Ава Гарднер: Звезда Золотого Века Голливуда

American actress (1922–1990)

Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. She first signed a contract with Metro Goldwyn Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' attention in 1946 with her performance in Robert Siodmak's film noir The Killers. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in John Ford's Mogambo (1953), and for best actress for both a Golden Globe Award and BAFTA Award for her performance in John Huston's The Night of the Iguana (1964). She was a part of the Golden Age of Hollywood. During the 1950s, Gardner established herself as a leading lady and one of the era's top stars with films like Show Boat, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (both 1951), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), Bhowani Junction (1956) and On the Beach (1959). She continued her film career for three more decades, appearing in the films 55 Days at Peking (1963), Seven Days in May (1964), The Bible: In the Beginning (1966), Mayerling (1968), The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), Earthquake (1974) and The Cassandra Crossing (1976). And in 1985, she had the major recurring role of Ruth Galveston on the primetime soap opera Knots Landing. She continued to act regularly until 1986, four years before her death in 1990, at the age of 67. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Gardner No. (Number) 25 on its greatest female screen legends list.

Ava Lavinia Gardner was born on December 24, 1922, in Grabtown, North Carolina, the youngest of seven children. She had two older brothers, Raymond Allison (1908–1911) and Jonas Melvin Gardner (1911–1981), and four older sisters, Beatrice Elizabeth Cole (1903–1993), Elsie Mae Creech (1904–1987), Edna Inez Grimes (1906–1981), and Myra Merritt Pearce (1915–2005). Her parents, Mary Elizabeth "Molly" Gardner (née Baker) and Jonas Bailey Gardner, were poor tobacco sharecroppers. She was of English and Scots Irish ancestry. She was raised in the Baptist faith of her mother. While the children were still young, the Gardners lost their property, and Molly received an offer to work as a cook and housekeeper at a dormitory for teachers at the nearby Brogden School that included board for the family and where Jonas continued sharecropping tobacco and supplemented the dwindling work with odd jobs at sawmills.

Gardner was visiting her sister Beatrice in New York City in the summer of 1940 when Beatrice's husband Larry Tarr, a professional photographer, offered to take her portrait as a gift for her mother Molly. He was so pleased with the results that he displayed the finished product in the front window of his Tarr Photography Studio on Fifth Avenue. and Harriet Lee as her singing teacher. Her first appearance in a feature film was as a walk on in the Norma Shearer vehicle We Were Dancing (1942). Fifteen bit parts later, she received her first screen billing in Ghosts on the Loose (1943), and she is featured by name on the theatrical poster. After five years of bit parts, mostly at MGM and many of them uncredited, Gardner came to prominence in the Mark Hellinger production The Killers (1946), playing the femme fatale Kitty Collins. Films from the next decade or so include The Hucksters (1947), Show Boat (1951), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), Lone Star (1952), Mogambo, nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award (1953), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), Bhowani Junction (1956), The Sun Also Rises (1957) and On the Beach (1959). Off camera, she could be witty and pithy, as in her assessment of director John Ford, who directed Mogambo ("The meanest man on earth. Thoroughly evil. Adored him!"). In The Barefoot Contessa, she played the role of doomed beauty Maria Vargas, a fiercely independent woman who goes from Spanish dancer to international movie star with the help of a Hollywood director played by Humphrey Bogart, with tragic consequences. Gardner's decision to accept the role was influenced by her own lifelong habit of going barefoot. In a 1964 interview, she talked about why she accepted the role:
blockquote|He [Huston] had more faith in me than I did myself. Now I'm glad I listened, for it is a challenging role and a very demanding one. I start out as a young wife, and age through various periods, forcing me to adjust psychologically to each age. It is a complete departure for me, and most intriguing. In this role, I must create a character, not just play one. Gardner moved to London in 1968, undergoing an elective hysterectomy to allay her worries of contracting the uterine cancer that had claimed the life of her mother. That year, she appeared in Mayerling, in which she played the supporting role of Austrian Empress Elisabeth of Austria, with James Mason as Emperor Franz Joseph I. She appeared in disaster films throughout the 1970s, notably Earthquake (1974) with Heston, The Cassandra Crossing (1976) with Lancaster, and the Canadian movie City on Fire (1979). She appeared briefly as Lillie Langtry at the end of The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), and in The Blue Bird (1976). Her last movie was Regina Roma (1982). In the 1980s, she acted primarily on television, including the miniseries remake of The Long, Hot Summer and in a story arc on Knots Landing (both 1985).

