Ava Gardner
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.
Acting
Movie
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
as (in "The Killers" / "The Bribe") (archive footage)
1982
Movie
The Killers
as Kitty Collins
1946
Movie
Earthquake
as Remy Royce-Graff
1974
Movie
The Bible: In the Beginning...
as Sarah
1966
Movie
The Barefoot Contessa
as Maria Vargas
1954
Movie
On the Beach
as Moira Davidson
1959
Movie
The Band Wagon
as Ava Gardner (uncredited)
1953
Movie
The Cassandra Crossing
as Nicole Dressler
1976
Movie
Seven Days in May
as Eleanor Holbrook
1964
Movie
The Sentinel
as Helen Logan
1977
Movie
55 Days at Peking
as Baroness Natalie Ivanoff
1963
Movie
Mogambo
as Eloise Y. Kelly
1953
Movie
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
as Lily Langtry
1972
Movie
The Night of the Iguana
as Maxine Faulk
1964
Movie
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
as Pandora Reynolds
1951
Movie
Shadow of the Thin Man
as Passerby at Racetrack (uncredited)
1941
Movie
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
as Cynthia Green
1952
Movie
Knights of the Round Table
as Guinevere
1953
Movie
Show Boat
as Julie LaVerne
1951
Movie
That's Entertainment!
as (archive footage) (uncredited)
1974
Movie
Mayerling
as Empress Elisabeth of Austria
1968
Movie
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
as Self (archive footage)
2018
TV
Knots Landing
as Ruth Sumner Galveston
1979
Movie
City on Fire
as Maggie Grayson
1979