Encyclopedia, Difference between revisions of "Ava Gardner" - New World
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| notable role = '''Kitty Collins'''<br/>in ''[[The Killers (1946 film)|The Killers]]''<br/>'''Honey Bear Kelly'''<br/>in ''[[Mogambo]]''<br/>'''Maxine Faulk'''<br/>in ''[[The Night of the Iguana (film)|The Night of the Iguana]]'' | | notable role = '''Kitty Collins'''<br/>in ''[[The Killers (1946 film)|The Killers]]''<br/>'''Honey Bear Kelly'''<br/>in ''[[Mogambo]]''<br/>'''Maxine Faulk'''<br/>in ''[[The Night of the Iguana (film)|The Night of the Iguana]]'' | ||
}} | }} | ||
| − | '''Ava Lavinia Gardner''' (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an [[Academy Award]]-nominated [[United States|American]] screen [[actress]] who encompassed a true rags-to-riches story. Born to a poor farming family in the south, Gardner was discovered in New York City and soon began acting in both film and television. Her impressive | + | '''Ava Lavinia Gardner''' (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an [[Academy Award]]-nominated [[United States|American]] screen [[actress]] who encompassed a true rags-to-riches story. Born to a poor farming family in the south, Gardner was discovered in New York City and soon began acting in both film and television. Her impressive array of work, including ''The Barefoot Contessa'', ''Mogambo'', and ''Showboat'' led to a lifelong career that shot her to world-wide fame. Gardner is listed as one of the [[American Film Institute]]'s [[AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars|greatest stars of all time]]. She was also known as one of the most beautiful women to grace Hollywood. |
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Gardner was the seventh and final child born to Jonas and Molly Gardner. Born on Christmas Eve, 1922, Gardner had two brothers and four sisters, and she claims, one dress during her childhood. The family lived in the very small farming community of [[Grabtown, North Carolina|Brogden]], [[Johnston County, North Carolina]]. Her father worked for several years as a [[cotton]] and [[tobacco]] farmer. The family was very, very poor. The children received little education, and Gardner remembers going around barefoot, helping on the farm and playing with her brothers. Her mother, Molly, was a [[Baptist]] of [[Scots-Irish]] descent, while her father, Jonas Bailey Gardner, was a [[Catholic]] of [[Irish American]] and [[Tuscarora (tribe)|Tuscarora]] Indian descent. The family struggled to make ends meet, but met with severe hardship when Jonas and Molly lost all of their property. This started the Gardner's off on a long search for steady income. Jonas went and worked at a sawmill nearby and Molly as a cook and housekeeper at a dormitory for teachers that Brogden School. | Gardner was the seventh and final child born to Jonas and Molly Gardner. Born on Christmas Eve, 1922, Gardner had two brothers and four sisters, and she claims, one dress during her childhood. The family lived in the very small farming community of [[Grabtown, North Carolina|Brogden]], [[Johnston County, North Carolina]]. Her father worked for several years as a [[cotton]] and [[tobacco]] farmer. The family was very, very poor. The children received little education, and Gardner remembers going around barefoot, helping on the farm and playing with her brothers. Her mother, Molly, was a [[Baptist]] of [[Scots-Irish]] descent, while her father, Jonas Bailey Gardner, was a [[Catholic]] of [[Irish American]] and [[Tuscarora (tribe)|Tuscarora]] Indian descent. The family struggled to make ends meet, but met with severe hardship when Jonas and Molly lost all of their property. This started the Gardner's off on a long search for steady income. Jonas went and worked at a sawmill nearby and Molly as a cook and housekeeper at a dormitory for teachers that Brogden School. | ||
| − | Jonas and Molly were unable to earn enough money to support their big family in the country, so, when Ava was 13 years old, the family moved to the city of [[Newport News, Virginia]]. Again, it was Molly who had to find a job, as Jonas was often sick. She worked again as the manager of a boardinghouse for the many shipworkers of the city. The family moved again to Wilson, [[North Carolina]] and Molly ran yet another boarding house. Jonas did not work much the last few years of his life, he contracted bronchitis and died in 1935, leaving Molly to care for all of the children on her own. Ava attended high school in Rock Ridge, and graduated in 1939, however, her lack of true education and her heavy southern | + | Jonas and Molly were unable to earn enough money to support their big family in the country, so, when Ava was 13 years old, the family moved to the city of [[Newport News, Virginia]]. Again, it