Encyclopedia, Difference between revisions of "Ava Gardner" - New World
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'''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 aray 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. | '''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 aray 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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| − | Jonas and Molly | + | ==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 [[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 accents 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 protrait. 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, fate played a role in Ava's life as an executive from Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer (MGM) Film Studios noticed the photo and inquired about its subject. He procured Ava 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!' " [http://www.answers.com/topic/ava-gardner?cat=entertainment]. | |
| − | + | ==New York and Hollywood: MGM== | |
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[[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]] | ||
In 1941, a [[Loews Theatres]] legal clerk, Barnard "Barney" Duhan, spotted Gardner's photo in the Tarr Photography Studio on 5th Avenue in New York. The photo had been taken in 1939 by the proprietor, Ava's brother-in-law [[Larry Tarr]], who was married to Ava's older sister, Bappie (Beatrice). At the time, Duhan often posed as an MGM talent scout to meet girls, using the fact that MGM was a subsidiary of Loews. Duhan entered Tarr's and tried to get Ava's number, but was rebuffed by the receptionist. Duhan made the offhand comment, "Somebody should send her info to MGM," and the Tarrs did so immediately. Shortly after, Ava, who at the time was a student at [[Atlantic Christian College]], traveled to [[New York City|New York]] to be interviewed at MGM's New York office. She was offered a standard contract by MGM, and Ava left school for Hollywood in 1941 with her sister Bappie accompanying her. MGM's first order of business was to provide her a voice coach, as her Carolina drawl 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> | In 1941, a [[Loews Theatres]] legal clerk, Barnard "Barney" Duhan, spotted Gardner's photo in the Tarr Photography Studio on 5th Avenue in New York. The photo had been taken in 1939 by the proprietor, Ava's brother-in-law [[Larry Tarr]], who was married to Ava's older sister, Bappie (Beatrice). At the time, Duhan often posed as an MGM talent scout to meet girls, using the fact that MGM was a subsidiary of Loews. Duhan entered Tarr's and tried to get Ava's number, but was rebuffed by the receptionist. Duhan made the offhand comment, "Somebody should send her info to MGM," and the Tarrs did so immediately. Shortly after, Ava, who at the time was a student at [[Atlantic Christian College]], traveled to [[New York City|New York]] to be interviewed at MGM's New York office. She was offered a standard contract by MGM, and Ava left school for Hollywood in 1941 with her sister Bappie accompanying her. MGM's first order of business was to provide her a voice coach, as her Carolina drawl 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> | ||
| − | + | ==Marriages and relationships== | |
| − | + | ===Mickey Rooney=== | |
Soon after her arrival in [[Los Angeles]], Gardner met actor [[Mickey Rooney]]; they married on January 10, 1942 in [[Ballard]], California. She was 19 years old. Gardner made several movies before 1946, but it wasn't until she starred in ''[[The Killers (1946 film)|The Killers]]'' opposite [[Burt Lancaster]], that she became known as a movie star and [[sex symbol]]. (Rooney and Gardner divorced in 1943, mainly because Rooney wouldn't give up his partying ways). Rooney later rhapsodized about 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 characterised their marriage as "[[Love Finds Andy Hardy]]." | Soon after her arrival in [[Los Angeles]], Gardner met actor [[Mickey Rooney]]; they married on January 10, 1942 in [[Ballard]], California. She was 19 years old. Gardner made several movies before 1946, but it wasn't until she starred in ''[[The Killers (1946 film)|The Killers]]'' opposite [[Burt Lancaster]], that she became known as a movie star and [[sex symbol]]. (Rooney and Gardner divorced in 1943, mainly because Rooney wouldn't give up his partying ways). Rooney later rhapsodized about 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 characterised their marriage as "[[Love Finds Andy Hardy]]." | ||
| − | + | ===Artie Shaw=== | |
Her second marriage was to clarinetist and bandleader [[Artie Shaw]] from 1945 to 1946 and it was even more disastrous than the first. It was during this marriage that Gardner began to drink and take refuge in therapy. | Her second marriage was to clarinetist and bandleader [[Artie Shaw]] from 1945 to 1946 and it was even more disastrous than the first. It was during this marriage that Gardner began to drink and take refuge in therapy. | ||
| − | ====Frank Sinatra | + | ===Howard Hughes=== |
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| + | ===Frank Sinatra=== | ||
The third and last marriage was to singer and actor [[Frank Sinatra]] from 1951 to 1957. | The third and last marriage was to singer and actor [[Frank Sinatra]] from 1951 to 1957. | ||
