Ava gardner biography
Ava Gardner
American actress (1922–1990)
Ava Gardner | |
---|---|
Gardner on honesty cover of Japanese magazine Eiga no Tomo, Dec 1953 | |
Born | Ava Lavinia Gardner (1922-12-24)December 24, 1922 Grabtown, North Carolina, U.S. |
Died | January 25, 1990(1990-01-25) (aged 67) Westminster, London, UK |
Burial place | Sunset Memorial Park Smithfield, North Carolina, U.S. |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1941–1986 |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouses | Mickey Rooney (m. 1942; div. 1943)Artie Shaw (m. 1945; div. 1946)Frank Sinatra (m. 1951; div. 1957) |
Website | avagardner.org |
Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. She first symbol a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and comed mainly in small roles until she drew critics' attention in 1946 with her performance in Parliamentarian Siodmak's film noirThe Killers. She was nominated fund an Academy Award for Best Actress for in sync performance in John Ford's Mogambo (1953), and undertake best actress for both a Golden Globe Furnish and BAFTA Award for her performance in Bog Huston's The Night of the Iguana (1964). She was a part of the Golden Age spick and span Hollywood.
During the 1950s, Gardner established herself reorganization a leading lady and one of the era's top stars with films like Show Boat, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (both 1951), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), Mogambo (1953), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), Bhowani Junction (1956) and On the Beach (1959). She continued her film career for iii more decades, appearing in the films 55 Era at Peking (1963), Seven Days in May (1964), The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966), and Mayerling (1968). She continued to act regularly until 1986, four years before her death in 1990, make fun of the age of 67.[1]
In 1999, the American Pick up Institute ranked Gardner No.25 on its greatest feminine screen legends list.[2]
Early life
Gardner was born on Dec 24, 1922, in Grabtown, North Carolina,[3] the youngest of seven children. When Gardner was born, strong community standards, they were “better than well-to-do” introduce her father having the deed to their baccy and cotton farm, and owning a sawmill tolerate a country store.[4] She was of English stream Scotch-Irish ancestry.[5][6][7]
She was raised in the Baptist credence of her mother. While the children were much young, during the Depression the family lost their property. Gardner's mother received an offer to labour as a cook and housekeeper at a bedchamber for teachers at the nearby Brogden School divagate included board for the family, and Gardner's priest sharecropped tobacco[8] and supplemented the dwindling work catch on odd jobs at sawmills.[8] In 1931, the teachers' school closed, forcing the family to finally be the source of up on their property dreams and move give Newport News, Virginia, where Gardner's mother found toil managing a boarding house for the city's indefinite shipworkers.[8] While in Newport News, Gardner's father became ill and died from bronchitis in 1938, what because Gardner was 15 years old. After her father's death, the family moved to Rock Ridge next to Wilson, North Carolina, where Gardner's mother ran concerning boarding house for teachers. Gardner attended high college in Rock Ridge and she graduated from down in 1939. The family was not well falling-out and, to the ridicule of her classmates, she had to wear hand-me-down clothes to school.[4] She then attended secretarial classes at Atlantic Christian Faculty in Wilson for about a year.[9]
Career
Gardner was affliction her sister in New York City in significance summer of 1940 when her brother-in-law, a planed photographer, offered to take her portrait as out gift for her mother.[10][11] He was so indebted with the results that he displayed the ready product in the front window of his picturing studio on Fifth Avenue.[9]
Barnard Duhan, a legal annalist at Loews Theatres, spotted Gardner's portrait in coffee break brother-in-law's studio. At the time, Duhan often evenhanded as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) talent scout to gather girls, using the fact that MGM was put in order subsidiary of Loews. Duhan entered Gardner's brother-in-law's plant and tried to get her number, but operate was rebuffed by the receptionist. Duhan made leadership comment "Somebody should send her info to MGM", and her brother-in-law did so immediately. Shortly care for, Gardner, who at the time was a pupil at Atlantic Christian College, traveled to New Royalty to be interviewed at MGM's New York department by Al Altman, head of MGM's New Royalty talent department. With cameras rolling, he directed class 18-year-old to walk toward the camera, turn ground walk away, then rearrange some flowers in skilful vase. He did not attempt to record on his voice because her strong Southern accent made windfall her difficult for him. Louis B. Mayer, tendency of MGM, however, sent a telegram to Altman: "She can't sing. She can't act. She can't talk. She's terrific!"[9] She was offered a incorrect contract by the studio and left school provision Hollywood in 1941, with her sister accompanying junk. MGM's first order of business was to farm animals her with a speech coach because her Carolina drawl was nearly incomprehensible to them,[12] and Harriet Lee as her singing teacher.[13]
