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The truth is that
the only time I'm happy,

is when I'm doing
absolutely nothing.

I don't understand people who
like to work and talk
about it ,

like it was some sort
of goddamn duty.

Doing nothing feels like
floating on warm water to me.

Delightful... perfect.

She was
the only Hollywood actress,

who didn't take
herself seriously.

Who didn't care about the
whole star system thing.

She was portrayed as
a femme fatale,

but in reality
she was more of a...

Bohemian...
a sort of gypsy girl.

she didn't.

But maybe that was
part of why she was so...

appealing on screen you know,

she didn't think
that much of herself.

You could
create the Ava Gardner enigma,

on your own canvass.

You could put everything
together and you could have
a wonderful recipe...

of a fascinating woman.

I was born
on Christmas Eve 1922,

in Grabtown,
North Carolina.

How about having
to live through childhood,

with my birthday
and Christmas Day,

being just about
simultaneous celebrations?

That meant I'd probably be
stuck with one present,

instead of the two
I just knew I deserved.

And the news got worse.
It appeared that there was
this whole other person,

Jesus Christ, whose birthday
a lot of people tended
to confuse with mine.

I was personally outraged.

It was a long time
before I forgave
the Lord for that.

The funny thing is,
she was a little blonde child.

Cinema's most
beautiful brunette,

in an Italian
quattrocento pageboy cut.

She was
the baby of the family,

she was like sixteen
or eighteen years younger...

than the next sibling.

So Ava was a very late child,

and she would have been the
apple of all her sisters eyes.

So Ava had a...
a very positive upbringing.

She and her brother Jack,
whom she adored,

ran wild together.

They were country kids.

They grew up on a tobacco farm.

He was the gang leader,

and she always hung out
with her brother's friends.

She was the only girl
in her brother's gang.

At an early age,
young Ava, in exchange
for a little pocket money,

works in the fields
with her parents,
Molly and Jonas Gardner .

She helps harvest
the precious tobacco leaves

which are tied,
dried and sorted,

before being offered for sale
to the tobacco companies.

They were...
not affluent,

but they had money,

until the Depression struck.

She was about 8 years old,

and then everything changed.

Then they were in...

in dire financial straits.

They were
extremely poor.

They moved from town to town,
from port to port,

and it's Ava's mother,
Molly Gardner,

who was a very strong woman,

who took care of the children
and supported the family,

because the father
wasn't really up to it.

When you're poor,
dirt poor,

and there's no way
of concealing it,
life is hell.

When you live in the sticks,
there always some work
and enough food,

and you with friends
of the same age and background,

you may never know
you're poor.

But when you restart life
in a big city,

oh, baby, does that
condition begin to hurt!

Molly now a widow,
and her daughters
Beatrice and Ava,

settle down
in Newport News.

Ava attends secretarial classes,

to learn be a shorthand typist.

Like all
young girls of her generation,

she was fascinated
by the movies.

She went to seeGone with the Wind
and Greta Garbo films,

but she didn't see herself
as a movie star.

Her elder sister,
Bappie Beatrice
on the other hand,

really wants to be a part
of this world, by proxy.

The independent
Bappie moved to New York

and married Larry Tarr,
a professional photographer.

He soon notices
young Ava's extraordinary
photogenic potential.

When Ava
Gardner went to New York to
stay with her sister,

her brother-in-law took a
series of portraits of her.

She was a sweet young woman,

not at all sultry.

Except she was already
very beautiful,

she already had
those incredible large,
shadowed eyes,

with their hypnotic gaze.

Those early
photographs of her,
she was so natural,

really beautiful features,
lovely cheekbones,
lovely structure.

When he
displayed a portrait of Ava
in his studio window,

it soon came
to the attention of people
at Metro Goldwyn Mayer,

who wanted to give
this unknown young woman

in a straw hat,
a screen test.

And that's how
the fairy tale began.

So thanks
to Larry Tarr

taking
a photograph of Ava,

and the messenger boy,

from Loews Incorporated, MGM,

he did take the pictures
to the proper person
at MGM in New York,

and the person was interested.

Ava's screen test
at the age of 18,

for MGM in New York...
is catastrophic.

She doesn't know
how to act,

and she doesn't know
how to pose.

They said:
"Sit down" and I sat down.

"Look to
your right. good.

Now to your left, good.

Stand
up. Good.

Walk over to the piano,
pick up the vase of flowers,

come back here and set it down
on the table. good."

I couldn't see what
was good about it.

I felt that it was
a waste of time and...

