Ava Gardner #1

[scriptgirl]

ebay

 

[pinkballoons]

Some screencaps I took of her getting off the train in The Band Wagon, I loved her little bit in the film! ^^

 

[Ziegfeld Girl]

^ Thank you. I've loved her cameo in the film too.

 

[nmyngan]

wow, she looks so gorgeous...

simplyclassics

 

[scriptgirl]

ebay

 

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todos

 

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todos

 

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hollywood reporter

Ava lives

Ava Gardner's 1959 date with Fidel Castro is detailed in a new biography of her. Castro took her on a tour of his headquarters at the Havana Hilton, Lee Server writes in "Love Is Nothing," and they drank Cuba Libres while sitting on a balcony overlooking the city. Gardner went for him even though his socks didn't match, says the author.clips

 

[scriptgirl]

The Spectator

AVA GARDNER by Lee Server Bloomsbury, £20, pp. 550 ISBN 0747565473 . £16 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655

Why are we so interested in biographies of the old film stars? I don't think our children will be. I can't see them reading 550 pages, the length of this book, about the lives of far better actors like George Clooney or Gwyneth Paltrow. But then we don't see the stars as actors. For that period straddling the middle of the last century we really came to believe the old gods were back.

This illusion was the achievement of the Hollywood studios, in particular of the Eastern European Jews who ran them, and were some of the most appalling human beings who have ever walked the earth.

According to Lee Server, L. B. Mayer of MGM 'routinely' groped the breasts of the adolescent Judy Garland, and Arthur Freed, the producer of The Wizard of Oz, exposed himself to the 12-year-old Shirley Temple.

But we knew none of this; all we knew was that after an absence of 1,000 years the gods were amongst us again.

Like the gods they lived apart, appearing to us, like them, as visions of heroism and loveliness, in their case in films. The irony is that off-stage they also behaved like the gods:

they drank, they quarrelled, and they humped (the teenage midget Mickey Rooney, who seems to have had a gift for alliteration, revealing of his affair with Norma Shearer, Thalberg's middle-aged widow, that 'she was hotter than a half****ed fox in a forest fire'). But the studio's publicists managed to keep all this from us, which is why these biographies are so fascinating. Asgard was a mad place. Still the men behind the gods had done their work well:

the creatures they chose and moulded were fascinating in themselves.

I remember that great 20th-century thinker Burt Lancaster telling me, 'When a man's face is nine feet across in close-up he has to have ... something.' Lancaster was explaining the difference between actors and film stars, in the intervals between explaining such diverse topics as the Risorgimento and transsexuality ('That's when you have a ****. And balls. And you don't want 'em.'). But there was something else apart from their nine-foot faces which made the stars fascinating, and gives their biographies, particularly those of the women, such a dying fall: unlike the gods, they grew old.

Burt, who had something to say on most things, had something to say on this as well.

'These old dames, they go on. They're 50, they're fading. They can't cope. They sit in make-up chairs for five hours, with straps holding their faces up.' After which there is just the withdrawal from public life, the darkened rooms, the small dogs walked at midnight, the booze, and the silence. Which, more or less, is the story of Ava Gardner.

It starts when, a farmer's daughter from the mid-West, she was discovered at 17 by a talent scout who saw her picture in the window of a small-town photographer's shop.

It ends with booze and small dogs in the exile of a South Kensington flat, all directors and publicists and lovers fallen away, especially the lovers. Lee Server's main concern is with her sex life.

Until I read his book all I knew about this was the story told by her second husband, the clarinetist Artie Shaw, in the course of a newspaper interview. Newly married, Shaw found himself impotent and went to see a doctor. The man, who seems to have known nothing about his private life, advised him to imagine he was making love to someone else, to Ava Gardner say. Shaw said he did not have the nerve to tell him that it was Ava Gardner. It is such a touching little story, and so human, but Lee Server does not mention it. His concern is with the love goddess.