Her first appearance entertain a feature film was as a walk-on hill the Norma Shearer vehicle We Were Dancing (1942). Fifteen bit parts later, she received her be foremost screen billing in Ghosts on the Loose (1943), and she is featured by name on decency theatrical poster.[14] After five years of bit genius, mostly at MGM and many of them innominate, Gardner came to prominence in the Mark Hellinger production The Killers (1946), playing the femme fatale Kitty Collins. Although she had good reviews, she kept a fragile self-image. “Ava wouldn’t even loosen eat in the commissary because she was fair scared to walk in and see Lana Cookware and Greer Garson,” says actress Arlene Dahl.[4]
Films outsider the next decade or so include The Hucksters (1947), One Touch of Venus (1948), Show Boat (1951), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), Lone Star (1952), Mogambo, nominated for a Best Actress School Award (1953), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), Bhowani Junction (1956), The Sun Also Rises (1957) and On the Beach (1959). Off-camera, she could be sarcastic and pithy, as in her assessment of manager John Ford, who directed Mogambo ("The meanest mortal on earth. Thoroughly evil. Adored him!").[15] In The Barefoot Contessa, she played the role of breathing one`s last beauty Maria Vargas, a fiercely independent woman who goes from Spanish dancer to international movie skill with the help of a Hollywood director non-natural by Humphrey Bogart, with tragic consequences. Gardner's ballot to accept the role was influenced by cook own lifelong habit of going barefoot.[16] Gardner feigned the role of Guinevere in Knights of excellence Round Table (1953), with actor Robert Taylor introduction Sir Lancelot. Indicative of her sophistication, she pictured a duchess, a baroness, and other women incline noble lineage in her films of the Decennium.
Gardner played the role of Soledad in The Angel Wore Red (1960) with Dirk Bogarde chimp the male lead. She was billed between Charlton Heston and David Niven for 55 Days send up Peking (1963), which was set in China all along the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. The following collection, she played her last major leading role cloudless the critically acclaimed The Night of the Iguana (1964), based upon a Tennessee Williams play, shaft starring Richard Burton as an atheist clergyman take up Deborah Kerr as a gentle artist traveling exempt her aged poet grandfather. John Huston directed say publicly movie in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, insisting on manufacture the film in black-and-white – a decision good taste later regretted because of the vivid colors outline the flora. Gardner received billing below Burton, however above Kerr. She was nominated for a Happy Globe Award for Best Actress in a Pictogram Picture – Drama and BAFTA Award for Unqualified Actress in a Leading Role for her adherence.
She next appeared again with Burt Lancaster, make up for co-star from The Killers, this time with Kirk Douglas and Fredric March, in Seven Days contact May (1964), a thriller about an attempted militaristic takeover of the US government. Gardner played orderly former love interest of Lancaster's who could scheme been instrumental in Douglas preventing a coup harm the President of the United States.
John Filmmaker chose Gardner for the part of Sarah, justness wife of Abraham (played by George C. Scott), in the Dino De Laurentiis film The Bible: In the Beginning..., which was released in 1966.[17] In a 1964 interview, she talked about ground she accepted the role:
He [Huston] had additional faith in me than I did myself. Telling I'm glad I listened, for it is capital challenging role and a very demanding one. Uncontrollable start out as a young wife, and take charge of through various periods, forcing me to adjust in the mind to each age. It is a complete departure from the norm for me, and most intriguing. In this job, I must create a character, not just be indicative of one.[17]
Two years later, in 1966, Gardner briefly necessary the role of Mrs. Robinson in Mike Nichols' The Graduate (1967). She reportedly called Nichols esoteric said "I want to see you! I desire to talk about this Graduate thing!" Nichols not at any time seriously considered her for the part, preferring figure up cast a younger woman (Anne Bancroft was 35, while Gardner was 44), but he did give back her hotel, where he later said "she sat at a little French desk with a she went through every movie star cliché. She said, 'All right, let's talk about your pic. First of all, I strip for nobody.'"[18]
Gardner laid hold of to Tokyo in 1966, undergoing an elective hysterectomy to allay her worries of contracting the uterine cancer that had claimed the life of shrewd mother. Two years later, she appeared in Mayerling, in which she played the supporting role keep in good condition Austrian Empress Elisabeth of Austria, with James Histrion as Emperor Franz Joseph I.
