Ava Gardner was born on December 24, 1922 in Brogden, North
Carolina. On January 25, 1990 Ava Gardner passed away in Westminister,
London, England from bronchial pneumonia.
In 1995 Ava Gardner was chosen by Empire magazine as one
of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#68).
With zero acting experience, Ava Gardner's first 17 film
roles, 1942-5, were one-line bits or little better. At age
18, Ava's picture in the window of her brother-in- law's New
York photo studio brought her to the attention of MGM, leading
quickly to Hollywood and a film contract based strictly on
her beauty.
In the 1951 SHOWBOAT film Ava Gardner's singing voice was
dubbed by Annette Warren, although her voice is left in on
the soundtrack album. This happend in most of her movies with
MGM. A promotion for THE LITTLE HUT (1957), a small island
in Fiji was renamed Ava Ava and leased to a contest winner.
Flamenco became one of Ava's favorite pastimes after she
learned it for THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA (1954).
When shooting EARTHQUAKE, in 1974, Ave surprised director
Mark Robson by insisting that she do her own stuntwork, which
included dodging blocks of concrete and heavy steel pipes.
Part of ON THE BEACH (1959) was filmed in a Berwick, a suburb
of Melbourne. Ava had a street which was being developed at
the time named after her. It is of course called "Gardner
Street." In a 1950s publicity compaign Ava Gardner was named
The World's Most Beautiful Animal.
Ava Gardner is portrayed in several films: THE AVIATOR (2004)
by Kate Beckinsale, by Marcia GAY HARDEN in Sinatra (1992-TV),
by Deborah Kara Unger in THE RAT PACK (1998-TV) and by Jon
Mack in INTRODUCING DOROTHY DANRIDGE (1999-TV).
In 1985 Ava Gardner spent one season as a cast member of
the TV series FALCON CREST. Shortly before Ava's death she
completed an autobiography, "Ava," which was published posthumously
in 1990.
Ava Gardner's other notable credits include...