Soon after Gardner arrived in Los Angeles, she met fellow MGM contract player Mickey Rooney; they married on January 10, 1942. The ceremony was held in the remote town of Ballard, California because MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer was worried that fans would desert Rooney's Andy Hardy movie series if it became known that their star was married. Gardner divorced Rooney in 1943, citing mental cruelty; privately blaming his gambling and womanizing, she didn't ruin his on screen image as the clean cut, judge's son Andy Hardy that the public adored. Gardner's second marriage was equally brief, to jazz musician and bandleader Artie Shaw, from 1945 to 1946. Shaw previously had been married to Lana Turner. Gardner's third and last marriage was to singer and actor Frank Sinatra from 1951 to 1957. She later said in her autobiography that he was the love of her life. Sinatra left his wife Nancy for Gardner, and their marriage made headlines. Sinatra was blasted by gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, the Hollywood establishment, the Catholic Church, and by his fans for leaving his wife. Gardner used her considerable influence, particularly with Harry Cohn, to get Sinatra cast in his Oscar winning role in From Here to Eternity (1953). This role and the award revitalized both Sinatra's acting and singing careers. The Gardner Sinatra marriage was tumultuous. Gardner confided to Artie Shaw, her second husband, that, "With him [Frank], it's impossible It's like being with a woman. He's so gentle. It's as though he thinks I'll break, as though I'm a piece of Dresden china, and he's gonna hurt me." During their marriage, Gardner became pregnant twice, but aborted both pregnancies. "MGM had all sorts of penalty clauses about their stars having babies", according to her autobiography, which was published eight months after her death. Gardner filed for divorce in 1954, and the divorce was finalized in 1957. Following their divorce, Gardner and Sinatra remained good friends for the rest of her life.

Gardner became a friend of businessman and aviator Howard Hughes in the early to mid 1940s, and the relationship lasted into the 1950s. Gardner stated in her autobiography, Ava: My Story, that she was never in love with Hughes, but he was in and out of her life for about 20 years. Hughes' trust in Gardner was what kept their relationship alive. She described him as "painfully shy, completely enigmatic, and more eccentric than anyone [she] had ever met". Gardner lived her last 35 years outside of the United States. She first visited Spain during the filming of Pandora and the Flying Dutchman in 1950, and moved to that country in 1955, living there until 1968, when she moved to London. While in Spain, she began a friendship with writer Ernest Hemingway. She had starred in an adaptation of his The Sun Also Rises that year. Five years earlier, Hemingway had successfully urged producer Darryl F. Zanuck to cast Gardner in The Snows of Kilimanjaro, a film which adapted several of his short stories. While staying with Hemingway at his villa in San Francisco de Paula in Havana, Gardner once swam alone without a swimsuit in his pool. After watching her, Hemingway ordered his staff: "The water is not to be emptied". Her time spent in Spain in the 1950s made her a fan of bullfighting and bullfighters, such as Luis Miguel Dominguín, who became her lover. She began dating Dominguín in 1954, around the time she filed for divorce from Sinatra. "It was a sort of madness, honey", she later said of the time. Gardner was also involved in a relationship with her live in boyfriend and companion, American actor Benjamin Tatar, who worked in Spain as a foreign language dubbing director. Tatar later wrote an autobiography in which he discussed his relationship with Gardner, though the book was never published. Their friendship lasted the rest of Gardner's life, and upon her death in 1990, Peck took in both her housekeeper and her dog.

Although Gardner was exposed to Christianity throughout her early years, she was an atheist later in life. Religion never played a positive role in her life, according to biographers and Gardner, in her autobiography Ava: My Story. Her friend Zoe Sallis, who met her on the set of The Bible: In the Beginning when Gardner was living with John Huston in Puerto Vallarta, said Gardner always seemed unconcerned about religion. Gardner was a staunch supporter of civil rights for African Americans throughout her life. As a child growing up in North Carolina, she would often sit with African American children in segregated parts of movie theaters. Her personal assistant, Rene Jordan, was African American, and Gardner would often take her to clubs that were for whites only. She supported Henry A. Wallace of the Progressive Party, whose campaign in 1948 for the presidential election sought racial equality and desegregation. She became a member of the NAACP in August 1968.

A bout of pneumonia, after a lifetime of smoking, coupled with her underlying condition of lupus erythematosus brought on a stroke in 1986 that left Gardner partially paralyzed. Although she could afford her medical expenses, Frank Sinatra wanted to pay for her visit to a specialist in the United States, and she allowed him to make the arrangements for a medically staffed private plane. She died on January 25, 1990, at the age of 67, of pneumonia and fibrosing alveolitis at her London home 34 Ennismore Gardens, where she had lived since 1968. Gardner was buried on January 29 in Sunset Memorial Park in Smithfield, North Carolina, next to her siblings and their parents, Jonas and Molly Gardner. The Ava Gardner Museum, incorporated in 1996, is located nearby.