was Molly who had to find a job, as Jonas was often sick. She worked again as the manager of a boardinghouse for the many shipworkers of the city. The family moved again to Wilson, [[North Carolina]] and Molly ran yet another boarding house. Jonas did not work much the last few years of his life, he contracted bronchitis and died in 1935, leaving Molly to care for all of the children on her own. Ava attended high school in Rock Ridge, and graduated in 1939, however, her lack of true education and her heavy southern accent were always huge insecurities to her. Many of her siblings had left home by the time Ava graduated, including her elder sister Beatrice. Beatrice had married a photographer and moved to New York City. |
| − | After graduation, Ava attended Atlantic Christian College in the small town of Wilson for a year. She was busy taking secretarial classes and had decided on being a secretary by profession. She went to New York in 1941 to visit her sister. It was at this time that Beatrice's husband, Larry, offered to take Ava's | + | After graduation, Ava attended Atlantic Christian College in the small town of Wilson for a year. She was busy taking secretarial classes and had decided on being a secretary by profession. She went to New York in 1941 to visit her sister. It was at this time that Beatrice's husband, Larry, offered to take Ava's portrait. Ava, just eighteen years old at the time, was a stunning, incandescent, green-eyed, voluptuous brunette. When Ava's portraits turned out to be some of the best shots Larry had ever taken, he posted them in the display window of his little shop on Fifth Avenue. A short time later, [[Loews Theatres]] legal clerk, Barnard "Barney" Duhan, spotted Gardner's photo in the Tarr Photography Studio, and went in to inquire about Ava's photo and get her number for Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer (MGM) Film Studios. Duhan was refused the number, but when he made the comment "Somebody should send her info to MGM," then Larry Tarr took it upon himself to do so immediately. Ava was offered a screen test at MGM, even though she had no acting experience whatsoever. The screen test was strictly silent, because of her heavy Southern drawl. Gardner recalled that after the test the director "clapped his hands gleefully and yelled, 'She can't talk! She can't act! She's sensational! Sign her!' " [http://www.answers.com/topic/ava-gardner?cat=entertainment]. |
==New York and Hollywood: MGM== | ==New York and Hollywood: MGM== | ||
[[Image:Bhowani Junction.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Original film poster, "[[Bhowani Junction]]" 1956]] | [[Image:Bhowani Junction.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Original film poster, "[[Bhowani Junction]]" 1956]] | ||
| − | Ava Gardner was offered a standard MGM contract in 1941. She quit school, packed her bag, and ventured to Hollywood with her sister Beatrice (Bappie) who had recently divorced Larry Tarr. Beatrice ended up serving as Ava's manager of | + | Ava Gardner was offered a standard MGM contract in 1941. She quit school, packed her bag, and ventured to Hollywood with her sister Beatrice (Bappie) who had recently divorced Larry Tarr. Beatrice ended up serving as Ava's manager of sorts. The first part of Ava's life in Hollywood included a voice coach to help rid her of her Carolina drawl that was nearly incomprehensible.<ref>Cannon, Dorris Rollins, "Grabtown Girl: Ava Gardner's North Carolina Childhood and Her Enduring Ties to Home" ISBN 1-878086-89-8</ref> She also received acting lessons as well as make-up lessons. Even with her training, MGM was hesitant to cast Ava in any major role because she was unknown and inexperienced. Thus, for the next few years, Ava took part in 17 films, none of which she said more than two lines. The first of these was ''We Were Dancing''. Two years later she had a bit more screen time in ''Three Men in White'', where she played a sexy enchantress who tries to seduce [[Van Johnson]]'s character. Other bit roles were in ''This Time for Keeps'', ''Reunion in France'', and ''Sunday Punch''. |
The time she spent in small roles did not keep her invisible to everyone. Many of the male stars in Hollywood had noticed this raging beauty around the various nightclubs and parties. Gardner liked to party and she often spent all night drinking and staying out with other Hollywood icons. | The time she spent in small roles did not keep her invisible to everyone. Many of the male stars in Hollywood had noticed this raging beauty around the various nightclubs and parties. Gardner liked to party and she often spent all night drinking and staying out with other Hollywood icons. | ||