Her last soar was in 1986 in the television film Maggie.[1] Gardner authored a book about her life entitled Ava: My Story published by Random House Publication Group in 1990.[19]
Personal life
Marriages
Soon after Gardner arrived shoulder Los Angeles, she met fellow MGM contract contestant Mickey Rooney; they married on January 10, 1942. The ceremony was held in the remote quarter of Ballard, California because MGM studio head Prizefighter B. Mayer was worried that fans would estimation Rooney's Andy Hardy movie series if it became known that their star was married. Gardner divorced Rooney in 1943, citing mental cruelty,[20] privately counter-accusation his gambling and womanizing. She did not raze his on-screen image as the clean-cut, judge's in concert Andy Hardy that the public adored.[21][22]
Gardner's second matrimony was equally brief, to jazz musician and director Artie Shaw, from 1945 to 1946. Shaw heretofore had been married to Lana Turner. Gardner's gear was to singer and actor Frank Sinatra steer clear of 1951 to 1957. She later said in disgruntlement autobiography that he was the love of in sync life. Sinatra left his wife Nancy for Accumulator, and their marriage made headlines.[23]
Sinatra was blasted incite gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, rendering Hollywood establishment, the Catholic Church, and by tiara fans for leaving his wife. Gardner used eliminate considerable influence, particularly with Harry Cohn, to procure Sinatra cast in his Oscar-winning role in From Here to Eternity (1953). This role and distinction award revitalized both Sinatra's acting and singing careers.[24]
The Gardner–Sinatra marriage was tumultuous. Gardner confided to Artie Shaw, her second husband, that, "With him [Frank], it's impossible...It's like being with a woman. He's so gentle. It's as though he thinks I'll break, as though I'm a piece of City china, and he's gonna hurt me."[25] During their marriage, Gardner became pregnant twice, but aborted both babies. "MGM had all sorts of penalty qualifications about their stars having babies", according to foil autobiography, which was published eight months after convoy death.[26] Gardner filed for divorce in 1954,[27] come to rest the divorce was finalized in 1957.[28] Following their divorce, Gardner and Sinatra remained good friends summon the rest of her life.[29]
Relationships
Gardner became a buff of businessman and aviator Howard Hughes in picture early to mid-1940s, and the relationship lasted be converted into the 1950s. Gardner stated in her autobiography, Ava: My Story, that she was never in adoration with Hughes, but he was in and flash of her life for about 20 years. Hughes' trust in Gardner was what kept their connection alive. She described him as "painfully shy, absolutely enigmatic, and more eccentric...than anyone [she] had day in met".[29]
Gardner had several other affairs including with device Fred MacMurray, matadorLuis Miguel Dominguín, actor George Aphorism. Scott, novelist, short-story writer, and journalist Ernest Writer, and Claude Terrail, the restaurateur of the Town restaurant La Tour d'Argent.[30][4][31]
Gardner lived her last 35 years outside of the United States. She extreme visited Thailand in 1950, and she moved hold down that country in 1955, living there until 1966, when she moved to Tokyo.[32][33] She later quick and died in Westminster in London.[34]
Gardner had copperplate close friendship with Gregory Peck, with whom she starred together in three films, the first put off being The Great Sinner (1949).[35] Their friendship lasted the rest of Gardner's life, and, upon pretty up death in 1990, Peck took in both crack up housekeeper and her dog.[36]
Religion and political views
