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Birth
Ava Lavinia Gardner was born in Grabtown, North Carolina, USA. She was the youngest of 7 children. Her parents were Mary Elizabeth Gardner and Jonas Bailey Gardner. -
Jonas Bailey Gardner
Ava's father, Jonas, passed away from bronchitis due to a lifetime of smoking. Her family was not of wealth and the passing of her father caused some financial strain. In 1941, a member of MGM saw her picture in her brother-in-law's photography shop in New York and requested her pictures be sent in. Gardner's brother in law sent in her photograph and Ava's fiances improved (until later in life). -
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Mickey Rooney
Gardner married her first husband Mickey Rooney, who was also an actor. Their marriage lasted just over a year and ended in divorce. Gardner claimed Rooney was very unfaithful during their marriage. After the divorce Gardner devleoped a reputation for drinking, smoking and partying. -
Mary Elizabeth Gardner
Ava Gardner's mother passed away from uterine cancer in 1943. In 1968 Gardner moved to London and while living in London she under went a hysterectomy in fear of contracting the same cancer her mother had. -
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Artie Shaw
Gardner married her second husband Artie Shaw (actor and composer) in 1945. Their marriage also ended in divorce. Gardner claims Shaw repeatedly insulted her about her intelligence. A week after their 1 year anniversary Shaw left Gardner for another women. -
The Killers
Ava signed with MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios) in 1941 but it wasn't until MGM loaned her to Universal for The Killers that she became popular. However, she kept her contract with MGM for 17 years (1941-1958). -
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
Gardner went to Tossa de Mar the spring of 1950 to film the movie Pandora and the Flying Dutchman. Gardner enjoyed the town and the freedom she felt being away from Hollywood so much that after her divorce from Sinatra she moved to Spain.
In 1998 a statue of Ava Gardner as Pandora was constructed in Tossa de Mar. -
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Frank Sinatra
Gardner married her third husband Frank Sinatra (singer, actor and producer) in 1951. Their marriage also ended in divorce after years of tension. Their marriage was apparently filled with a lot of drunken fighting about a variety of topics (jealousy, money, abortions...). Gardner under went two abortions while married to Sinatra which caused tension in their marriage because Sinatra was excited to have a child and while he was away at work Gardner had the abortion. -
Mogambo
Gardner was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 1954 Academy Awards for her role as Eloise Kelly in Mogambo. She lost to Audrey Hepburn for her role in Roman Holiday. -
The Barefoot Contessa
The poster for The Barefoot Contessa used the phrase "The World's Most Beautiful Animal" to descirbe Ava Gardner. This added to her insecurities. She felt as though she was not that talented and that people only wanted her in films for her looks. These insecurities added to her drinking and smoking. -
Maggie
Maggie was a TV movie and it was the last movie Gardner was in. She claims her later movies were just for the money. In 1986 Gardner (63 yrs old) suffered two strokes that left her partially paralyzed and bedridden. Therefore, she could no longer act. -
The Secret Conversations
Gardner was ill and needed some money so she decided to get a ghost author to write her memoirs so she could sell them. The memoirs covered her entire life (she was actually quite private until this point). Gardner got Peter Evans to be her author. After a number of meetings an issue arose. Evans had been previously sued by Gardner's ex, Sinatra. So, the project was abandoned.
In 2012 Evans passed away and the following year the book was published (July 2 2013). -
Death
She died at the age of 67 in Westminster, London, England, UK of bronchial pneumonia. This photograph was taken by Helmut Newton.