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While partying and cavorting with other Hollywood stars, Gardner was introduced to the top ranked movie star of the time, [[Mickey Rooney]]. Rooney courted her relentlessly until Gardner finally accepted his proposal. The couple was married on January 10, 1942 in [[Ballard]], California. After the marriage, it was hard for Rooney to give up his bachelor ways and his partying, and he often left Gardner home alone. She was only 19 years old at the time and became very unhappy. She later said of the year-long marriage, "We were a couple of kids. We didn't have a chance." [[http://www.answers.com/topic/ava-gardner?cat=entertainment]] | While partying and cavorting with other Hollywood stars, Gardner was introduced to the top ranked movie star of the time, [[Mickey Rooney]]. Rooney courted her relentlessly until Gardner finally accepted his proposal. The couple was married on January 10, 1942 in [[Ballard]], California. After the marriage, it was hard for Rooney to give up his bachelor ways and his partying, and he often left Gardner home alone. She was only 19 years old at the time and became very unhappy. She later said of the year-long marriage, "We were a couple of kids. We didn't have a chance." [[http://www.answers.com/topic/ava-gardner?cat=entertainment]] | ||
| − | In 1946 Gardner got her big break, she starred in ''[[The Killers (1946 film)|The Killers]]'' opposite [[Burt Lancaster]]. This was the film that landed Gardner the status of not only a movie star, but as a [[sex symbol]]. In later interviews, Rooney would allude to Gardner's performance in bed, though upon hearing this Gardner retorted "Well, honey, he may have enjoyed the sex, but I sure as hell didn't." She once | + | In 1946 Gardner got her big break, she starred in ''[[The Killers (1946 film)|The Killers]]'' opposite [[Burt Lancaster]]. This was the film that landed Gardner the status of not only a movie star, but as a [[sex symbol]]. In later interviews, Rooney would allude to Gardner's performance in bed, though upon hearing this Gardner retorted "Well, honey, he may have enjoyed the sex, but I sure as hell didn't." She once characterized their marriage as "[[Love Finds Andy Hardy]]." |
===Howard Hughes=== | ===Howard Hughes=== | ||
| − | In 1943, after her divorce from Rooney, Gardner was met and pursued by | + | In 1943, after her divorce from Rooney, Gardner was met and was pursued by the Texas billionaire [[Howard Hughes]]. Hughes fell for Gardner and the two began a relationship that would last on and off again for the next twenty-two years. Sometimes they were lovers, other times they were just friends. The couple usually would take up their romance when Ava was between relationships and marriages. Their relationship was often characterized by passion, turbulence, and occasionally violence. Even when they were not officially together, Hughes would know all that was going on in Ava's life, he even reportedly had Frank Sinatra followed so that he could tell Ava if Frank was fooling around on her. He also told Ava that she shouldn't marry such a womanizer as Frank Sinatra. |
===Artie Shaw=== | ===Artie Shaw=== | ||
| − | Ava Gardner married for her second time in 1945. Again, this marriage lasted just over a year. Her husband, the famous clarinetist and | + | Ava Gardner married for her second time in 1945. Again, this marriage lasted just over a year. Her husband, the famous clarinetist and band leader [[Artie Shaw]] was a very difficult man who had been married four times before marrying Ava. He would go on to marry another three times, totaling eight marriages in all. The marriage was a disaster from the very beginning when Shaw continuously hassled Gardner about her lack of education. He felt she wasn't smart enough or refined enough and wanted her to improve her education and meet a higher standard. This drove them apart from the beginning, and Gardner, already self-conscious about her lack of education, began to take refuge in heavy drinking and attending therapy sessions. |
===Frank Sinatra=== | ===Frank Sinatra=== | ||
Gardner's third and final marriage was to the man that she would always refer to as the "love of her life", [[Frank Sinatra]]. The marriage lasted the longest of the three, from 1951-1957, but the relationship between the two had started much earlier. Sinatra has seen Gardner when she was still married to Mickey Rooney and he was singing at the Mocambo Club on the Sunset Strip in 1942. After his performance was over, he quickly set his sights on Ava. He made his way to her through the audience, unveiled that big grin, as Ava tried to keep her cool. "Hey, why didn't I meet you before Mickey? Then I could have married you myself," he said. [[http://www.avagardner.org/jmi_story.html]] | Gardner's third and final marriage was to the man that she would always refer to as the "love of her life", [[Frank Sinatra]]. The marriage lasted the longest of the three, from 1951-1957, but the relationship between the two had started much earlier. Sinatra has seen Gardner when she was still married to Mickey Rooney and he was singing at the Mocambo Club on the Sunset Strip in 1942. After his performance was over, he quickly set his sights on Ava. He made his way to her through the audience, unveiled that big grin, as Ava tried to keep her cool. "Hey, why didn't I meet you before Mickey? Then I could have married you myself," he said. [[http://www.avagardner.org/jmi_story.html]] | ||
