"Va Va Voom" Star of the Day: Ava Gardner

This is an updated version of a previous post.
Ava Gardner
Beautiful, shining star of the MGM studio, Ava was born in 1922.  She was the youngest of 7 children living on a cotton and tobacco farm in the rural southern town of Smithfield, North Carolina.

Her show business beginning began just as simply.  Her brother-in-law, a professional photographer took her photo in 1941 and displayed it at his studio.  A theater clerk saw her photo and told the photographer that she oughta' be in pictures, and the in-laws sent her information and photo immediately to MGM.

According to reports, when Gardner first arrived at the studio and did a screen test, Louis B. Mayer said "She can't sing. She can't act. She can't talk. She's terrific. Sign her." She got a 7-year contract with MGM.  The studio worked with her to remove her Carolina drawl and teach her to act.  Soon she had been in several films with little to no notice, but was gaining experience on set.  It wasn't until 1946 in the film "The Killers" that Ava rose her to sex symbol status and made her a big star.

"Va Va Voom" Star of the Day

Grace Kelly
Today let us highlight the Princess of Monaco.

Grace struck out on her own after high school, heading to New York's bright lights to try her luck. Grace worked as a model but made her acting debut on Broadway in 1949. She also had a brief stint in television. Not content with the work in New York, Grace moved to Southern California for the more prestigious part of acting -- motion pictures.

In 1951, she appeared in her first film Fourteen Hours when she was 22. It was a small part, but a start nonetheless. The following year she landed the role of Amy Kane in High Noon, a western starring Gary Cooper and Lloyd Bridges which turned out to be very popular. In 1953, Grace appeared in only one film, but it was another popular one, Mogambo. The film was a jungle drama in which fellow cast members, Clark Gable and Ava Gardner turned in masterful performances. It was also one of the best films ever released by MGM.

80 years of Women in Film

A little MySpace movie showing the transformation of women throughout history. See if you can find our favorites: Norma Shearer, Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford, Ava Gardner, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, and Audrey Hepburn (they're all in the beginning).
Women In Film


[Thanks to SorryIGotDrunk]

"Va Va Voom" Star of the Day

Peter Lawford
Saturday morning I fell in love. I was watching the Esther Williams' flick On An Island With You, and her leading man was a tall, tan wonderful navy pilot. His soft voice, his big puppy eyes, his thick eyebrows, and his gleaming white smile made my heart melt. And I was completely transfixed by the 1948 version of Peter Lawford. (Don't we look cute together?)

British-born, Peter's parents were un-wed when he was conceived. This caused a scandal that drove the family to the United States, where they travelled constantly. Because of his family's travels, Peter was never formally educated, and his lack of education was a sore subject. It contributed to his feelings of inadequacy later on as a member of the Kennedy family (his brother-in-law was JFK), and throughout his adult life.

Injuring his arm in a childhood accident kept Peter from entering World War II, the greatest thing that could happen to his acting career. Hollywood was infatuated with heroic Englishmen and as war movies were being churned out by the dozens. Peter Lawford was just what America was looking for.

Once he signed with MGM, his mother insisted that studio head Louis B. Mayer pay her a salary as Peter's personal assistant. Mayer declined, so Mrs. Lawford responded by claiming her son to be homosexual and that he needed to be "supervised". When Peter learned of his mother's actions their relationship was never the same.

Perhaps to prove to everyone his sexuality, Lawford had a reputation as a ladies' man, even as he was married to Patricia Kennedy. He allegedly had many affairs with famous women, including Ava Gardner, June Allyson, Lana Turner, Janet Leigh, Rita Hayworth, Dorothy Dandridge, Lucille Ball, Judy Holliday, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, Jackie O, Nancy Reagan, and Elizabeth Taylor, to name a few.

These affairs made Peter more of a celebrity than a movie star, especially when he was made member of the "Rat Pack." Later in life, Lawford fell into drug and alcohol abuse. This plus strained relationships and financial difficulties caused a great deal of stress on his increasingly fragile health. Lawford died alone in a hospital in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve 1984 of liver and kidney disease culminating in cardiac arrest at the age of 61.

Interestingly enough, none of the Rat Pack members attended the funeral. This is possibly due to a falling-out between Frank Sinatra and Lawford over Peter's involvement with Ava Gardner.

Meee-yow Thursday

Ava Gardner vs. her ex-husbands, especially Artie Shaw:

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

"Va Va Voom" Star of the Day

Ava Gardner
Beautiful, shining star of the MGM studio, Ava was born into a simple life (a tobacco farm in the rural south), but was destined for greatness. According to reports, when Gardner first arrived at the studio and did a screen test, Louis B. Mayer said "She can't act. She can't talk. She's terrific. Sign her." She got a 7-year contract with MGM and did several films without notice until "The Killers" rose her to sex symbol status and made her a big star.

Her movie and TV career is lengthy, but not as illustrious as her social life. She married three times: to Mickey Rooney when she was only 19-years-old, to big band leader and Hollywood bad boy Artie Shaw, and to the famous crooner Frank Sinatra. She also had affairs with Howard Hughes, George C. Scott, and a couple bullfighters.

Her dramatic romance with Sinatra made her most famous, as their affair began when he was still married. They constantly tried to create drama in their lives; Gardner flirted with Hughes as Sinatra feigned a couple suicide attempts to get her attention. She paid for his expenses as his career suffered, and even flew him out to the set of some of her movies. Overall it is widely believed that Ava was Sinatra's one true love.

After a stroke in 1989, which left her partially paralyzed and bedridden, Sinatra paid all her medical expenses. She died of pneumonia in London at the age of 67 in 1990.