Humble Beginnings

Ava Lavinia Gardner was born on Christmas Eve in 1922 in a rural community known as “Grabtown,” seven miles east of Smithfield, North Carolina.  She was the youngest of five daughters and two sons of Jonas Bailey Gardner, a tenant farmer, and Mary Elizabeth “Mollie” Baker Gardner.  When fire consumed the family’s barn and cotton gin in 1924, the Gardners, along with two-year-old Ava moved to the “teacherage”---a boarding house for young lady teachers at the local Brogden school.  Jonas Gardner labored as the caretaker and Mollie Gardner served as the cook for the residents of the house.

The effects of “The Great Depression” eventually forced the closing of the teacherage, and in 1935, the family moved to Newport News, Virginia to operate another boarding house for shipyard workers.  After the death of Jonas Gardner in 1938 from a prolonged illness, Ava and her mother moved from Virginia to the Rock Ridge community (near Wilson, North Carolina) once again managing a boarding house for teachers.  Although their income allowed for a meager existence, Mollie Gardner insisted that Ava continue her education rather than working to help support the family.  Ava graduated from Rock Ridge High School in 1939, and later attended Atlantic Christian College.

The Discovery of Ava

Ava Gardner’s rise to an international film legend was true modern day fairy tale.  Ava’s older sister of nineteen years, Beatrice “Bappie” Gardner, had moved to New York and married Larry Tarr, a professional photographer and proprietor of his family’s photographic studios.  While Ava was visiting her sister in New York in the summer of 1939, Tarr produced a series of photos of the young Ava.  One image displayed in the window of his Fifth Avenue shop caught the attention of Barney Duhan, a young man who was working in the legal department of Lowe’s Theatres as an errand boy.  Attempting to acquire Ava’s phone number for a date, Duhan posed as a talent scout for MGM with connections “straight through to the right people.”  Although he implied Ava’s good looks would interest MGM, the savvy receptionist know the ways of smart young New York boys interested in pretty young girls, and stalled his effort by simply promising to deliver the message.  Hearing of the incident and recognizing an opportunity, Larry Tarr and his staff worked through the night to print more photos of Ava.  Tarr delivered them the next day to MGM’s New York office, and Ava soon got the call young girls dreamed of.  She was asked to appear for a screen test, and in 1941 at the age of 18, Ava signed a seven-year movie contract with MGM studios for fifty dollars a week.

The Early Years

With her mother’s insistence that Ava could not go to Hollywood alone, Ava and her sister Bappie left for California in August of 1941.  Upon arrival, they quickly realized that the fifty dollars per week salary of Ava’s studio contract would only provide a lean existence for the two of them in the big city.  Fortunately, Bappie was able to use an introduction from her New York boss to land a job at I. Magnin, a local department store.  The sisters rented a tiny apartment on Wilcox Avenue with a pull-down bed, a two-ring cooker, and a even smaller bathroom.  Although it wasn’t stylish by any standard, their new home was affordable.

During her early days at MGM, Ava Gardner spent an incredible amount of time in what was called the “Picture Gallery,” a photo studio run by portrait photographer Clarence Bull and his staff.  However MGM still didn’t have portraits in mind for Ava, and instead, she quickly became an expert at “leg art,” cheesecake publicity shots sent to newspapers and magazines around the nation.  Ava also made appearances with war bond drives and USO shows when the United States entered World War II a few months later.   She appeared in small “walk-on” roles such as Hitler’s Madman, Joe Smith:  American, and Pilot No. 5, films that were produced in part to boost  the war effort.  After fifteen movies and five years in Hollywood, Ava was still known as a mere “starlet,” but change was on the way. 

Ava and Her Men

Shortly after arriving in Hollywood, Ava met Mickey Rooney, the most popular star of the time.  Rooney was “bowled over” by Ava’s beauty and immediately asked her for a date.  Ava refused initially, but his persistence eventually won out.  Charming, romantic, and “great fun,” a confident Mickey Rooney asked Ava to marry him after only a few dates.  Stunned, Ava expressed her concern that both of them were too young, but her argument quickly collapsed under charisma and perseverance of the determined Rooney. 

As contract employees of MGM, the marriage required the consent of Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM, who was hesitant to change the status of one of the biggest male stars.  Reluctantly, Mayer agreed to the marriage, and the studio arranged a small wedding with only immediate family and studio “body guards” in attendance.  The marriage ended in divorce after one year on May 21, 1943.  The day was further saddened by the death of Ava’s mother. 

Artie Shaw was Ava’s second husband, and their relationship was filled with change and turbulent times.  Artie, a handsome self-taught intellectual and renowned bandleader, introduced Ava to the worldly refinements of literature, art, and music.  Marriage, if anything, only increased Artie’s determination to improve Ava, something that he had been set on doing from the moment they met.  Attempting to placate Artie and soothe her own bruised feelings, Ava took extension courses from UCLA, signing up for English literature and economics.  Like her first marriage, the union ended in divorce after one year.

Known as “Ole Blue Eyes,” the “Chairman of the Board,” or the “Greatest Entertainer of the 20th Century,” Ava called him Francis.  Of all the men with whom Ava was linked throughout her life, no man had a greater impact on her than the legendary crooner, Frank Sinatra. 

Frank Sinatra was Ava’s third and last husband, and “the love of her life.”  Their relationship was often flawed with bouts of jealousy and conflict over real and imagined infidelities.  Ava’s film career was as solid as Frank’s was shaky, and she worked diligently to support him in every possible way. With a personal appeal to Harry Cohn, head of Columbia Pictures, Ava helped Sinatra to secure his Oscar-winning role of “Maggio” in the 1953 film From Here to Eternity. 