| − | Always an intense flirt, Sinatra tried to win Ava's heart after her divorce from Rooney, but Ava, knowing that Sinatra was a married man, resisted his advances. Sinatra continued to try and court Ava, he had an apartment next to hers and would often yell out across his balcony to her, he convinced her to go to dinner, but that was all, she held firm to her upbringing that she wouldn't have an affair with a married man. In 1949, Ava decided not to resist the man she loved any longer. Ava recalls in her autobiography, "Oh, God, Frank Sinatra could be the sweetest, most charming man in the world when he was in the mood." The | + | Always an intense flirt, Sinatra tried to win Ava's heart after her divorce from Rooney, but Ava, knowing that Sinatra was a married man, resisted his advances. Sinatra continued to try and court Ava, he had an apartment next to hers and would often yell out across his balcony to her, he convinced her to go to dinner, but that was all, she held firm to her upbringing that she wouldn't have an affair with a married man. In 1949, Ava decided not to resist the man she loved any longer. Ava recalls in her autobiography, "Oh, God, Frank Sinatra could be the sweetest, most charming man in the world when he was in the mood." The affair began and Frank promised to leave his wife, Nancy for Ava, but [[Lana Turner]] warned Ava that he had made the same promises to her. The press was what eventually caused Nancy Sinatra to separate from Frank. |
Frank and Ava's relationship was splashed across the headlines, and they were treated badly by gossip columnists [[Hedda Hopper]] and [[Louella Parsons]], the Hollywood establishment. Frank and Ava received hate mail, as Frank was Roman-Catholic and not allowed to divorce. His career was also failing, he was losing his voice and he hadn't had a hit movie in quite some time. The country began to hate Frank for leaving his "good wife" for this exotic ''femme fatale''. Ava's career, on the other hand, only got better. She was hot in Hollywood, producing hit after hit. Frank even had to borrow money from Ava to buy his children Christmas presents because he had gone bankrupt. So, Gardner used her connections in Hollywood and helped Sinatra get cast in his [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Oscar]]-winning role in ''[[From Here to Eternity]]'' (1953). That role and the award revitalized Sinatra's acting and singing careers. | Frank and Ava's relationship was splashed across the headlines, and they were treated badly by gossip columnists [[Hedda Hopper]] and [[Louella Parsons]], the Hollywood establishment. Frank and Ava received hate mail, as Frank was Roman-Catholic and not allowed to divorce. His career was also failing, he was losing his voice and he hadn't had a hit movie in quite some time. The country began to hate Frank for leaving his "good wife" for this exotic ''femme fatale''. Ava's career, on the other hand, only got better. She was hot in Hollywood, producing hit after hit. Frank even had to borrow money from Ava to buy his children Christmas presents because he had gone bankrupt. So, Gardner used her connections in Hollywood and helped Sinatra get cast in his [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Oscar]]-winning role in ''[[From Here to Eternity]]'' (1953). That role and the award revitalized Sinatra's acting and singing careers. | ||
| − | Nevertheless, the relationship was terribly rocky and turbulent. | + | Nevertheless, the relationship was terribly rocky and turbulent. Ava recalls, |
| − | We never fought in bed | + | "We never fought in bed. The fight would start on the way to the bidet." They were always on the verge of fighting, they would explode at each other, both very jealous of the acts of the other. Sinatra was jealous of Howard Hughes and even threatened to kill him, Ava would become jealous if Frank looked at another woman while he was singing. They had raging disagreements and often out in public. "She was a female Frank Sinatra and they just clashed at every turn - too stubborn and headstrong to live in harmony for long," according to Kitty Kelley, author of a hugely popular unauthorized Sinatra biography. |
