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Ava Gardner
Grabtown, North Carolina, USA
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 Hol…
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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.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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2023
Kennedy, Sinatra and the Mafia
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2023
Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields
TV show Self (archive footage)
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2022
Rat Pack
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2020
Beautiful Like a Poem
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2018
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2018
Ava Gardner, the Gypsy of Hollywood
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2017
Chavela
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2017
Ava Gardner: Life Is Bigger Than the Movies
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2015
Iconic Couples of Hollywood
TV show Self (archive footage)
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2013
Fallout
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2010
All Night Long
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2010
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
Movie Pandora Reynolds / Maria Vargas (archive footage)
- 2009
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2006
De Madrid a la Luna
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2003
Frank Sinatra glömde aldrig Finspång
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2003
Året var 1953
Movie Self (archive footage)
More credits
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2000
Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies
Movie archive footage
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1998
Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1994
That's Entertainment! III
Movie (archive footage) (uncredited)
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1993
Intimate Portrait
TV show Self
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1992
Legends of the West
Movie Lily Langtry in 'The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean' (archive footage) (uncredited)
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1988
John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1986
Maggie
Movie Diane Webb
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1986
Harem
Movie Kadin
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1986
Harem
TV show Kadin
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1985
The Long Hot Summer
TV show Minnie Littlejohn
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1985
A.D.
TV show Agrippina
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1982
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
Movie (in "The Killers" / "The Bribe") (archive footage)
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1982
Regina Roma
Movie Mama
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1981
Priest of Love
Movie Mabel Dodge Luhan
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1980
The Kidnapping of the President
Movie Beth Richards
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1979
Knots Landing
TV show Ruth Sumner Galveston
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1979
City on Fire
Movie Maggie Grayson
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1977
The Sentinel
Movie Helen Logan
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1977
Kolossal - The Magnificent Macisti
Movie Self - Maria Cayetana, Duchess of Alba (archive footage)
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1976
The Cassandra Crossing
Movie Nicole Dressler
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1976
The Blue Bird
Movie Luxury
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1975
Permission to Kill
Movie Katina Petersen
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1974
Earthquake
Movie Remy Royce-Graff
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1974
That's Entertainment!
Movie (archive footage) (uncredited)