First there was Mickey Rooney. Ava was 19 and a virgin, but immediately 'her body gave proof of what for months her words and the prohibitive snap of her thighs had declared'. How does he know? More to the point, how does he know the rest of it?

She would signal her need with a smouldering look or a provocatively raised eyebrow or come to greet him in a pair of panties and nothing else. Or dispense with subtleties altogether, growling at him, 'Let's ****.' By Rooney's reckoning she was custom designed for intercourse.

It is that kind of book, with that kind of language. The two were, of course, divorced within a year.

And then there was Artie Shaw. And Howard Hughes, whom she didn't go to bed with because he stank and had VD; it is a very subtle book, this. And Frank Sinatra, who weighed 119 pounds, 19 pounds of which, Ava told a girl friend, was his penis, though she told Shaw, her ex-husband, that going to bed with Sinatra was like going to bed with a woman. And then, as her own film parts got bigger, her co-stars.

There was David Niven, who mourning the death of his first wife, suffered from 'a nearperpetual erection, relief from which he found in the procreative recesses of all the alluring Hollywood females who would have him'. There's words, as the barmaid told Dylan Thomas.

And there was Kirk Douglas, one of nature's gentlemen, who later recalled their love for each other. 'Being a Jew I always fasted on Yom Kippur. And let me tell you, it's not easy to make love to Ava Gardner on an empty stomach.' After that there were bullfighters and beachboys, and moments of advice to young actresses from a long life. One was:

'You need to get the **** out of Spain, because the guys all have little dicks and they'll **** you in the *** before you can get your panties off.' How much of this I can believe, I'm not sure.

But something I do, and treasure, is Donald Sinden's recollection of how she once took a bath in front of him. Nothing happened, said Sinden, because she was in the habit of stealing food from his plate, which irritated him intensely. In such moments it is the doors which bang in Asgard.

Somewhere, in between all this, films got made, most of which I have seen and cannot remember.She was only a farmer's daughter . . .

 

[scriptgirl]

compton's

(1922–90), U.S. actress. Ava Gardner was born on Dec. 24, 1922, near Smithfield, N.C. She broke into show business after pictures of her reached MGM offices in 1941. She entranced moviegoers and overseas troops during World War II. The height of her fame came with her performance in ‘The Night of the Iguana' in 1964. Other films include ‘Whistle Stop' (1946), ‘The Killers' (1946), ‘The Hucksters' (1947), ‘Show Boat' (1951), and ‘Mogambo' (1953).

 

[scriptgirl]

tv predictions

an. 2: Ava Gardner, The HD Hottie Classic
The one-time sexpot can be seen in high-def today in The Barefoot Contessa.
By Allison Moore

Washington, D.C. (January 2, 2009) -- Following our extremely popular contest, 'HD Hottie Hysteria,' we've started a new feature in which we will highlight a top female star every day. The gorgeous female will come from a program that can be seen in gorgeous high-def that very day.

Today's 'HD Hottie' is Ava Gardner, who can be seen in high-def in The Barefoot Contessa at 1:50 p.m. ET on MGM HD.

The actress, who died in 1990 at the age of 68, was born in Johnson County, North Carolina. Her career began at 18 when a studio employee spotted her photo among a collection of shots in a photography shop.

After appearing in several small roles in unmemorable films such as Hitler's Madmen and Babes on Broadway, Ava got her first big break in the 1947 film, The Hucksters. She then went on to star in such classic films as Show Boat, Mogambo, The Barefoot Contessa, The Sun Also Rises and On the Beach.

However, her career was often overshadowed by her torrid personal relationships with such high-profile male celebrities as Frank Sinatra, Mickey Rooney, Ernest Hemingway, Howard Hughes and band leader Artie Shaw.

 

[scriptgirl]

pittsburgh live

Question: I remember a remake of the movie "The Long Hot Summer" on TV. Did it star Don Johnson? Is it on DVD? I can't remember who played the female lead.