| − | + | Ava describes their relationship in her autobiography. She claims that they never fought over their careers, but they were both bitterly jealous of each other."It was another sort of jealousy that ate into our bones. Primitive, passionate, bitter, acrimonious, elemental, red-fanged romantic jealousy was our poison. Accusations and counteraccusations, that's what our quarrels were all about." The marriage came to an end in 1957, and Ava was through with marriage, however, the two did keep in contact the rest of their lives. | |
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===Ernest Hemingway=== | ===Ernest Hemingway=== | ||
| − | + | After the divorce, Ava Gardner moved to [[Spain]] where she met and befriended the famed writer [[Ernest Hemingway]]. Her associations with Hemingway led to her becoming a fan of bullfighting and bullfighters. "It was a sort of madness, honey," she said later of the time. Ava would spend the rest of her life living and working in Europe, she had no desire to return to American, no husband, and no children. | |
==Later Years== | ==Later Years== | ||
===Oscar Nomination=== | ===Oscar Nomination=== | ||
| − | Gardner was nominated | + | The pinnacle of Gardner's career came when she was nominated an Oscar in her role in ''[[Mogambo]]'' (1953). She failed to win the award, but she continued to produce several strong pictures. Many thought Gardner's greatest performance was as Maxine Faulk in ''[[The Night of the Iguana (film)|The Night of the Iguana]]'' (1964), for which she was not nominated. Another noteworthy performance was her role in ''55 Days At Peking'' (1963). |
"Off-camera, she gave off sparks of wit, as in her assessment of John Ford, who directed her in ''Mogambo'': 'The meanest man on earth. Thoroughly evil. Adored him!'"<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/29/AR2006062901477.html] "Movie Stars: The odd and amazing careers of Ava Gardner, Barbra Streisand, Patricia Neal and Ed Sullivan," short reviews by Dennis Drabelle, Washington Post Book World, | "Off-camera, she gave off sparks of wit, as in her assessment of John Ford, who directed her in ''Mogambo'': 'The meanest man on earth. Thoroughly evil. Adored him!'"<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/29/AR2006062901477.html] "Movie Stars: The odd and amazing careers of Ava Gardner, Barbra Streisand, Patricia Neal and Ed Sullivan," short reviews by Dennis Drabelle, Washington Post Book World, | ||
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===London: the last years=== | ===London: the last years=== | ||
| − | She moved to [[London]] in 1968, | + | She moved to [[London]] in 1968, and began having several different health battles. She first had a hysterectomy because she was afraid of contracting uterine cancer like her mother. She also suffered from [[emphysema]] and two different strokes by 1986. She became bedridden and Sinatra paid her $50,000 medical expenses. She contracted [[pneumonia]] in 1990 and spoke her last words, 'I'm tired' to her housekeeper Carmen, and then died. She was 67 years old. After Sinatra learned of her death, it is said that his daughter found him slumped in his room, face wet with tears, unable to raise his voice above a whisper. Ava was the love of his life, and an inspiration for many songs, including his most personal song, "I am a fool to want you," recorded after their separation. |
===Death and Burial=== | ===Death and Burial=== | ||
| − | Gardner is | + | Ava Gardner's body was returned to her hometown of Smithfield in North Carolina. She is buried at the Sunset Memorial Park, and the town has honored her with the [[Ava Gardner Museum]]. |
==Filmography== | ==Filmography== | ||
Revision as of 21:38, 10 July 2007
| Ava Gardner | |
 Publicity photograph | |
| Birth name: | Ava Lavinia Gardner |
|---|---|
| Date of birth: | 24 December 1922 |
| Birth location: | Brogden, North Carolina, USA 25px |
| Date of death: | January 25 1990 (aged 67) |
| Death location: | Westminster, London, England |
| Notable role(s): | Kitty Collins in The Killers Honey Bear Kelly in Mogambo Maxine Faulk in The Night of the Iguana |
| Spouse: | Mickey Rooney (1942-1943) Artie Shaw (1945-1946) Frank Sinatra (1951-1957) |
Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an Academy Award-nominated American screen actress who encompassed a true rags-to-riches story. Born to a poor farming family in the south, Gardner was discovered in New York City and soon began acting in both film and television. Her impressive array of work, including The Barefoot Contessa, Mogambo, and Showboat led to a lifelong career that shot her to world-wide fame. Gardner is listed as one of the American Film Institute's greatest stars of all time. She was also known as one of the most beautiful women to grace Hollywood.