Unable to reconcile their differences or find common ground to continue their marriage, the couple was divorced on October 29, 1957.  Sinatra was known to live by the creed, “once a friend, always a friend,” and he and Ava remained friends until her death in 1990.  People magazine profiled Frank and Ava’s marriage as one of the “Romances of the Century,” and Ava never remarried after their divorce.

Ava Gardner had small “walk-on” roles in fifteen MGM movies before her career began to prosper.  In 1946, Ava landed her first starring role in the United Artists production, Whistle Stop, opposite George Raft.  Later that same year, MGM loaned Ava to Universal Studios to play femme fatale Kitty Collins in the classic film noir, The Killers.  Starring with new-comer Burt Lancaster in this adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s short story, critics and movie audiences alike took notice of Ava’s performance.  Her success in The Killers led to other roles as Hemingway heroines, including Cynthia Street in The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Lady Brett Ashley in The Sun Also Rises. 

Loaned to universal Studios for a second time, Ava was only 25 years old when she was perfectly cast as the goddess of love, or Venus Jones in One Touch of Venus.  She was chosen over accomplished stage actress Mary Martin, who portrayed the role in the original Broadway production.  With the success of One Touch of Venus, Ava was on her way to becoming a Hollywood legend.

The Critic’s Choice

Ava’s first recognition by the motion picture industry came in 1953 with a “Best Actress” Oscar nomination for her performance as the wisecracking “Honey Bear” Kelly in Mogambo.  For a second time, Ava was teamed with box-office legend Clark Gable in the African adventure, a remake of the 1932 film Red Dust.  Gable repeated his gruff masculine role from the original production while Grace Kelly replaced Mary Astor, and Ava Gardner weighed in for Jean Harlow. Ava’s second tribute to her acting talent came in 1964 when she received a Golden Globe nomination for her role as Maxine in the film version of The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams.  She was awarded the San Sebastian International Film Festival award as “Best Actress” in 1964 for her role in Iguana, which also starred Richard Burton and Deborah Kerr.

In 1950, Ava was chosen over several screen legends by MGM to portray the role of Julie Laverne in Show Boat, one of the greatest musicals of all time.  Heralding a new direction for MGM’s trademark musicals, the mature themes of alcoholism and racism that Show Boat introduced were a stark contrast to the typical MGM production.  The character of Julie Laverne, a mulatto, was the primary embodiment of these themes as she attempted to drown her sorrows in drink after being abandoned by her white husband.  Although some columnists and studio brass complained that awarding Ava Gardner such a plum role was a mistake, MGM executive George Sidney was determined.  Ava’s career had blossomed, and by the end of 1950, MGM’s publicity department was sending out black-and-white photos of Ava to the tune of 3,000 requests per week.  Only Esther Williams could boast better numbers. 

Although Ava got along with the cast and crew extremely well, the project was not without tensions.  Dedicated to the role, Ava took voice lessons and received genuine support from the cast and crew for her singing during the Show Boat filming.  However, producer Arthur Freed, the mastermind behind MGM’s musicals, demanded that Ava’s voice be dubbed, and he won.  Angry at the studio’s manipulation, Ava never forgave MGM, but while Annette Warren dubbed her voice for the film, her natural singing voice did appear on the original cast sound track.

The filming of Pandora and the Flying Dutchman in 1951 changed the life of Ava Gardner forever as she experienced international travel for the first time.  Exploring the sights of England between costume fittings and Spain during the filming, Ava found that she loved the freedom and privacy offered by the international  scene. 

Ava’s next major overseas project was The Barefoot Contessa in 1954. With this film, Ava was billed as “the most beautiful animal in the world,” and truly achieved international stardom.  While filming The Barefoot Contessa, she learned to dance the flamenco, attended bullfights, and came to love all things Spanish. The following year, Ava would choose Spain as her new home. 

International Ava

In December of 1955, Ava left the glitz and glamour of Hollywood and moved to LaMoralija, a suburb of Madrid, Spain, where shed lived for more than 12 years.  Ava had grown weary of the demands of stardom, her marriage to Frank Sinatra was ending, and she had felt a special kinship with the Spanish people since fliming The Barefoot Contessa on location in Spain the year before. 

Ava traveled to Spain with her personal assistant and companion, Reenie Jordan, and enjoyed exploring the Spanish countryside and living a private life out of the media spotlight.  Ava took Spanish lessons to feel less like a tourist, frequently attended bullfights and danced  the flamenco in local nightclubs.  She bought a home named “La Bruja,”  or “The Witch,”  filled it with new furniture, books, and records, and for the first time since leaving North Carolina, felt at home. 

Although she enjoyed the solitude of the countryside, Ava also began to miss the excitement of the city, and she moved from LaMoralija and rented an apartment in Madrid.  One of her neighbors was none other than Juan Peron, the ex-dictator from Argentina.  After several disagreements with the infamous Peron, and local authorities claiming she owed back taxes to Spain, Ava packed up and moved to London in 1968. 

In 1968, Ava moved to London where she lived the rest of her life after purchasing an apartment at 34 Ennismore Gardens.  Life in London included attending concerts in Albert Hall, going for walks with her dog in Hyde Park, and shopping at the legendary Harrod’s department store. 

During all her years abroad, Ava continued her film career, making twenty-one motion pictures, two made for television movies (A.D. and The Long Hot Summer), and multiple appearances in Knot’s Landing, a CBS prime-time drama. 

Although she lived abroad for over 35 years, Ava retained her American citizenship and visited her family in North Carolina as often as possible.