Gardner was nominated for an Academy Award for Mogambo (1953); the award was won by Audrey Hepburn for Roman Holiday. Her performance as Maxine Faulk in The Night of the Iguana (1964) was well reviewed, and she was nominated for a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe. Additionally, Ava Gardner won the Silver Shell for Best Actress at the San Sebastián International Film Festival in 1964 for her performance in The Night of the Iguana.

+ Year Title Role Notes 1941 Fancy Answers Girl at Recital short filmuncredited 1941 Strange Testament Waitress short filmuncredited 1941 Shadow of the Thin Man Passerby uncredited 1941 H. M. Pulham, Esq. Young Socialite uncredited 1941 Babes on Broadway Audience member uncredited 1942Joe Smith, American Miss Maynard, Secretary uncredited 1942 This Time for Keeps Girl in car lighting cigarette uncredited 1942 We Do It Because Lucretia Borgia short filmuncredited 1942 Kid Glove Killer Car Hop uncredited 1942 Sunday Punch Ringsider uncredited 1942 Calling Dr. Gillespie Student at finishing school uncredited 1942 Mighty Lak a Goat Girl at the Bijou box office short filmuncredited 1942 Reunion in France Marie, a salesgirl uncredited 1943Du Barry Was a Lady Perfume Girl uncredited 1943 Hitler's Madman Franciska Pritric, a Student uncredited 1943 Ghosts on the Loose Betty 1943Young Ideas Co ed uncredited 1943 Swing Fever Receptionist uncredited 1943 Lost Angel Hat Check Girl uncredited 1944 Two Girls and a Sailor Dream Girl Uncredited 1944 Three Men in White Jean Brown 1944 Maisie Goes to Reno Gloria Fullerton 1944 Blonde Fever bit role uncredited 1945 She Went to the Races Hilda Spotts 1946 Whistle Stop Mary 1946 The Killers Kitty Collins 1947 The Hucksters Jean Ogilvie 1947 Singapore Linda Grahame/Ann Van Leyden 1948 One Touch of VenusVenus/Venus Jones 1949 The Bribe Elizabeth Hintten 1949 The Great Sinner Pauline Ostrovsky 1949 East Side, West Side Isabel Lorrison 1951 My Forbidden Past Barbara Beaurevel 1951 Pandora and the Flying Dutchman Pandora Reynolds 1951 Show Boat Julie LaVerne 1952 Lone Star Martha Ronda 1952 The Snows of Kilimanjaro Cynthia Green 1953 The Band Wagon Herself uncredited 1953 Ride, Vaquero! Cordelia Cameron 1953 Mogambo Eloise "Honey Bear" Kelly nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress 1953 Knights of the Round Table Guinevere 1954 The Barefoot Contessa Maria Vargas 1956 Bhowani Junction Victoria Jones nominated—BAFTA for Best Foreign Actress 1957 The Little Hut Lady Susan Ashlow 1957 The Sun Also Rises Lady Brett Ashley 1958 The Naked Maja Maria Cayetana, Duchess of Alba 1959 On the Beach Moira Davidson nominated—BAFTA for Best Foreign Actress 1960 The Angel Wore Red Soledad 1963 55 Days at Peking Baroness Natalie Ivanoff 1964Seven Days in May Eleanor Holbrook 1964 The Night of the Iguana Maxine Faulk Nominated—BAFTA for Best Foreign Actress Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Silver Shell for Best Actress 1966 The Bible: In the Beginning Sarah 1968 Mayerling Empress Elizabeth 1970 Tam Lin Michaela Cazaret 1972 The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean Lily Langtry 1974 Earthquake Remy Royce Graff 1975 Permission to Kill Katina Petersen 1976 The Blue Bird Luxury 1976 The Cassandra Crossing Nicole Dressler 1977 The Sentinel Miss Logan 1979 City on Fire Maggie Grayson 1980 The Kidnapping of the President Beth Richards 1981 Priest of Love Mabel Dodge Luhan 1982 Regina Roma Mama

+ Year Title Role Notes 1953What's My Line Herself, as Mystery Guest first TV show appearance 1985A. D. Agrippina miniseries 1985Knots Landing Ruth Galveston 7 episodes 1985The Long Hot Summer Minnie Littlejohn TV movie 1986Harem Kadin TV movie 1986Maggie Diane Webb TV movie