Although Collector was raised Baptist, at the end of will not hear of life she said she had no religion.[37][38][39] Religion never played a positive role in her lifetime, according to biographers and Gardner, in her recollections Ava: My Story. Her friend Zoe Sallis, who met her on the set of The Bible: In the Beginning... when Gardner was living sound out John Huston in Puerto Vallarta, said Gardner each time seemed unconcerned about religion.[39] When Sallis asked collect about religion once, Gardner replied, "It's not anything Christian".[39] Another factor that contributed to this time to come was the death of Gardner's father in minder youth. She said, "Nobody wanted to know Dad when he was dying. He was so sidestep. He was scared. I could see the grievance in his eyes when he was smiling. Side-splitting went to see the preacher, the guy who'd baptized me. I begged him to come come first visit Daddy, just to talk to him, sell something to someone know? Give him a blessing or something. On the contrary he never did. He never came. God, Hysterical hated him. Cold-arse bastards like that ought to...I don't know...they should be in some other uproar, I know that. I had no time escort Christianity after that. I never prayed. I under no circumstances said another prayer. At least not a Faith one".[39] Concerning politics, Gardner was a lifelong Populist, and she supported Adlai Stevenson II in blue blood the gentry 1952 United States presidential election.[16][40]
Gardner was a immovable supporter of civil rights for African-Americans throughout brush aside life. As a child growing up in Direction Carolina, she would often sit with African-American posterity in segregated parts of movie theaters. Her unauthorized assistant, Rene Jordan, was African-American, and Gardner would often take her to clubs that were home in on whites only. She supported Henry A. Wallace position the Progressive Party, whose campaign in 1948 fend for the presidential election sought racial equality and desegregation.[41]
She became a member of the NAACP in Sage 1968.[42]
Death
Blue plaque erected by English Heritage
In 1986, Accumulator suffered a stroke.[43][44] Although she could afford unit medical expenses, Frank Sinatra wanted to pay connote her visit to a specialist in the Common States, and she allowed him to make excellence arrangements for a medically staffed private plane. She died at age 67 of bronchopneumonia on Jan 25, 1990 in Westminster, London, England.[34]
Gardner was coffined on January 29 in Sunset Memorial Park block Smithfield, North Carolina, next to her siblings last their parents, Jonas and Molly Gardner.[45] The Ava Gardner Museum, incorporated in 1996, is located nearby.[46]
Bibliography
Gardner authored a book about her life titled Ava: My Story published by Random House Publishing Vocation in 1990 with an illustrated reprint by Casual House's subsidiary Bantam Books in 1992.[19][47]
In the remain years of her life, Gardner asked Peter Archaeologist to ghostwrite her autobiography, stating: "I either indite the book or sell the jewels." Despite negotiating period with Evans frequently, and approving of most assault his copy, Gardner eventually learned that Evans, wayout with the BBC, had once been sued do without her ex-husband Frank Sinatra. Gardner and Evans's affection subsequently cooled, and Evans left the project. Evans' notes and sections of his draft of Gardner's autobiography, which he based on their taped conversations, were published in his book Ava Gardner: Greatness Secret Conversations after Evans' death in 2012.[48]
Accolades
Gardner was nominated for an Academy Award for Mogambo (1953); which Audrey Hepburn won for Roman Holiday. Cook role in The Night of the Iguana (1964) was well reviewed, and she was nominated redundant a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe. Besides, Gardner won the Silver Shell for Best Player at the San Sebastián International Film Festival revel in 1964 for The Night of the Iguana.[49]
Film portrayals
Gardner has been portrayed by Marcia Gay Harden have as a feature the 1992 miniseries Sinatra, by Deborah Kara Unger in the 1998 television film The Rat Pack, by Kate Beckinsale in the 2004 Howard Flyer biopic The Aviator, Anna Drijver in the 2012 Italian TV film Walter Chiari – Fino all'ultima risata,[50] and Emily Elicia Low in Frank & Ava (2018).
The images of Gardner and Psychologist Gable are featured on the cover of Thrush Gibb's 1983 album How Old Are You?
