s musical arranger Nelson Riddle was quoted as saying that it was “Ava that taught him to sing a torch song.” Ava was the inspiration for Franks hit “I’m a Fool to Want You.”
Ava moved to Spain in 1958 after the divorce from Frank and began seeing matador Luis Miguel Dominguin. After ten years in Spain she moved to England, where she lived the rest of her life in London. She suffered two strokes in 1986, and even though she could afford to pay her medical expenses, Frank wanted her to see a specialist in Los Angeles and so she let him fly her to LA in a medically staffed private plane. Ava died January 25, 1990. After she died Frank’s youngest daughter, Tina found him crying in bedroom for days unable to speak to anyone. He didn’t attend her funeral in North Carolina, but he did sent a lovely floral arrangement, with the card simply reading, “All my love, Francis.” (She always called him Francis)
Now to truly understand her beauty and her wonderful personality, here is an excerpt from the book, My Life with Frank Sinatra. It’s a fantastic book and it covers almost everyone. It was written by Frank’s personal valet, George Jacobs, and he talks about Ava quite often. In this part he describes his first meeting with her, when Frank had sent him to pick her up from the airport...
“Ava Gardner was the most beautiful woman I ever saw, much less met. I picked her up at the airport and she could stop planes, not just traffic. There was no movie star nonsense with her, no entourage, no fawning press agents in tow. She was pushing her own bags on a cart, trying to lie low in dark glasses and a tatty raincoat. But once I had her in the Cadillac and she took off the coat and the shades, I could barely steer strait. The first thing that hit me were those cats’ eyes of hers, green with flecks of gold and hypnotic as hell. She wasn’t wearing an ounce of makeup and her skin was creamy and flawless. Her hair was thick and lustrous. Then there was her body. She was five seven, sleek, but with amazing curves. She wasn’t wearing a bra, which was totally risque in those days. She had the ideal body, the kind that stars these days pay fortunes to plastic surgeons for. The best thing about her though, was that she didn’t give a shit. She wasn’t trying to be hot and she wasn’t trying to be grand. She was just trying to get away from it all. She made me stop for a Coke and some peanuts, which she poured into the bottle and ate and guzzled at the same time.”
A few little facts about Ava, she was a big drinker, and she cursed like a drunken sailor. But she was always very lady like about it. When she died People Magizines cover read- “The Last Goddess.” For further reading about Ava I recommend Lee Server’s amazing biography “Ava Garder: Love is Nothing” and George Jacobs book, My Life with Mr. Sinatra. Here’s a bit from Lee Server’s book..
"So here is how an evening out with Ava Gardner used to go. You would arrive at her place in the Hollywood hills and she would be in the pool, naked, or slouching around the apartment, half dressed. Which guy were you? Her 6 O'Clock or her 8 O’Clock? Did you pass another guy on the way out by the potted palm? Then you were her 8 O'Clock. "Fix yourself a drink would you?" She had to take a bath. She would finally emerge, looking devastating, muttering something about having lost her diaphragm, and you would go to dinner; everyone would be looking and you would feel the luckiest guy on the planet. Then you would go on to a club, do the rhumba, and get properly drunk; if you were unlucky Sinatra would track you down, and would appear out of nowhere and start screaming. Then the evening would really get started. What you did with yourself after that point was entirely up to you."
Now for my favorite Ava quotes and pictures..
"After my screen test, the director clapped his hands gleefully and yelled, "She can’t talk, she can’t act, she’s sensational!”
"Because I was promoted as a sort of a siren and played all those sexy broads, people made the mistake of thinking I was like that off the screen. They couldn't have been more wrong"
"I haven't taken an overdose of sleeping pills and called my agent. I haven't been in jail, and I don't go running to the psychiatrist every two minutes. That's something of an accomplishment these days"
"I don't understand people who like to work and talk about it like it was some sort of goddamn duty. Doing nothing feels like floating on warm water to me. Delightful, perfect"
"I think the main reason my marriages failed
is that I always loved too well, but never wisely"
"I suffered, I really suffered, with all three of my husbands. And I tried damn hard with all three, starting each marriage certain that it was going to last until the end of my life. Yet none of them lasted more than a year or two"
"All I ever got out of any of my marriages
was the two years Artie Shaw financed on an analyst's couch"
"When I’m old and grey, I want to have a house by the sea. And paint. With a lot of wonderful chums, good music, and booze around. And a damn good kitchen to cook in"
One of my personal favorites, when asked by a reporter what she saw in Sinatra, a 119 pound has been, Ava very demurely shot back that 19 pounds of him “is cock.”
"What I'd really like to say about stardom is that it gave me everything I never wanted."
"I've certainly never taken the care of myself that I should have. On the contrary. I've done a lot of late nights without enough sleep and all that. But I've had fun. Whatever wrinkles are there, I've enjoyed getting them."
"When I lose my temper, honey, you can't find it anywhere."
"I must have seen more sunrises
than any other actress in the history of Hollywood"
"I wish to live until 150 years old, but the day I die,
I wish it to be with a cigarette in one hand
and a glass of whiskey in the other"
