Ava Gardner

Acting December 24, 1922 (67 years old) January 25, 1990 Grabtown, North Carolina, USA

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 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.

Movies 93

7.3

The Bible: In the Beginning...

as Sarah

1966

6.1

Earthquake

as Remy Royce-Graff

1974

6.9

55 Days at Peking

as Baroness Natalie Ivanoff

1963

6.2

The Cassandra Crossing

as Nicole Dressler

1976

7.4

Seven Days in May

as Eleanor Holbrook

1964

6.1

The Sentinel

as Helen Logan

1977

6.6

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

as (in "The Killers" / "The Bribe") (archive footage)

1982

6.8

The Barefoot Contessa

as Maria Vargas

1954

7.4

The Killers

as Kitty Collins

1946

5.8

The Sun Also Rises

as Lady Brett Ashley

1957

6.5

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean

as Lily Langtry

1972

6.7

On the Beach

as Moira Davidson

1959

6.4

Mogambo

as Eloise Y. Kelly

1953

6.0

Knights of the Round Table

as Guinevere

1953

7.2

The Night of the Iguana

as Maxine Faulk

1964

5.9

The Snows of Kilimanjaro

as Cynthia Green

1952

5.8

Two Girls and a Sailor

as Dream Girl (uncredited)

1944

7.2

The Band Wagon

as Ava Gardner (uncredited)

1953

6.2

Mayerling

as Empress Elisabeth of Austria

1968

5.4

Harem

as Kadin

1986

6.5

Du Barry Was a Lady

as Perfume Girl (uncredited)

1943

6.8

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman

as Pandora Reynolds

1951

7.0

Shadow of the Thin Man

as Passerby at Racetrack (uncredited)

1941

7.4

That's Entertainment!

as (archive footage) (uncredited)

1974

6.1

Bhowani Junction

as Victoria Jones

1956

7.1

H.M. Pulham, Esq.

as Young Socialite (uncredited)

1941

7.1

That's Entertainment! III

as (archive footage) (uncredited)

1994

6.2

Show Boat

as Julie LaVerne

1951

6.0

Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

as Self (archive footage)

2018

6.3

The Bribe

as Elizabeth Hintten

1949

5.7

Lone Star

as Martha Ronda

1952

7.1

East Side, West Side

as Isabel Lorrison

1949

6.1

Ride, Vaquero!

as Cordelia Cameron

1953

6.2

The Naked Maja

as Maria Teresa, duchess of Alba, nicknamed Cayetana

1958

6.5

Reunion in France

as Marie, Parisian shopgirl (uncredited)

1942

5.5

The Blue Bird

as Luxury

1976

5.5

My Forbidden Past

as Barbara Beaurevel

1951

6.7

One Touch of Venus

as Venus

1948

6.7

Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff

as Pandora Reynolds / Maria Vargas (archive footage)

2010

5.5

Hitler's Madman

as Franciska Pritric (uncredited)

1943

5.3

The Ballad of Tam Lin

as Michaela Cazaret

1970

5.1

City on Fire

as Maggie Grayson

1979

4.2

Ghosts on the Loose

as Betty

1943

6.0

Swing Fever

as Receptionist (uncredited)

1943

6.1

Singapore

as Linda Grahame / Ann Van Leyden

1947

4.4

Whistle Stop

as Mary

1946

6.4

3 Men in White

as Jean Brown

1944

6.0

John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick

as Self (archive footage)

1988

4.6

The Kidnapping of the President

as Beth Richards

1980

6.9

Chavela

as Self (archive footage)

2017

9.0

Rat Pack

as Self (archive footage)

2022

Legends of the West

as Lily Langtry in 'The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean' (archive footage) (uncredited)

1992

7.0

The Hucksters

as Jean Ogilvie

1947

9.0

Kolossal - The Magnificent Macisti

as Self - Maria Cayetana, Duchess of Alba (archive footage)

1977

5.0

Priest of Love

as Mabel Dodge Luhan

1981

7.5

Kennedy, Sinatra and the Mafia

as Self (archive footage)

2023

5.0

The Angel Wore Red

as Soledad

1960

Beautiful Like a Poem

as Self (archive footage)

2020

8.0

Twenty Years After

as (archive footage)

1944

6.4

The Little Hut

as Lady Susan Ashlow

1957

6.5

Joe Smith, American

as Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited)

1942

6.6

Maisie Goes to Reno

as Gloria Fullerton

1944

7.7

Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century

as Self (archive footage)

1998

4.0

Regina Roma

as Mama

1982

8.0

This Time for Keeps

as Girl in Car Lighting Cigarette (uncredited)

1942

Maggie

as Diane Webb

1986

6.5

We Do It Because

as Lucretia Borgia (uncredited)

1942

Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1950s: The Golden Era of the Musical

as Self (archive)

2009

7.0

Fancy Answers

as Girl at Recital

1941

4.4

Blonde Fever

as Minor Role (uncredited)

1944

5.6

Ava Gardner: Life Is Bigger Than the Movies

as Self (archive footage)

2017

5.3

Young Ideas

as Co-ed (uncredited)

1943

6.4

Kid Glove Killer

as Car Hop (uncredited)

1942

7.0

Calling Dr. Gillespie

as Student (uncredited)

1942

6.0

She Went to the Races

as Hilda Spotts

1945

6.8

The Great Sinner

as Pauline Ostrovsky

1949

8.0

Lost Angel

as Hat Check Girl (uncredited)

1943

9.0

Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies

as archive footage

2000

6.5

On the Trail of the Iguana

as Self

1964

10.0

I'm a Civilian Here Myself

as Dream Girl (uncredited)

1945

10.0

The Costume Designer

as Self (archive footage)

1950

6.9

Ava Gardner, the Gypsy of Hollywood

as Self (archive footage)

2018

6.0

Sunday Punch

as Ringsider (uncredited)

1942

5.0

Året var 1953

as Self (archive footage)

2003

6.7

All Night Long

as Self (archive footage)

2010

5.8

Permission to Kill

as Katina Petersen

1975

6.5

Mighty Lak a Goat

as Girl at Theatre Boxoffice

1942

7.0

La Rabbia

as Self (archive footage)

1963

7.5

Strange Testament

as Waitress (uncredited)

1941

7.0

Fallout

as Self (archive footage)

2013

Frank Sinatra glömde aldrig Finspång

as Self (archive footage)

2003

6.2

Screen Actors

as Self (uncredited)

1950

6.0

De Madrid a la Luna

as Self (archive footage)

2006

TV Shows 8

7.1

What's My Line?

as Self

1950

6.9

Knots Landing

as Ruth Sumner Galveston

1979

4.5

Intimate Portrait

as Self

1993

7.4

Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields

as Self (archive footage)

2023

5.4

A.D.

as Agrippina

1985

5.7

The Long Hot Summer

as Minnie Littlejohn

1985

7.5

Iconic Couples of Hollywood

as Self (archive footage)

2015

5.0

Harem

as Kadin

1986