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Ava Gardner
Acting
Biography
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 …
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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.
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BODY OF WORK
Ava Gardner's Filmography
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Kennedy, Sinatra and the Mafia
as Self (archive footage)
Rat Pack
as Self (archive footage)
Beautiful Like a Poem
as Self (archive footage)
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
as Self (archive footage)
Ava Gardner, the Gypsy of Hollywood
as Self (archive footage)
Chavela
as Self (archive footage)
Ava Gardner: Life Is Bigger Than the Movies
as Self (archive footage)
Fallout
as Self (archive footage)
All Night Long
as Self (archive footage)
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
as Pandora Reynolds / Maria Vargas (archive footage)
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1950s: The Golden Era of the Musical
as Self (archive)
De Madrid a la Luna
as Self (archive footage)
Frank Sinatra glömde aldrig Finspång
as Self (archive footage)
Året var 1953
as Self (archive footage)
Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies
as archive footage
Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century
as Self (archive footage)
That's Entertainment! III
as (archive footage) (uncredited)
Legends of the West
as Lily Langtry in 'The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean' (archive footage) (uncredited)
John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick
as Self (archive footage)
Maggie
as Diane Webb
Harem
as Kadin
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
as (in "The Killers" / "The Bribe") (archive footage)
Regina Roma
as Mama
Priest of Love
as Mabel Dodge Luhan
The Kidnapping of the President
as Beth Richards
City on Fire
as Maggie Grayson
The Sentinel
as Helen Logan
Kolossal - The Magnificent Macisti
as Self - Maria Cayetana, Duchess of Alba (archive footage)
The Cassandra Crossing
as Nicole Dressler
The Blue Bird
as Luxury
Permission to Kill
as Katina Petersen
Earthquake
as Remy Royce-Graff
That's Entertainment!
as (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
as Lily Langtry
The Ballad of Tam Lin
as Michaela Cazaret
Mayerling
as Empress Elisabeth of Austria
The Bible: In the Beginning...
as Sarah
The Night of the Iguana
as Maxine Faulk
On the Trail of the Iguana
as Self
Seven Days in May
as Eleanor Holbrook
55 Days at Peking
as Baroness Natalie Ivanoff
La Rabbia
as Self (archive footage)
The Angel Wore Red
as Soledad
On the Beach
as Moira Davidson
The Naked Maja
as Maria Teresa, duchess of Alba, nicknamed Cayetana
The Sun Also Rises
as Lady Brett Ashley
The Little Hut
as Lady Susan Ashlow
Bhowani Junction
as Victoria Jones
The Barefoot Contessa
as Maria Vargas
Knights of the Round Table
as Guinevere
Mogambo
as Eloise Y. Kelly
The Band Wagon
as Ava Gardner (uncredited)
Ride, Vaquero!
as Cordelia Cameron
Lone Star
as Martha Ronda
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
as Cynthia Green
Show Boat
as Julie LaVerne
My Forbidden Past
as Barbara Beaurevel
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
as Pandora Reynolds
The Costume Designer
as Self (archive footage)
No Poster
Screen Actors
as Self (uncredited)
East Side, West Side
as Isabel Lorrison
The Great Sinner
as Pauline Ostrovsky
The Bribe
as Elizabeth Hintten
One Touch of Venus
as Venus
Singapore
as Linda Grahame / Ann Van Leyden
The Hucksters
as Jean Ogilvie
The Killers
as Kitty Collins
Whistle Stop
as Mary
She Went to the Races
as Hilda Spotts
I'm a Civilian Here Myself
as Dream Girl (uncredited)
Blonde Fever
as Minor Role (uncredited)
Maisie Goes to Reno
as Gloria Fullerton
Two Girls and a Sailor
as Dream Girl (uncredited)
3 Men in White
as Jean Brown
Twenty Years After
as (archive footage)
Lost Angel
as Hat Check Girl (uncredited)
Swing Fever
as Receptionist (uncredited)
Du Barry Was a Lady
as Perfume Girl (uncredited)
Young Ideas
as Co-ed (uncredited)
Ghosts on the Loose
as Betty
Hitler's Madman
as Franciska Pritric (uncredited)
Reunion in France
as Marie, Parisian shopgirl (uncredited)
Mighty Lak a Goat
as Girl at Theatre Boxoffice
Calling Dr. Gillespie
as Student (uncredited)
Sunday Punch
as Ringsider (uncredited)
Kid Glove Killer
as Car Hop (uncredited)
This Time for Keeps
as Girl in Car Lighting Cigarette (uncredited)
Joe Smith, American
as Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited)
We Do It Because
as Lucretia Borgia (uncredited)
H.M. Pulham, Esq.
as Young Socialite (uncredited)
Shadow of the Thin Man
as Passerby at Racetrack (uncredited)
Strange Testament
as Waitress (uncredited)
Fancy Answers
as Girl at Recital