December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990
Ava Lavinia Garner was born on Christmas Eve 1922 near Smithfield, North Carolina. In her career she made over 60 films, and had one Oscar nomination for Mogambo in 1951. In her lifetime she married Artie Shaw, Mickey Rooney (figure that one out) and had a rather stormy marriage to Frank Sinatra (as you do). In 1990, Miss Eyebrows was living in London with her h – ousekeeper (as you do) on a street called Ennismore Gardens.
According to neighbors, she would take her pet corgi out the door for walks every day.
Ava had been plagued with ill health in recent years, including 2 strokes and pneumonia. She was working on a biography, when she died. Her last words to her housekeeper were, “I’m so tired.” She died in this flat, at #34 Ennismore Gardens.
It was January 25th 1990, and she was 67 years old.
I met up with Peter Hinwood, the muscled guy from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He was in a film called Tam Lin, with Ava. The film was directed by Roddy McDowall, and Peter had only good things to say about Mr. Roddy. Ava, he said was very nice, and she liked ’em young.
Ava was flown back to the United States, where she is buried alongside her parents, in Smithfield.
Frank Sinatra, apparently devastated, sent flowers. There were 500 mourners that attended the funeral, and apparently one black limo in which no one exited. That, they like to think, was Frank.
Trivia: Ava Gardner played Lorne Green’s daughter in the film Earthquake, but he was only 6 years older than her.
OCTOBER 2002 Findadeath.com friend Jeff sends us this:
I was heading back from Myrtle Beach today and saw the signs for the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield, NC.
Thought you might want to know that her hometown hasn’t forgotten her.
Its just one mile off I-95 at exit 95 in Smithfield and has a rather camp exterior.
Excellent Jeff! Thanks a ton.
As a young North Carolinian, husband’s uncle rode with his buddy to pick up a “friend” at the airport. The “friend” turned out to be Ava who was flying home to visit her family in Smithfield. My husband’s uncle said that he was so shocked when she got into the car, he remained absolutely silent and tongue-tied the entire trip back to the Garner home. All he could do was stare at her beauty from his position in the backseat. To add insult to injury, he told us that he was wearing the most awful plaid suit, which embarrassed him to death! He thought she was incredibly nice and acted like a regular non-celebrity.
I read that over a 10 yr period, many lesbians or women living with another women did it for companionship. More than half were completely non-sexual. Some even went on to say that the very thought of so-called “carpet munching” was out of the question and gross so Ava living with a maid could have been a very natural and suited step for her!
I meant to say women interviewed over a 10 yr period.
If you want to read what Ava was really like, read Love is Nothing the biography. She really was fascinating. What a life. She was WILD. The only woman who made Frank feel like the women Frank dumped on. Not quite as wild as Marlene Dietrich but close!!! I love Ava. I think she was the most beautiful star and everyone always said that the camera couldn’t capture her beauty. In person she would leave the most jaded starstruck.. They don’t make em like that anymore.
She was a great natural beauty. I read a few books about her, and one she helped write, it was a little bland, but ok for the most part. One thing I took away from the book that makes me giggle to this day, her and Lana Turner’s nick name for Mickey Rooney, was Andy Hardon, apparently he was as addicted to sex as much as gambling. She was brazon, had a mouth like a sailor, and the looks of Venus. They don’t make them like that any more. I am right at this moment watching “The Barefoot Contessa”, it’s hard to keep up with the plot because you get so lost in her beauty.
Ava gave a lot of great, uninhibited, quotes. On being asked why she stayed with the 119 pound Sinatra: “Well, I’ll tell you… nineteen pounds is cock.”
Please see photos and footage from my visit to Ava’s apartment.
http://johnhalley.uk/death%20-%20ava%20gardner.htm
Stop posting old screenshots of the inside of her house….
She was in my first movie, didn’t get to meet her and Neither did William Shatner who was her co-Star, he writes about it in his books…
Nobody cares.