Ava Gardner
Actor
Born December 24, 1922 in Grabtown, North Carolina, USA
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.
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
On the Beach
Moira Davidson
The Naked Maja
Maria Teresa, duchess of Alba, nicknamed Cayetana
The Sun Also Rises
Lady Brett Ashley
The Little Hut
Lady Susan Ashlow
Bhowani Junction
Victoria Jones
The Barefoot Contessa
Maria Vargas
Knights of the Round Table
Guinevere
Mogambo
Eloise Y. Kelly
The Band Wagon
Ava Gardner (uncredited)
Ride, Vaquero!
Cordelia Cameron
Lone Star
Martha Ronda
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Cynthia Green
Show Boat
Julie LaVerne
My Forbidden Past
Barbara Beaurevel
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
Pandora Reynolds
The Costume Designer
Self (archive footage)
What's My Line?
Self
East Side, West Side
Isabel Lorrison
The Great Sinner
Pauline Ostrovsky
The Bribe
Elizabeth Hintten
One Touch of Venus
Venus
Singapore
Linda Grahame / Ann Van Leyden
The Hucksters
Jean Ogilvie
The Killers
Kitty Collins
Whistle Stop
Mary
She Went to the Races
Hilda Spotts
I'm a Civilian Here Myself
Dream Girl (uncredited)
Blonde Fever
Minor Role (uncredited)
Maisie Goes to Reno
Gloria Fullerton
Two Girls and a Sailor
Dream Girl (uncredited)
3 Men in White
Jean Brown
Twenty Years After
(archive footage)
Lost Angel
Hat Check Girl (uncredited)
Swing Fever
Receptionist (uncredited)
Du Barry Was a Lady
Perfume Girl (uncredited)
Young Ideas
Co-ed (uncredited)
Ghosts on the Loose
Betty
Hitler's Madman
Franciska Pritric (uncredited)
Reunion in France
Marie, Parisian shopgirl (uncredited)
Mighty Lak a Goat
Girl at Theatre Boxoffice
Calling Dr. Gillespie
Student (uncredited)
Sunday Punch
Ringsider (uncredited)
Kid Glove Killer
Car Hop (uncredited)
This Time for Keeps
Girl in Car Lighting Cigarette (uncredited)
Joe Smith, American
Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited)
We Do It Because
Lucretia Borgia (uncredited)
H.M. Pulham, Esq.
Young Socialite (uncredited)
Shadow of the Thin Man
Passerby at Racetrack (uncredited)
Strange Testament
Waitress (uncredited)
Fancy Answers
Girl at Recital