Answer: All you Don Johnson fans -- I know you're out there -- will be pleased to know that he did, indeed, star in that 1985 TV-movie remake, opposite Cybill Shepherd. Also in the cast were Ava Gardner, Jason Robards and Judith Ivey. It isn't on DVD.

 

[scriptgirl]

My NC

JOHNSTON COUNTY, N.C. -
Some families in Johnston County who tired of holiday shopping found an alternative Friday: a trip to the Ava Gardner museum on East Market Street in Smithfield.

Gardner was born near Smithfield in 1922.

Even though she is one of the most famous American actresses, new generations are visiting the museum to learn about her, said Executive Director Karen Miller Anderson.

The holiday season is particularly busy, Anderson said.

The museum shows a short film about Gardner's life and exhibits photographs, paintings, and costumes.
"It's kind of interesting that she grew up from humble beginnings and she was discovered out of really luck more than anything and had such a marvelous career," said Ben Geller of Clayton, who visited the museum Friday morning.
For information, call (919) 934-5830

 

[scriptgirl]

Inquirer.net

It’s all in the eyes
By Behn Cervantes
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 18:05:00 01/02/2009

Filed Under: Entertainment (general), Celebrities
MANILA, Philippines—They say that the eyes are the windows of the soul.

Some of Hollywood’s legendary stars are known for their eyes: Elizabeth Taylor’s blue-violet orbs helped convey the emotions of her complex characters in “Taming of the Shrew” and “Cleopatra.” Ava Gardner’s arched eyebrows and green eyes gave her a distinct, cat-like look when she portrayed characters like Pandora and Venus.

Style

Audrey Hepburn’s unconventional features included thick eyebrows and big eyes that lent style and character to the roles that brought her fame: A lonely princess gone AWOL, a nun and a cockney flower vendor-turned-Fair Lady. Sophia Loren’s lynx-like green eyes and distinctive eyebrows are best remembered in her roles as a Spanish peasant and Sicilian sexpot.

You can’t talk about eyes and not recall Greta Garbo’s expressive eyes and thin, arched eyebrows. With those eyes, she was Catherine the Great, Ninotchka and Camille. Equally memorable were Marlene Dietrich’s orbs in her movies in the 1930s and late ’50s.

Rivals Bette Davis and Joan Crawford owned peepers that allowed them to play royals and vamps with equal ease. While Bette exploited hers to convey the look of a victim, Crawford used hers to fight back!

 

[scriptgirl]

women on the web

Liz Smith: Ava, Liz and the Rest of Milton Greene's Fabulous Photos!
By Liz Smith

Amazon

"Whether you are born with it or catch it from a drinking fountain, she had it!” That was a line from the 1954 movie “The Barefoot Contessa” starring Ava Gardner.

The talky-but-brilliant Joe Mankiewicz script of “Contessa” sure did capture the nature of that elusive quality: the “little something extra” that makes a star. (As well as the sweaty PR machinations that manufacture such a star.)

Of course, Ava Gardner had considerably more than “a little something extra.” She was the total deluxe package; so beautiful in the flesh it seemed inconceivable that she was for real. And she was the real deal as an earthy dame, too.

I was reminded of the above quote when I opened up the big new photo book, But That’s Another Story: A Photographic Retrospective of Milton H. Greene.

There’s an incredible early 1950s shot of Ava right up front, full page. She is wearing a huge picture hat and a red silk blouse tied up around that fabulous midsection. The photo is so glorious it made me stop and remember Ava, the North Carolina bombshell, onscreen and off. Onscreen, she was so much better an actress than critics or she herself ever acknowledged. Watch “Mogambo,” “Show Boat,“ ”Bhowani Junction,” "On The Beach” and “Night of the Iguana,” and tell me this is not a powerful and moving performer. But she would always say, “I’m a lousy actress, I do it for the money, honey.”

My offscreen encounters with Ava came late in her career, during the 1974 filming of George Cukor’s ill-fated musical, “The Blue Bird.” This curiosity also starred Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda and Cicely Tyson. I was already an old acquaintance of Elizabeth, having practically lived with the Burtons during some of their world travels. She was no problem. Once you got to her.