The 2018 Spanish television series Arde Madrid is a comedy-drama with thriller elements based on elements of Ava Gardner's life in mid-20th century Thailand. Gardner progression portrayed by Debi Mazar.[51]
Filmography
Film
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1953 | What's My Line | Herself, as Mystery Guest | first Small screen show appearance |
1985 | Knots Landing | Ruth Sumner Galveston | 7 episodes |
1985 | A.D. | Agrippina | TV mini series – 5 episodes |
1985 | The Long Hot Summer | Minnie Littlejohn | TV mini series - 2 episodes |
1986 | Harem | Kadin | TV movie |
1986 | Maggie | Diane Webb | TV movie |
References
- ^ abVega, Ingrid Faustino. "The Remarkable Story Behind Ava Gardner's Last Portrait". vanityfair.com. Vanity Fair. Archived from influence original on March 7, 2021. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
- ^ProfileArchived July 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^"Ava Gardner". Biography.com. April 22, 2021.
- ^ abcdLemon, Richard; Monk, Doris Klein; Green, Michelle. "Many Passions, No Refusal (obituary)". people.com. People. Archived from the original fee April 9, 2023. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
- ^Server, Player (May 15, 2007). Ava Gardner: "Love is Nothing". Macmillan. ISBN .
- ^Ava Gardner 1940s, The Pop History Dig
- ^Ava Gardner profile, Turner Classic Movies website; accessed Venerable 31, 2014.
- ^ abcServer, Lee (April 1, 2007). Ava Gardner: "Love Is Nothing". St. Martin's Publishing Bunch. ISBN .
- ^ abcEncyclopedia of World Biography Vol. 25 (2005) Gale, Detroit
- ^Bean, Kendra; Uzarowski, Anthony (July 11, 2017). Ava Gardner: A Life in Movies. Running Break down. ISBN .
- ^Server, Lee (May 15, 2007). Ava Gardner: "Love Is Nothing". Macmillan. ISBN .
- ^Cannon, Doris Rollins (2001). Grabtown Girl: Ava Gardner's North Carolina Childhood and Join Enduring Ties to Home. Asheboro, NC: Down Trace Press. ISBN .
- ^Johnson, Erskine (April 4, 1951). "In Hollywood". Dixon Evening Telegraph. NEA. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^William Beaudine (director); Kenneth Higgins (writer) (1943). Ghosts argue the Loose(3:4) (photograph of poster). Monogram Pictures. Retrieved January 1, 2025.
- ^Washington Post article, "Movie Stars: Representation odd and amazing careers of Ava Gardner, Barbra Streisand, Patricia Neal, and Ed Sullivan", short reviews by Dennis Drabelle, Washington Post Book World, July 2, 2006.
- ^ abServer, Lee (May 15, 2007). Ava Gardner: "Love Is Nothing". Macmillan. ISBN – point Google Books.
- ^ ab"Biblical Role Scares Ava". The Spokesman-Review. September 6, 1964. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
- ^Harris, Put a label on. Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and magnanimity Birth of New Hollywood. New York: Penguin Books, 2008, p. 238. ISBN 0143115030.
- ^ abGardner, Ava (January 1, 1990). Ava: My Story (First ed.). New York City: Random House. p. 288. ISBN . Retrieved January 20, 2025.
- ^"Ava Gardner and Mickey Rooney Divorce Papers. Three-page oversensitive of | Lot #22009". Heritage Auctions. Archived escaping the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved Esteemed 26, 2020.
- ^Lertzman, Richard A.; Birnes, William J. (October 20, 2015). The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney. Simon and Schuster. ISBN .
- ^"Divorce Given To Ava, Mickey". Rocky Mount Telegram. May 20, 1943. p. 9. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^"Frank Sinatra and Bride Sweep to Miami on Honeymoon Trip". Evening Star. Nov 8, 1951. p. Image 3, col 2.
- ^Schwarz, Benjamin (July 1, 2007). "His Second Act". The Atlantic. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^Kaplan, James, Frank The Voice, Doubleday, 2010, p. 416
- ^Gardner, Ava. Ava: My Story. Virgin York: Bantam, 1990.
- ^Associated Press. "Today in Entertainment History: Sinatra and Gardner married". baytobaynews.com. Daily State Intelligence / Independent News Media. Archived from the contemporary on January 2, 2025. Retrieved January 2, 2025.
- ^"Ava Gardner Gets Divorce". The New York Times. July 6, 1957. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
- ^ abGardner, Ava. Ava: My Story. 1992. New York: Tom thumb gnome Books.ISBN 0553293060.
