Known For
Acting
Born
Dec 24, 1922
Died
Jan 25, 1990
Place of Birth
Grabtown, North Carolina, USA
Credits
101 titles
Ava Gardner
Biography
Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Considered one of the most iconic stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, she was ranked as the 25th greatest female screen legend by the American Film Institute. Initially cast in minor roles, her breakthrough came with the classic film noir The Killers (1946), which established her as a leading lady. Her career flourished in the 1950s with notable performances in films like Mogambo (1953), for which she received an Academy Award nomination, The Barefoot Contessa (1954), and The Night of the Iguana (1964), which earned her a BAFTA nomination. Off-screen, Gardner's personal life and progressive politics attracted significant attention. Her marriages to Mickey Rooney and Artie Shaw were gossiped about, but her tumultuous relationship with Frank Sinatra particularly headlined. Gardner was a strong supporter of racial equality and desegregation, and became a member of the NAACP in 1968. Gardner was a heavy smoker, which deteriorated her health as she grew older. She continued acting in minor roles in the 1980s before she suffered a stroke in 1986 and retired. Gardner moved to Spain and England, where she spent her final years before passing away from bronchopneumonia on January 25, 1990.
Known For
Filmography
Kennedy, Sinatra and the Mafia
Self (archive footage)
Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields
Self (archive footage)
Rat Pack
Self (archive footage)
Beautiful Like a Poem
Self (archive footage)
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
Ava Gardner, the Gypsy of Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
Chavela
Self (archive footage)
Ava Gardner: Life Is Bigger Than the Movies
Self (archive footage)
Iconic Couples of Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
Fallout
Self (archive footage)
All Night Long
Self (archive footage)
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
Pandora Reynolds / Maria Vargas (archive footage)
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1950s: The Golden Era of the Musical
Self (archive)
De Madrid a la Luna
Self (archive footage)
Frank Sinatra glömde aldrig Finspång
Self (archive footage)
Året var 1953
Self (archive footage)
Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies
archive footage
Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century
Self (archive footage)
That's Entertainment! III
(archive footage)
Intimate Portrait
Self
Legends of the West
Lily Langtry in 'The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean' (archive footage) (uncredited)
John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick
Self (archive footage)
Maggie
Diane Webb
Harem
Kadin
Harem
Kadin
The Long Hot Summer
Minnie Littlejohn
A.D.
Agrippina
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
(in "The Killers" / "The Bribe") (archive footage)
Regina Roma
Mama
Priest of Love
Mabel Dodge Luhan
The Kidnapping of the President
Beth Richards
Knots Landing
Ruth Sumner Galveston
City on Fire
Maggie Grayson
The Sentinel
Helen Logan
Kolossal - The Magnificent Macisti
Self - Maria Cayetana, Duchess of Alba (archive footage)
The Cassandra Crossing
Nicole Dressler
The Blue Bird
Luxury
Permission to Kill
Katina Petersen
Earthquake
Remy Royce-Graff
That's Entertainment!
(archive footage) (uncredited)
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
Lily Langtry
The Ballad of Tam Lin
Michaela Cazaret
Mayerling
Empress Elisabeth of Austria
The Bible: In the Beginning...
Sarah
The Night of the Iguana
Maxine Faulk
On the Trail of the Iguana
Self
Seven Days in May
Eleanor Holbrook
55 Days at Peking
Baroness Natalie Ivanoff
La Rabbia
Self (archive footage)
The Angel Wore Red
Soledad