Early years
Gardner was the seventh and final child born to Jonas and Molly Gardner. Born on Christmas Eve, 1922, Gardner had two brothers and four sisters, and she claims, one dress during her childhood. The family lived in the very small farming community of Brogden, Johnston County, North Carolina. Her father worked for several years as a cotton and tobacco farmer. The family was very, very poor. The children received little education, and Gardner remembers going around barefoot, helping on the farm and playing with her brothers. Her mother, Molly, was a Baptist of Scots-Irish descent, while her father, Jonas Bailey Gardner, was a Catholic of Irish American and Tuscarora Indian descent. The family struggled to make ends meet, but met with severe hardship when Jonas and Molly lost all of their property. This started the Gardner's off on a long search for steady income. Jonas went and worked at a sawmill nearby and Molly as a cook and housekeeper at a dormitory for teachers that Brogden School.
Jonas and Molly were unable to earn enough money to support their big family in the country, so, when Ava was 13 years old, the family moved to the city of Newport News, Virginia. Again, it was Molly who had to find a job, as Jonas was often sick. She worked again as the manager of a boardinghouse for the many shipworkers of the city. The family moved again to Wilson, North Carolina and Molly ran yet another boarding house. Jonas did not work much the last few years of his life, he contracted bronchitis and died in 1935, leaving Molly to care for all of the children on her own. Ava attended high school in Rock Ridge, and graduated in 1939, however, her lack of true education and her heavy southern accent were always huge insecurities to her. Many of her siblings had left home by the time Ava graduated, including her elder sister Beatrice. Beatrice had married a photographer and moved to New York City.
After graduation, Ava attended Atlantic Christian College in the small town of Wilson for a year. She was busy taking secretarial classes and had decided on being a secretary by profession. She went to New York in 1941 to visit her sister. It was at this time that Beatrice's husband, Larry, offered to take Ava's portrait. Ava, just eighteen years old at the time, was a stunning, incandescent, green-eyed, voluptuous brunette. When Ava's portraits turned out to be some of the best shots Larry had ever taken, he posted them in the display window of his little shop on Fifth Avenue. A short time later, Loews Theatres legal clerk, Barnard "Barney" Duhan, spotted Gardner's photo in the Tarr Photography Studio, and went in to inquire about Ava's photo and get her number for Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer (MGM) Film Studios. Duhan was refused the number, but when he made the comment "Somebody should send her info to MGM," then Larry Tarr took it upon himself to do so immediately. Ava was offered a screen test at MGM, even though she had no acting experience whatsoever. The screen test was strictly silent, because of her heavy Southern drawl. Gardner recalled that after the test the director "clapped his hands gleefully and yelled, 'She can't talk! She can't act! She's sensational! Sign her!' " [2].
New York and Hollywood: MGM
Ava Gardner was offered a standard MGM contract in 1941. She quit school, packed her bag, and ventured to Hollywood with her sister Beatrice (Bappie) who had recently divorced Larry Tarr. Beatrice ended up serving as Ava's manager of sorts. The first part of Ava's life in Hollywood included a voice coach to help rid her of her Carolina drawl that was nearly incomprehensible.[1] She also received acting lessons as well as make-up lessons. Even with her training, MGM was hesitant to cast Ava in any major role because she was unknown and inexperienced. Thus, for the next few years, Ava took part in 17 films, none of which she said more than two lines. The first of these was We Were Dancing. Two years later she had a bit more screen time in Three Men in White, where she played a sexy enchantress who tries to seduce Van Johnson's character. Other bit roles were in This Time for Keeps, Reunion in France, and Sunday Punch.
