Ava Gardner

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Birthday:

24 December 1922, Grabtown, North Carolina, USA

Birth Name:

Ava Lavinia Gardner

Height:

168 cm

Ava Lavina Gardner was born on December 24, 1922 in Grabtown, North Carolina, to Mary Elizabeth (née Baker) and Jonas Bailey Gardner. Born on a tobacco farm, where she got her lifelong love of earthy language and going barefoot, Ava grew up in the rural South. At age 18, her 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. With zero acting experience, her first 17 film roles, 1942-1945, were one-line bits or little better. After her first starring role in B-grade Whistle Stop (1946), MGM loaned her to Universal for her first outstanding film The Killers (1946). Few of her best films were made at MGM which, keeping her under contract for 17 years, used her popularity to sell many mediocre films. Perhaps as a result, she never believed in her own acting ability, but her latent talent shone brightly when brought out by a superior director, as with John Ford in Mogambo (1953) and George Cukor in Bhowani Junction (1956).After three failed marriages, dissatisfaction with Hollywood life prompted Ava to move to Spain in 1955; most of her subsequent films were made abroad. By this time, stardom had made the country girl a cosmopolitan, but she never overcame a deep insecurity about acting and life in the spotlight. Her last quality starring film role was in The Night of the Iguana (1964), her later work being (as she said) strictly "for the loot". In 1968, tax trouble in Spain prompted a move to London, where she spent her last 22 years in reasonable comfort. Her film career did not bring her great fulfillment, but her looks may have made it inevitable; many fans still consider her the most beautiful actress in Hollywood history. Ava Gardner died at age 67 of bronchial pneumonia on January 25, 1990 in Westminister, London, England. Show less «

All I ever got out of any of my marriages was the two years Artie Shaw financed on an analyst's couch.

I have only one rule in acting -- trust the director and give him heart and soul.

When I lose my temper, honey, you can't find it any place.

I don't understand people who like to work and talk about it like it was some sort of goddamn duty. Doing nothing feels like floating on war...Show more »

I don't understand people who like to work and talk about it like it was some sort of goddamn duty. Doing nothing feels like floating on warm water to me. Delightful, perfect. Show less «

I must have seen more sunrises than any other actress in the history of Hollywood.

I haven't taken an overdose of sleeping pills and called my agent. I haven't been in jail, and I don't go running to the psychiatrist every ...Show more »

I haven't taken an overdose of sleeping pills and called my agent. I haven't been in jail, and I don't go running to the psychiatrist every two minutes. That's something of an accomplishment these days. Show less «

Nobody ever called it an intellectual profession.

I couldn't imagine a better place [Melbourne, Australia] for making a film on the end of the world.

Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.

After my screen test, the director clapped his hands gleefully and yelled, "She can't talk! She can't act! She's sensational!"

Everybody kisses everybody else in this crummy business all the time. It's the kissiest business in the world.

What's the point? My face, shall we say, looks lived in.

I made it as a star dressed, and if it ain't dressed, I don't want it.

I wish to live until 150 years old but the day I die, I wish it to be with a cigarette in one hand and a glass of whiskey in the other.

[in 1985, on why she came out of retirement to appear on a prime-time soap opera] For the loot, honey, for the loot.

What I'd really like to say about stardom is that it gave me everything I never wanted.

Maybe I just didn't have the temperament for stardom. I'll never forget seeing Bette Davis at the Hilton in Madrid. I went up to her and sai...Show more »

Maybe I just didn't have the temperament for stardom. I'll never forget seeing Bette Davis at the Hilton in Madrid. I went up to her and said, "Miss Davis, I'm Ava Gardner and I'm a great fan of yours." And do you know, she behaved exactly as I wanted her to behave. "Of course you are, my dear," she said. "Of course you are." And she swept on. Now that's a star. Show less «

Although no one believes me, I have always been a country girl and still have a country girl's values.

[on Robert Taylor] I knew him as a warm, generous, intelligent human being. Our love affair lasted three, maybe four months. A magical littl...Show more »

[on Robert Taylor] I knew him as a warm, generous, intelligent human being. Our love affair lasted three, maybe four months. A magical little interlude. I've never forgotten those few hidden months. I think Bob, despite all his efforts, couldn't break the mold of the beautiful lover. The film world remembers him that way, and I have to say that I do, too. Show less «

I can't bear to face a camera. But I never brought anything to this business and I have no respect for acting. Maybe if I had learned someth...Show more »

I can't bear to face a camera. But I never brought anything to this business and I have no respect for acting. Maybe if I had learned something it would be different. But I never did anything to be proud of. Show less «

[when asked if her time at MGM had been any fun at all] Christ, after 17 years of slavery, you can ask that question? I hated it, honey. I m...Show more »

[when asked if her time at MGM had been any fun at all] Christ, after 17 years of slavery, you can ask that question? I hated it, honey. I mean, I'm not exactly stupid or without feeling, and they tried to sell me like a prize hog. Show less «

[on her career] Christ, what did I ever do worth talking about? Every time I tried to act, they stepped on me. That's why it's such a goddam...Show more »

[on her career] Christ, what did I ever do worth talking about? Every time I tried to act, they stepped on me. That's why it's such a goddamn shame, I've been a movie star for 25 years and I've got nothing, nothing, to show for it. Show less «

I really had very little to contribute, so I played a lot of hatcheck girls, and did mob scenes, extra scenes, dancing scenes, just to have ...Show more »

I really had very little to contribute, so I played a lot of hatcheck girls, and did mob scenes, extra scenes, dancing scenes, just to have the experience of being on a set. I spent years at that. If the studio wanted a photograph to advertise a film they'd say, 'Who is it that has a good pair of legs and a good pair of breasts and is pretty and not working?' And it was always Ava because she was never working. Show less «

[on her first screen test] There wasn't a thing that I could do. I couldn't act--I was the first to be eliminated in high school plays. I ha...Show more »

[on her first screen test] There wasn't a thing that I could do. I couldn't act--I was the first to be eliminated in high school plays. I had no training whatsoever. I was just a pretty little girl. But I loved the idea, because I loved movies. Show less «

God knows I've got so many frailties myself, I ought to be able to understand and forgive them in others. But I don't.

[on her role in The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966)] I've never thought of myself as right for this type of part. But John [John Huston] s...Show more »

[on her role in The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966)] I've never thought of myself as right for this type of part. But John [John Huston] said he had faith that I could do it. Now I am glad I listened to him. Sarah is a wonderful role. She is a selfless woman who gives her maid servant Hagar to her husband when she herself cannot give Abraham a son. Later she is blessed by God and gives birth to a son, at 90. This is one of the most beautiful love stories in the Bible. Show less «

[on why she had an abortion during her marriage to Frank Sinatra] We couldn't even take care of ourselves. How were we going to take care of...Show more »

[on why she had an abortion during her marriage to Frank Sinatra] We couldn't even take care of ourselves. How were we going to take care of a baby? Show less «

(on why she came out of retirement to appear on a soap opera) For the loot, honey, for the loot.