Sinatra left his wife, Nancy, for Ava and their subsequent marriage made headlines. Sinatra was treated poorly by gossip columnists [[Hedda Hopper]] and [[Louella Parsons]], the Hollywood establishment, and his fans for leaving his "good wife" for this exotic ''femme fatale''. His career suffered, while Ava's prospered — the headlines only solidified her sexy screen siren image. The marriage to Sinatra was stormy — passionate fighting, jealousy, numerous separations. Gardner used her considerable clout to get Sinatra 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. During their marriage, Ava became pregnant, but she terminated the pregnancy due to the volatility of her marriage. She had always wanted children, but she said years later, "We couldn't even take care of ourselves. How were we going to take care of a baby?" Gardner and Sinatra remained good friends for the rest of her life. | Sinatra left his wife, Nancy, for Ava and their subsequent marriage made headlines. Sinatra was treated poorly by gossip columnists [[Hedda Hopper]] and [[Louella Parsons]], the Hollywood establishment, and his fans for leaving his "good wife" for this exotic ''femme fatale''. His career suffered, while Ava's prospered — the headlines only solidified her sexy screen siren image. The marriage to Sinatra was stormy — passionate fighting, jealousy, numerous separations. Gardner used her considerable clout to get Sinatra 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. During their marriage, Ava became pregnant, but she terminated the pregnancy due to the volatility of her marriage. She had always wanted children, but she said years later, "We couldn't even take care of ourselves. How were we going to take care of a baby?" Gardner and Sinatra remained good friends for the rest of her life. | ||
| − | + | ===Ernest Hemingway=== | |
She divorced Sinatra in 1957 and headed to [[Spain]] where her friendship with famed writer [[Ernest Hemingway]] led to her becoming a fan of bullfighting and bullfighters. "It was a sort of madness, honey," she said later of the time. | She divorced Sinatra in 1957 and headed to [[Spain]] where her friendship with famed writer [[Ernest Hemingway]] led to her becoming a fan of bullfighting and bullfighters. "It was a sort of madness, honey," she said later of the time. | ||
| − | ===Oscar=== | + | ==Later Years== |
| + | ===Oscar Nomination=== | ||
Gardner was nominated for an Oscar for ''[[Mogambo]]'' (1953). She lost to [[Audrey Hepburn]] in ''[[Roman Holiday (1953 film)|Roman Holiday]]''. 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. [[Grayson Hall]], as the repressed Judith Fellowes, however, was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category. Gardner showed her depth as an actress in ''[[55 Days At Peking]]'' (1963). | Gardner was nominated for an Oscar for ''[[Mogambo]]'' (1953). She lost to [[Audrey Hepburn]] in ''[[Roman Holiday (1953 film)|Roman Holiday]]''. 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. [[Grayson Hall]], as the repressed Judith Fellowes, however, was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category. Gardner showed her depth as an actress in ''[[55 Days At Peking]]'' (1963). | ||
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She moved to [[London]] in 1968, undergoing a hysterectomy to allay her worries of contracting the uterine cancer that had killed her mother. One of her best films, ''[[Mayerling]]'', in which she played the Austrian Empress Elisabeth opposite [[James Mason]] as Emperor Franz Joseph, she made in the same year. Later in life she suffered from a severe case of [[emphysema]]. After two [[strokes]] in 1986, which left her partially paralyzed and bedridden, Frank Sinatra paid her $50,000 medical expenses. Her last words were 'I'm tired' to her housekeeper Carmen. She died of [[pneumonia]] in London, [[England]] at the age of 67 in 1990. After her death, Sinatra's daughter found him slumped in his room, face wet with tears, unable to raise his voice above a whisper. Ava was not only the love of his life but also the inspiration to one of his most personal and magic songs, "I am a fool to want you," recorded after their separation. | She moved to [[London]] in 1968, undergoing a hysterectomy to allay her worries of contracting the uterine cancer that had killed her mother. One of her best films, ''[[Mayerling]]'', in which she played the Austrian Empress Elisabeth opposite [[James Mason]] as Emperor Franz Joseph, she made in the same year. Later in life she suffered from a severe case of [[emphysema]]. After two [[strokes]] in 1986, which left her partially paralyzed and bedridden, Frank Sinatra paid her $50,000 medical expenses. Her last words were 'I'm tired' to her housekeeper Carmen. She died of [[pneumonia]] in London, [[England]] at the age of 67 in 1990. After her death, Sinatra's daughter found him slumped in his room, face wet with tears, unable to raise his voice above a whisper. Ava was not only the love of his life but also the inspiration to one of his most personal and magic songs, "I am a fool to want you," recorded after their separation. | ||
| − | === | + | ===Death and Burial=== |
Gardner is interred in the [[Sunset Memorial Park]], [[Smithfield, North Carolina]]; the town of Smithfield now has an [[Ava Gardner Museum]]. | Gardner is interred in the [[Sunset Memorial Park]], [[Smithfield, North Carolina]]; the town of Smithfield now has an [[Ava Gardner Museum]]. | ||
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==Filmography== | ==Filmography== | ||
Revision as of 21:52, 9 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 aray 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 accents 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 protrait. 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, fate played a role in Ava's life as an executive from Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer (MGM) Film Studios noticed the photo and inquired about its subject. He procured Ava 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!' " [2].