The time she spent in small roles did not keep her invisible to everyone. Many of the male stars in Hollywood had noticed this raging beauty around the various nightclubs and parties. Gardner liked to party and she often spent all night drinking and staying out with other Hollywood icons.
Marriages and relationships
Mickey Rooney
While partying and cavorting with other Hollywood stars, Gardner was introduced to the top ranked movie star of the time, Mickey Rooney. Rooney courted her relentlessly until Gardner finally accepted his proposal. The couple was married on January 10, 1942 in Ballard, California. After the marriage, it was hard for Rooney to give up his bachelor ways and his partying, and he often left Gardner home alone. She was only 19 years old at the time and became very unhappy. She later said of the year-long marriage, "We were a couple of kids. We didn't have a chance." [[3]]
In 1946 Gardner got her big break, she starred in The Killers opposite Burt Lancaster. This was the film that landed Gardner the status of not only a movie star, but as a sex symbol. In later interviews, Rooney would allude to Gardner's performance in bed, though upon hearing this Gardner retorted "Well, honey, he may have enjoyed the sex, but I sure as hell didn't." She once characterized their marriage as "Love Finds Andy Hardy."
Howard Hughes
In 1943, after her divorce from Rooney, Gardner was met and was pursued by the Texas billionaire Howard Hughes. Hughes fell for Gardner and the two began a relationship that would last on and off again for the next twenty-two years. Sometimes they were lovers, other times they were just friends. The couple usually would take up their romance when Ava was between relationships and marriages. Their relationship was often characterized by passion, turbulence, and occasionally violence. Even when they were not officially together, Hughes would know all that was going on in Ava's life, he even reportedly had Frank Sinatra followed so that he could tell Ava if Frank was fooling around on her. He also told Ava that she shouldn't marry such a womanizer as Frank Sinatra.
Artie Shaw
Ava Gardner married for her second time in 1945. Again, this marriage lasted just over a year. Her husband, the famous clarinetist and band leader Artie Shaw was a very difficult man who had been married four times before marrying Ava. He would go on to marry another three times, totaling eight marriages in all. The marriage was a disaster from the very beginning when Shaw continuously hassled Gardner about her lack of education. He felt she wasn't smart enough or refined enough and wanted her to improve her education and meet a higher standard. This drove them apart from the beginning, and Gardner, already self-conscious about her lack of education, began to take refuge in heavy drinking and attending therapy sessions.
Frank Sinatra
Gardner's third and final marriage was to the man that she would always refer to as the "love of her life", Frank Sinatra. The marriage lasted the longest of the three, from 1951-1957, but the relationship between the two had started much earlier. Sinatra has seen Gardner when she was still married to Mickey Rooney and he was singing at the Mocambo Club on the Sunset Strip in 1942. After his performance was over, he quickly set his sights on Ava. He made his way to her through the audience, unveiled that big grin, as Ava tried to keep her cool. "Hey, why didn't I meet you before Mickey? Then I could have married you myself," he said. [[4]]
Always an intense flirt, Sinatra tried to win Ava's heart after her divorce from Rooney, but Ava, knowing that Sinatra was a married man, resisted his advances. Sinatra continued to try and court Ava, he had an apartment next to hers and would often yell out across his balcony to her, he convinced her to go to dinner, but that was all, she held firm to her upbringing that she wouldn't have an affair with a married man. In 1949, Ava decided not to resist the man she loved any longer. Ava recalls in her autobiography, "Oh, God, Frank Sinatra could be the sweetest, most charming man in the world when he was in the mood." The affair began and Frank promised to leave his wife, Nancy for Ava, but Lana Turner warned Ava that he had made the same promises to her. The press was what eventually caused Nancy Sinatra to separate from Frank.