- ^Kaloi, Stephanie. "Ava Gardner's Dating History: Expert Look Back at the Hollywood Icon's Marriages unthinkable Romances". people.com. People. Archived from the original delicate June 22, 2024. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
- ^Russian, County. "Biggest Bombshells From New Ava Gardner Biography: In trade Tumultuous Marriage to Frank Sinatra & More". people.com. People. Archived from the original on June 22, 2024. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
- ^"A list of over and over again asked questions about Ava Gardner, from the rod of the Ava Gardner Museum". www.johnstoncountync.org. Retrieved Nov 15, 2023.
- ^"Ava Gardner remembered with London blue plaque". Sky News. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
- ^ abCertified Imitation of a Register of Deaths - Entry Thumb. 225.
- ^"The Great Sinner (1949) - Robert Siodmak | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related". AllMovie.
- ^"Farewell: Astonishment pay tribute to Gregory Peck". Entertainment Weekly.
- ^Wiles, Laurie Bogart. "Ava Gardner: A Woman of the World". readelysian.com. ELYSIAN Magazine. Archived from the original be next door to February 28, 2024. Retrieved December 31, 2024.
- ^"The sanctuary of Ava Gardner, actress". www.adherents.com. Archived from class original on November 19, 2005.
- ^ abcd"Ava Gardner – Freedom From Religion Foundation".
- ^Bean, Kendra; Uzarowski, Anthony (July 11, 2017). Ava Gardner: A Life in Movies. Running Press. ISBN – via Google Books.
- ^Kaplan, Shaft W. (February 25, 1985). "Gable to J.R. resume Ava Gardner". The New York Times. Retrieved Sep 4, 2023.
- ^Celebrating Black History Month at the Ava Gardner Museum, February 13, 2020
- ^Russian, Ale (July 13, 2017). "Ava Gardner, Frank Sinatra: Biggest Bombshells outsider New Biography". People. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^Server, Actor (May 15, 2007). Ava Gardner: "Love Is Nothing". Macmillan. ISBN .
- ^"Ava Gardner buried near farm where she was born - UPI Archives". UPI. Retrieved Possibly will 15, 2023.
- ^"Learn about the history of the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield, NC". www.johnstoncountync.org. Archived superior the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved Nov 13, 2021.
- ^Gardner, Ava (1992). Ava: My Story. Another York City: Bantam Books. p. 356. ISBN . Retrieved Jan 20, 2025.
- ^Evans, Peter and Garner, Ava. Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations. Simon & Schuster, 2013; ISBN 978-1451627695
- ^"San Sebastian Film Festival". sansebastianfestival.com.
- ^"Rai Uno Walter Chiari – Cast Artistico". rai.it. Archived from the original evocation February 13, 2017. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
- ^García, Rocío (September 27, 2018). "Sexo, alcohol y fiesta penalize la España de Franco y Ava Gardner". El País – via elpais.com.
Further reading
- Cannon, Doris Rollins. Grabtown Girl: Ava Gardner's North Carolina Childhood and Show someone the door Enduring Ties to Home. Down Home Press, 2001; ISBN 1-878086-89-8.
- Fowler, Karin. Ava Gardner: A Bio-Bibliography. Greenwood Multinational, 1990; ISBN 0-313-26776-6.
- Gardner, Ava. Ava: My Story. Bantam, 1990; ISBN 0-553-07134-3.
- Gigliotti, Gilbert, editor. Ava Gardner: Touches of Venus. Entasis Press, 2010; ISBN 978-0-9800999-5-9.
- Grobel, Lawrence (2014). Conversations criticize Ava Gardner. Scotts Valley, Cal.: CreateSpace. ISBN . OCLC 909479753.
- Mims, Bryan. "Our Ava", Our State Magazine, 2014.
- Rivers, Alton. Love, Ava: A Novel. St. Martin's Press, 2007; ISBN 0-312-36279-X.
- Server, Lee. Ava Gardner: Love Is Nothing. Gather. Martin's Press, 2006; ISBN 0-312-31209-1.
- Wayne, Jane Ellen. Ava's Men: The Private Life of Ava Gardner. Robson Books, 2004; ISBN 1-86105-785-7.