New York and Hollywood: MGM
In 1941, a Loews Theatres legal clerk, Barnard "Barney" Duhan, spotted Gardner's photo in the Tarr Photography Studio on 5th Avenue in New York. The photo had been taken in 1939 by the proprietor, Ava's brother-in-law Larry Tarr, who was married to Ava's older sister, Bappie (Beatrice). At the time, Duhan often posed as an MGM talent scout to meet girls, using the fact that MGM was a subsidiary of Loews. Duhan entered Tarr's and tried to get Ava's number, but was rebuffed by the receptionist. Duhan made the offhand comment, "Somebody should send her info to MGM," and the Tarrs did so immediately. Shortly after, Ava, who at the time was a student at Atlantic Christian College, traveled to New York to be interviewed at MGM's New York office. She was offered a standard contract by MGM, and Ava left school for Hollywood in 1941 with her sister Bappie accompanying her. MGM's first order of business was to provide her a voice coach, as her Carolina drawl was nearly incomprehensible.[1]
Marriages and relationships
Mickey Rooney
Soon after her arrival in Los Angeles, Gardner met actor Mickey Rooney; they married on January 10, 1942 in Ballard, California. She was 19 years old. Gardner made several movies before 1946, but it wasn't until she starred in The Killers opposite Burt Lancaster, that she became known as a movie star and sex symbol. (Rooney and Gardner divorced in 1943, mainly because Rooney wouldn't give up his partying ways). Rooney later rhapsodized about 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 characterised their marriage as "Love Finds Andy Hardy."
Artie Shaw
Her second marriage was to clarinetist and bandleader Artie Shaw from 1945 to 1946 and it was even more disastrous than the first. It was during this marriage that Gardner began to drink and take refuge in therapy.
Howard Hughes
Frank Sinatra
The third and last marriage was to singer and actor Frank Sinatra from 1951 to 1957.
Sinatra left his wife, Nancy, for Ava and their subsequent marriage made headlines. Sinatra was treated poorly by gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, the Hollywood establishment, and his fans for leaving his "good wife" for this exotic femme fatale. His career suffered, while Ava's prospered — the headlines only solidified her sexy screen siren image. The marriage to Sinatra was stormy — passionate fighting, jealousy, numerous separations. Gardner used her considerable clout to get Sinatra cast in his Oscar-winning role in From Here to Eternity (1953). That role and the award revitalized Sinatra's acting and singing careers. During their marriage, Ava became pregnant, but she terminated the pregnancy due to the volatility of her marriage. She had always wanted children, but she said years later, "We couldn't even take care of ourselves. How were we going to take care of a baby?" Gardner and Sinatra remained good friends for the rest of her life.
Ernest Hemingway
She divorced Sinatra in 1957 and headed to Spain where her friendship with famed writer Ernest Hemingway led to her becoming a fan of bullfighting and bullfighters. "It was a sort of madness, honey," she said later of the time.
Later Years
Oscar Nomination
Gardner was nominated for an Oscar for Mogambo (1953). She lost to Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. Many thought Gardner's greatest performance was as Maxine Faulk in The Night of the Iguana (1964), for which she was not nominated. Grayson Hall, as the repressed Judith Fellowes, however, was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category. Gardner showed her depth as an actress 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, undergoing a hysterectomy to allay her worries of contracting the uterine cancer that had killed her mother. One of her best films, Mayerling, in which she played the Austrian Empress Elisabeth opposite James Mason as Emperor Franz Joseph, she made in the same year. Later in life she suffered from a severe case of emphysema. After two strokes in 1986, which left her partially paralyzed and bedridden, Frank Sinatra paid her $50,000 medical expenses. Her last words were 'I'm tired' to her housekeeper Carmen. She died of pneumonia in London, England at the age of 67 in 1990. After her death, Sinatra's daughter found him slumped in his room, face wet with tears, unable to raise his voice above a whisper. Ava was not only the love of his life but also the inspiration to one of his most personal and magic songs, "I am a fool to want you," recorded after their separation.
Death and Burial
Gardner is interred in the Sunset Memorial Park, Smithfield, North Carolina; the town of Smithfield now has an Ava Gardner Museum.
Filmography
|
|
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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