Ava Gardner
Born: 1922-12-24 in Grabtown, North Carolina, USA
Died: 1990-01-25
Known For: Acting
Biography
Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was a renowned American actress and one of the most iconic stars of Hollywood's Golden Age. Born on December 24, 1922, in Grabtown, North Carolina, she grew up in a rural setting before being discovered by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1941. Initially cast in minor roles, her breakthrough came with the film noir classic The Killers (1946), which established her as a leading lady. Gardner's 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). Known for her beauty and talent, she worked with some of the most celebrated directors and actors of her time. Off-screen, Gardner's personal life attracted significant attention, including her marriages to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw, and Frank Sinatra. She spent her later years in Spain and London, continuing to act until the mid-1980s. Ava Gardner passed away on January 25, 1990, in London, leaving behind a legacy as one of Hollywood's most enduring legends.
Filmography
2023
- Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields as Self (archive footage)
- Kennedy, Sinatra and the Mafia as Self (archive footage)
2022
- Rat Pack as Self (archive footage)
2018
- Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood as Self (archive footage)
- Ava Gardner, the Gypsy of Hollywood as Self (archive footage)
2017
- Ava Gardner: Life Is Bigger Than the Movies as Self (archive footage)
- Chavela as Self (archive footage)
2015
- Iconic Couples of Hollywood as Self (archive footage)
2013
- Fallout as Self (archive footage)
2010
- Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff as Pandora Reynolds / Maria Vargas (archive footage)
- All Night Long as Self (archive footage)
2009
2006
- De Madrid a la Luna as Self (archive footage)
2003
- Frank Sinatra glömde aldrig Finspång as Self (archive footage)
- Året var 1953 as Self (archive footage)
1998
- Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century as Self (archive footage)
1994
- That's Entertainment! III as (archive footage)
1993
- Intimate Portrait as Self
1992
- Legends of the West as Lily Langtry in 'The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean'
1988
- John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick as Self (archive footage)
1985
- A.D. as Agrippina
- The Long Hot Summer as Minnie Littlejohn
1982
- Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid as (in "The Killers" / "The Bribe") (archive footage)
- Regina Roma as Mama
1981
- Priest of Love as Mabel Dodge Luhan
1980
- The Kidnapping of the President as Beth Richards
1979
- Knots Landing as Ruth Sumner Galveston
- City on Fire as Maggie Grayson
1977
- The Sentinel as Helen Logan
1976
- The Cassandra Crossing as Nicole Dressler
- The Blue Bird as Luxury
1975
- Permission to Kill as Katina Petersen
1974
- Earthquake as Remy Royce-Graff
- That's Entertainment! as (archive footage)
1972
- The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean as Lily Langtry
1970
- The Ballad of Tam Lin as Michaela Cazaret
1968
- Mayerling as Empress Elisabeth of Austria
1966
- The Bible: In the Beginning... as Sarah
1964
- The Night of the Iguana as Maxine Faulk
- Seven Days in May as Eleanor Holbrook
- On the Trail of the Iguana as Self
1963
- La Rabbia as Self (archive footage)
- 55 Days at Peking as Baroness Natalie Ivanoff
1960
- The Angel Wore Red as Soledad
1959
- On the Beach as Moira Davidson
1958
- The Naked Maja as Maria Teresa, duchess of Alba, nicknamed Cayetana
1957
- The Sun Also Rises as Lady Brett Ashley
- The Little Hut as Lady Susan Ashlow
1956
- Bhowani Junction as Victoria Jones
1954
- The Barefoot Contessa as Maria Vargas
1953
- Knights of the Round Table as Guinevere
- The Band Wagon as Ava Gardner (uncredited)
- Ride, Vaquero! as Cordelia Cameron
- Mogambo as Eloise Y. Kelly
1952
- Lone Star as Martha Ronda
- The Snows of Kilimanjaro as Cynthia Green
1951
- Show Boat as Julie LaVerne
- Pandora and the Flying Dutchman as Pandora Reynolds
- My Forbidden Past as Barbara Beaurevel
1950
- What's My Line? as Self
- Screen Actors as Self (uncredited)
- The Costume Designer as Self (archive footage)
1949
- The Great Sinner as Pauline Ostrovsky
- East Side, West Side as Isabel Lorrison
- The Bribe as Elizabeth Hintten
1948
- One Touch of Venus as Venus
1947
- Singapore as Linda Grahame / Ann Van Leyden
- The Hucksters as Jean Ogilvie
1946
- The Killers as Kitty Collins
- Whistle Stop as Mary
1945
- She Went to the Races as Hilda Spotts
- I'm a Civilian Here Myself as Dream Girl (uncredited)
1944
- Maisie Goes to Reno as Gloria Fullerton
- Two Girls and a Sailor as Dream Girl (uncredited)
- Twenty Years After as (archive footage)
- 3 Men in White as Jean Brown
- Blonde Fever as Minor Role (uncredited)
1943
- Young Ideas as Co-ed (uncredited)
- Swing Fever as Receptionist (uncredited)
- Lost Angel as Hat Check Girl (uncredited)
- Du Barry Was a Lady as Perfume Girl (uncredited)
- Hitler's Madman as Franciska Pritric (uncredited)
- Ghosts on the Loose as Betty
1942
- Reunion in France as Marie, Parisian shopgirl (uncredited)
- Kid Glove Killer as Car Hop (uncredited)
- Calling Dr. Gillespie as Student (uncredited)
- Joe Smith, American as Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited)
- We Do It Because as Lucretia Borgia (uncredited)
- Mighty Lak a Goat as Girl at Theatre Boxoffice
- This Time for Keeps as Girl in Car Lighting Cigarette (uncredited)
- Sunday Punch as Ringsider (uncredited)
1941
- Strange Testament as Waitress (uncredited)
- Shadow of the Thin Man as Passerby at Racetrack (uncredited)
- H.M. Pulham, Esq. as Young Socialite (uncredited)
- Fancy Answers as Girl at Recital