Ava, however, couldn’t be cornered. She hated the press. If you wrote, you were the enemy. (This animus toward reporters is something she shared with her great love, Frank Sinatra.) So she just wouldn’t sit still for any kind of interview during the long, long production, during which the fragile Elizabeth – naturally – came down with a near-fatal case of dysentery! (The food was pretty bad.)

I got a lot of Ava info from the gossip grapevine – she was picking up Russian taxi drivers, she was causing a commotion here or there. At that point in her life, Ava had moved to London; she’d had enough of being an American expatriate in Spain. (And quite frankly, they’d had enough of her!) I don’t know how many of these “Bluebird” tales were true or just based on her exotic playgirl image.

So, Miss Gardner and I passed like ships in the night at the hotel where cast and crew (and pesky reporters) were lodged. We commented on the terrible quality of the toilet paper. Ava once stopped me on the back stairs, wearing her Southern Comfort sweatshirt and said, “Liz, we’ve got to stop meeting like this.” She was polite, because we shared a common friend, St. Clair Pugh, who grew up with Ava in North Carolina. He was always trying to convince Ava that I was not the devil, despite my occupation.


But having a conversation with Ava was not to be. Still, she was something. Something else! There will never be another like her.

——————————

Continuing my Russian reverie, just two pages later in the Milton Greene book there’s a picture of Elizabeth Taylor during the “Blue Bird” production! She is perched on the throne of Catherine the Great, in the Hermitage Museum.

Amy Greene, Milton’s wife, tells the backstory on this shot. It was taken on the sly. Russia in 1974 was still the Soviet Union, and KGB agents followed people everywhere. Even to photo shoots. (“The Blue Bird” was a then-historic Russian/USA movie collaboration.)

Elizabeth was not supposed to get on the throne. But when the Soviet agents left the room briefly, Milton urged La Liz to commit sacrilege. She agreed readily, perhaps feeling a kinship with Catherine and her rich love life. (Elizabeth used to say, “I only sleep with the men I marry!” Everybody gave her a pass on that whopper.)

But there was a problem with the light, Milton was fumbling and sweating; any minute the agents would come back and perhaps haul him – and the world’s most famous woman – into some Communist prison.

Even Elizabeth, who rarely gives a damn, was nervous, “Milti, for Christ’s sake, take the ****ing picture!” He did, and it ended up on the cover of People magazine.

ilton’s book has gotten a lot of press because of his association with his most famous subject, Marilyn Monroe. (He helped MM flee Hollywood and start her own production company. The relationship foundered, but Milton, who died in 1985, never spoke disparagingly of Monroe.) Indeed, Marilyn receives her own chapter, with many luminous shots, including one which shows her freckled, sunburnt and without makeup in Milton’s Connecticut pool. This is the most appealing and revealing photo of Monroe – the laughing, pretty girl, behind the sexpot image.

But other than Ava and Elizabeth and Marilyn, there are loads more in this book! Great fashion and advertising pictures – soigné models vamping for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. Milton also worked the PR for American Airlines, and there are wonderful pictures of movie stars – Doris Day, Rosalind Russell, Tippi Hedren, Esther Williams, Groucho Marx, Rock Hudson – boarding and disembarking, in the good old days of bringing the stairs right up to the aircraft, where it was all the better for glamorous posing.

Marvelous studio portraits abound – Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli and Sammy Davis Jr., Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, and many more! It is all enlivened by Amy Greene’s witty and informative commentary, she was on hand for almost every shoot. (Amy, and Milton’s sons, Joshua and Anthony, have been the careful keepers of Milton’s photographic portfolio.)

This is a beautiful book, and long overdue. Yes, Milton will be forever associated with Miss Monroe, her triumphs and her troubles, but before and after her, he did remarkable work.

For his family, especially, this luscious career celebration from PowerHouse Books puts Milton’s life and accomplishments in a more balanced perspective.

 

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