Frank and Ava's relationship was splashed across the headlines, and they were treated badly by gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, the Hollywood establishment. Frank and Ava received hate mail, as Frank was Roman-Catholic and not allowed to divorce. His career was also failing, he was losing his voice and he hadn't had a hit movie in quite some time. The country began to hate Frank for leaving his "good wife" for this exotic femme fatale. Ava's career, on the other hand, only got better. She was hot in Hollywood, producing hit after hit. Frank even had to borrow money from Ava to buy his children Christmas presents because he had gone bankrupt. So, Gardner used her connections in Hollywood and helped Sinatra get cast in his Oscar-winning role in From Here to Eternity (1953). That role and the award revitalized Sinatra's acting and singing careers.
Nevertheless, the relationship was terribly rocky and turbulent. Ava recalls, "We never fought in bed. The fight would start on the way to the bidet." They were always on the verge of fighting, they would explode at each other, both very jealous of the acts of the other. Sinatra was jealous of Howard Hughes and even threatened to kill him, Ava would become jealous if Frank looked at another woman while he was singing. They had raging disagreements and often out in public. "She was a female Frank Sinatra and they just clashed at every turn - too stubborn and headstrong to live in harmony for long," according to Kitty Kelley, author of a hugely popular unauthorized Sinatra biography.
Ava describes their relationship in her autobiography. She claims that they never fought over their careers, but they were both bitterly jealous of each other."It was another sort of jealousy that ate into our bones. Primitive, passionate, bitter, acrimonious, elemental, red-fanged romantic jealousy was our poison. Accusations and counteraccusations, that's what our quarrels were all about." The marriage came to an end in 1957, and Ava was through with marriage, however, the two did keep in contact the rest of their lives.
Ernest Hemingway
After the divorce, Ava Gardner moved to Spain where she met and befriended the famed writer Ernest Hemingway. Her associations with Hemingway led to her becoming a fan of bullfighting and bullfighters. "It was a sort of madness, honey," she said later of the time. Ava would spend the rest of her life living and working in Europe, she had no desire to return to American, no husband, and no children.
Later Years
Oscar Nomination
The pinnacle of Gardner's career came when she was nominated an Oscar in her role in Mogambo (1953). She failed to win the award, but she continued to produce several strong pictures. Many thought Gardner's greatest performance was as Maxine Faulk in The Night of the Iguana (1964), for which she was not nominated. Another noteworthy performance was her role in 55 Days At Peking (1963).
"Off-camera, she gave off sparks of wit, as in her assessment of John Ford, who directed her in Mogambo: 'The meanest man on earth. Thoroughly evil. Adored him!'"[2]
Gardner also had a recurring role as Ruth Galveston on the television series Knots Landing in 1985.
London: the last years
She moved to London in 1968, and began having several different health battles. She first had a hysterectomy because she was afraid of contracting uterine cancer like her mother. She also suffered from emphysema and two different strokes by 1986. She became bedridden and Sinatra paid her $50,000 medical expenses. She contracted pneumonia in 1990 and spoke her last words, 'I'm tired' to her housekeeper Carmen, and then died. She was 67 years old. After Sinatra learned of her death, it is said that his daughter found him slumped in his room, face wet with tears, unable to raise his voice above a whisper. Ava was the love of his life, and an inspiration for many songs, including his most personal song, "I am a fool to want you," recorded after their separation.
Death and Burial
Ava Gardner's body was returned to her hometown of Smithfield in North Carolina. She is buried at the Sunset Memorial Park, and the town has honored her with the Ava Gardner Museum.
Filmography
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ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- ↑ Cannon, Dorris Rollins, "Grabtown Girl: Ava Gardner's North Carolina Childhood and Her Enduring Ties to Home" ISBN 1-878086-89-8
- ↑ [1] "Movie Stars: The odd and amazing careers of Ava Gardner, Barbra Streisand, Patricia Neal and Ed Sullivan," short reviews by Dennis Drabelle, Washington Post Book World, Sunday, July 2, 2006; Page BW08, "One Woman Riot" section, reviewing Lee Server's "Ava Gardner: 'Love Is Nothing'"
External links
- "Ava Gardner", IMDb, Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- "Ava Gardner", Movie Treasures.com, Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- "Home Page", Ava Gardner Museum, Retrieved May 31, 2007.
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gardner, Ava |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | American actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 24 December 1922 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Brogden, Johnston County, North Carolina |
| DATE OF DEATH | 25 January 1990 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | London, England |
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