Ava gardner age at death
- •
Born in North Carolina, the often barefoot and always brash movie star Ava Gardner was, in the words of second husband Artie Shaw, “the most beautiful creature you ever saw.” She was also, according to costar Deborah Kerr, “funny and rich and warm and human.” But Gardner also had a wandering spirit, with a reckless streak and an insatiable appetite for booze and boys that would often lead to the most glamorous sort of disaster.
In the engrossing Ava Gardner: Love is Nothing, biographer Lee Server documents a life filled with lust, love, and late-night shenanigans. There was her long entanglement with a snooping Howard Hughes, as well as flings with bullfighters, Robert Taylor, Mel Tormé, David Niven, John F. Kennedy, Steve McQueen, an abusive George C. Scott, and an unsuccessful attempt to lure Robert Stack into a foursome (he suddenly got a stomachache).
And then there was her beloved Francis—Gardner’s third husband, Frank Sinatra. Their fights were legendary (Sinatra once threw a douche bag filled with water at her and pal Lana Turner), and their make-ups loud. When asked
- •
Ava Gardner
(1922-1990)
Who Was Ava Gardner?
Ava Gardner signed a contract to be an actress with MGM in 1941, but it wasn't until her appearance in 1946's The Killers that she became a star. Gardner's off-screen life was often as dramatic as the roles she played, with marriages to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra. Gardner died on January 25, 1990, at age 67, in London, England.
Early Life
Gardner was born in Grabtown, North Carolina, on December 24, 1922. She was her parents' seventh child. When Gardner was 2 years old, she and her family were forced to leave their tobacco farm. Her father then worked as a sharecropper, while her mother ran a boardinghouse. The family always struggled financially, a situation that worsened when Gardner's father died when she was 16.
Gardner was studying to be a secretary when her photographer brother-in-law sent pictures of her to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. A striking beauty with dark hair and green eyes, Gardner's photos convinced the studio to give her a screen test. This led to her signing a seven-year, $50/week contract with M
- •
Ava's Story
AVA’S childhood
On Christmas Eve 1922, Jonas and Mary Elizabeth “Mollie” Gardner welcomed their seventh child into the world, Ava Lavinia Gardner. The large Gardner family made their home in the rural North Carolina community of Grabtown, seven miles east of Smithfield. They lived in a white, two-story farmhouse surrounded by acres of land they cultivated to grow tobacco and cotton.
Tragedy struck the family in 1925 when their barn and cotton gin burned to the ground. Without the finances to rebuild, the family packed up and moved to the nearby community of Brogden. Jonas and Mollie found lodging and work at the local public school, with him serving as property caretaker and her managing the teacherage facility, a neighboring boarding house for female teachers.
When impact from the Great Depression eventually forced the state to close the teacherage in December 1934, the family moved once again. They relocated to Newport News, Virginia where they operated a boarding house for shipyard workers.
After years of failing health, Ava&#
Copyright ©vanflat.pages.dev 2025