Timeline

  • Born on Christmas Eve 1922, Ava says she had a happy childhood, and she adored her parents and her older siblings. She was the seventh and youngest child of Jonas and Mollie Gardner. Although born during The Great Depression in America, she said she “didn’t know she was poor because everyone was poor.” Communities survived and even thrived by sharing and trading food, goods, and services. Papa Gardner had a cotton gin and a sawmill. He built the house in which they lived from timber he cut and sawed into the lumber for the house. There was an acre garden and farm animals. The Gardner family had what they needed during this lean time in the rural south.

    The farm was lost during the worst of the agricultural depression and the Gardner’s took charge of the Brogden teacherage in 1925. A teacherage was a school system supported home for single teachers. In Brogden, it was located beside the school. Ava received lots of loving attention from the teachers in the house and grew to have great admiration and respect for teachers. For her, it was a noble profession.

    In 1934 when the teacherage was closed, the Gardners moved to Newport News, Virginia where Jonas and Mollie Gardner ran a boarding house for shipyard workers.

  • In May of 1938, while living in Virginia, Jonas passed away. Mama Gardner struggled to keep the boarding house running. This was the most difficult time for Mollie and Ava. This is the point at which Ava felt very poor. Fortunately, a position for Mollie opened in Rock Ridge, NC for Mollie to run a teacherage once again. Ava finished high school and attended Atlantic Christian College in nearby Wilson completing a one-year secretarial course in which she excelled.

    In the summer of 1939, she visited her sister Beatrice in New York City. Her brother-in-law, Larry Tarr, owned a photography shop and photographed Ava. He placed these photos in the window of his shop and a Loew’s messenger noticed them and came in to try to get Ava’s number to call to ask for a date. Of course, he did not get her number, but this gave Beatrice and Larry the idea of presenting the photos to MGM. Ava was granted a screen test and subsequently awarded a seven-year contract.

  • Ava arrived in Hollywood on August 23, 1941. She spent the first five years in the photo gallery doing publicity photos. She also had small walk-on roles in many movies.

    Ava had success in the movie, Whistle Stop in 1946. The notice she received with this role led to her break-out role in The Killers with Burt Lancaster. Her career was launched, and she began learning her craft and developing her skills as an accomplished actress. The Killers is a noir defining movie and has been restored by the American Film Institute. Roles in The Hucksters with Clark Gable followed and in Singapore with Fred McMurray.

    The year 1948 brought One Touch of Venus with Robert Walker. This is a delightful comedy. The publicity stills are among the most beautiful photographs of Ava.

    The year 1949 was very busy for Ava. Three movies were released: The Bribe with Robert Taylor, The Great Sinner with Gregory Peck, and East Side, West Side with James Mason. Ava went on to do two more movies with Gregory Peck: The Snows of Kilimanjaro and On the Beach. Ava and Gregory became life-long friends. Ava worked again with Robert Taylor in the 1954 release Knights of the Round Table. Also, Ava went on to do two more movies with James Mason: Pandora and the Flying Dutchman and Mayerling. Pandora and the Flying Dutchman has also been restored by the American Film Institute.

  • A year after arriving in Hollywood, Ava married Mickey Rooney on January 10, 1942. During this time Mickey introduced her to Hollywood nightlife, and she met and became friends with the film and music stars of the era. Their marriage lasted only a year. Ava and Mickey were divorced on May 21, 1943 due to his infidelity. Sadly, Ava’s beloved mother died the same day.

    On October 17, 1945, she married musician, bandleader, and composer Artie Shaw. This marriage was also fated to be short lived. They were divorced on October 24, 1946. Artie was emotionally and verbally abusive and seriously damaged Ava’s self-confidence, but Ava credits him with instilling in her a love of learning.

    The beginning of the 1950’s brought her marriage to Frank Sinatra on November 7, 1951. Frank was unfaithful to Ava, and by December of 1955 the marriage was over, and Ava moved to Spain. Although an ocean apart, she did not dissolve her marriage to Frank until July 5, 1957.

  • For the next ten years, Ava lived in Spain and immersed herself in the culture of the country. She loved the people and their customs. She enjoyed the flamenco and the nightlife. She spent the decade having fun and many adventures exploring Spain and the world.

    The decade of the 1950s brought Ava international stardom and some of the best roles of her career. The decade began with Pandora and the Flying Dutchman and Show Boat. Ava filmed 14 major movies during this decade including some of her most memorable and recognized works: Mogambo, The Barefoot Contessa, and On the Beach. Ava received an Academy Award nomination for best actress for her role in Mogambo. She traveled around the world, 5200 air miles, promoting The Barefoot Contessa. On the Beach remains a significant social and political film relevant in today’s world.

  • Beyond the decade of the 50’s, Ava was unencumbered with her MGM studio contract. On the Beach in 1959 was her first film as an independent actress and from that point on, she was very selective of the roles she accepted. Later films of note are Seven Days in May, The Night of the Iguana, The Bible: In the Beginning…, and Earthquake. The latter remains a favorite movie shown at film festivals around the globe. In this classic disaster film, Ava did her own stunt work.

    In 1968 Ava moved to London where she spent the rest of her life. She worked occasionally and lived more sedately. She enjoyed her many friends and going to the theatre. She particularly enjoyed her walks in Hyde Park with her beloved Corgis. She took pride in her elegantly furnished home and enjoyed entertaining her friends. She was a great cook!

    Ava worked in both film and television through 1986 when she suffered a stroke and died on January 25, 1990.

  • During her career, she received recognition and accolades from critics, fans, and film festivals the world over earning Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA acting nominations along the way. At the peak of her studio career, Ava left her hand and footprints at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, and, in 1960, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Ava has been celebrated with a bronze statue of her overlooking the coast of Spain, and she’s been featured on stamps in at least eight countries. The American Film Institute named Ava one of the 50 greatest screen legends of the 20th Century. England has remembered Ava Gardner with a blue plaque marker on her London residence. Her home state of North Carolina has honored her with two historic markers – one near the site where she graduated high school in the community of Rock Ridge and one at her gravesite at Sunset Memorial Park in Smithfield.

“Ava was a human of extraordinary human quality. Talking about her beauty is useless because it was perfect. It was a hindrance to her to be so beautiful though she didn’t give a damn about it. She wasn’t smug, she didn’t wear makeup, she didn’t need anything. She was always natural. She had an immense capacity for physical recovery: one hour of sleep was enough to work ten hours in a row.  What many people ignore is that she had as much moral as physical beauty. She was a woman for whom there were no laws, only her own impulses. She didn’t think with her head but with her heart. She was pure instinct and had no brake. Money wasn’t important to her. She was selfless and very generous, a very good friend with immense loyalty and gave herself completely. She was a constantly misunderstood woman, whom I loved very, very much.”

— Luis Miguel Dominguin, Bullfighter