Golden Age of Hollywood: Films, Books and Stars of Classic Hollywood

Ava Gardner in a still from Mogambo (1953)

Scandals and rivalries / Ava Gardner

What Ava Gardner said about Frank Sinatra: he was the love of her life

In her autobiography, Gardner named Sinatra the love of her life. Her taped talks with ghostwriter Peter Evans, which stopped after she learned Sinatra had once sued him, also recorded the cheating and the fights.

5 min read

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Scandals and rivalries / Frank Sinatra
“He’s still pissed at you”: What happened to the men who kidnapped Frank Sinatra Jr.
Barry Keenan, Johnny Irwin and Joe Amsler were caught within days of the 1963 kidnapping but served only fractions of their long sentences, and the mastermind ended up a successful real estate developer.
4 min read · 5 Nov 2026
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Scandals and rivalries / Frank Sinatra
Why Frank Sinatra Went to Jail: Seduction, Adultery & a $500 Bond
Frank Sinatra spent less than 16 hours in jail in 1938 on a seduction charge that collapsed when his accuser turned out to be married. A reported adultery charge was dropped too.
6 min read · 4 Nov 2026
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Scandals and rivalries / Ava Gardner
“You’re a symbol!”: Why Ava Gardner married Mickey Rooney when MGM wanted them apart
Ava Gardner married Mickey Rooney in 1942 because he kept asking, not because she loved him. MGM, protecting Andy Hardy, held the wedding in a remote town.
3 min read · 27 Oct 2026
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Scandals and rivalries / Frank Sinatra
Why Frank Sinatra divorced Mia Farrow during the filming of Rosemary’s Baby
Sinatra’s lawyer served Farrow with divorce papers in November 1967, after a film overrun kept her from The Detective. Farrow later blamed their age difference, and in 2013 she said they never really split up.
4 min read · 26 Oct 2026
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Star profile / Ava Gardner
How Ava Gardner’s character dies in The Barefoot Contessa, and how Gardner herself died in 1990
Maria Vargas, the Madrid dancer turned film star Gardner played in 1954, is murdered by her jealous husband. Gardner died of pneumonia in London in January 1990, and the rain at her funeral put some mourners in mind of the film.
6 min read · 25 Oct 2026
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