I hoped that they knew what
they were doing.

Then they filmed
what they called
"the screen test" interview.

"Your name?"

That's when my southern accent
came out... "Ava Gardner."

He was sure that wouldn't
lead to anything,

because it didn't sound like
she was speaking English.

Her southern accent
was that thick.

To such an extent that
the man takes a look
at the screen test,

and says: "We're going to send
a silent test to Los Angeles,

we're going to cut
out the sound."

So Ava's career starts off
in a silent movie!

The visionary,
Louis B. Mayer, head of the
Los Angeles studios,

sums up the
general impression when he says:

"She can't talk. She can't act.
She's terrific!"

When Ava's face
came on that screen,

every man in the room fell
madly in love with her.

So there was
obviously something there
right from the start.

They signed her.

And she no sooner did
she get out to California,

when one of the publicists
took her on a tour
of the sound stages,

you know, this is where you'll
be working, etcetera, etcetera.

Her
beginnings in Hollywood,
are quite traumatic for her.

She doesn't do any acting,
she spends her time
being groomed,

with big efforts made
to conceal the adorable dimple
she had in her chin,

which was part of her charm and
that her father loved so much.

She cries the day
they fill in her dimple
with foundation cream.

They pluck her eyebrows,
which were amazing,
a bit like Liz Taylor's.

They really tried to tone her
down, and they were successful.

She was
really natural,

and... the type of
natural beauty

that if you enhance it with
too much make up,

it would... it would kill

that wonderful...
natural... quality.

Very few like that.

At the time
when Ava Gardner
is under contract to MGM,

the studio's going through
a transition period.

It's no longer the great MGM

that had produced Garbo
or even Lana Turner.

It's now an MGM in decline,

with a Louis B. Mayer
at the end of his career,

now having to compete
with television.

So there's a tendency to make
historical costume dramas,

in which women don't
have a central role.

Ava Gardner is
rapidly pigeonholed

at MGM as a very pretty girl,
but who's not an actress.

She was the girl they had
readily available,

for whenever they needed
an attractive female figure

in the background,

or for a cutaway shot.

I spent most of my
time in what they called
Leg Art Alley,

where photographers did nothing
but take publicity stills for
newspapers and magazines.

I didn't like it one bit.

I especially remember a record
heat day in Los Angeles,

when somebody said ok,

let's get somebody who's
got good legs and knockers,

and put her in
a bathing suit, on top of this
enormous block of ice.

And who was chosen for the
honor... Ava Gardner.

I wore a red
candy-striped bathing suit,

I held an ice cream cone,

and smiled happily
as my bottom froze.

No one ever called it an
intellectual profession.

From 1941 to 1946,

Ava appears in twenty
or so films,

for which she doesn't even
appear on the credits.

She plays
utility roles such as

telephone operator,
student or waitress,

amongst the hundreds
of other Hollywood extras.

He was only 21.

He was
already a teen idol,

famous for his roles
in series,

that were great hits
in Hollywood.

And she sees this little
pintsized guy dressed up
like Carmen Miranda,

wearing wedge heeled shoes,

ruffled skirts, a bandana,
banana shaped earrings.

Not exactly her idea
of a sexy male!

She even wonders
if he isn't a midget
dressed up as a woman.

Mickey took
one look at this brand new,

absolutely without any
experience at all, nothing,

and he made his play for her

and she didn't respond.

She immediately
brushes him off,

and there then follows
a series of dates,
where she stands him up,

because she has absolutely
no desire to go out
with a midget in drag.

Even if he
is a big star at MGM.

Her sister, Bappie,

will play the role of counselor,
of madam almost.

Telling her:" listen honey,

he isn't very handsome but
he's powerful, make an effort."

So she decides
to give him a chance.

They have dinner...

and after 27
proposals,

the 28th time,
out of sheer exhaustion,

she tells him: Ok,
I'll marry you, Mickey Rooney.

Ava and I would
like to thank everybody
for their many good wishes,

especially our boss,
Mr. Louis B. Mayer,

Thank you very much.

She was the
only virgin in Hollywood.

Now that's a pseudo joke,

but it may have been true,
that she was.

She was a virgin in fact.
And on her honeymoon night,

when she performed her duty
as Mrs. Rooney,

she admits that the little
midget didn't disappoint her.

She relates in her memoirs with
her customary bluntness,

that once she got into it,
it was quite enjoyable in fact.

What marrying Rooney did
was make her,

I mean, in today's terms,
she would be on TMZ.

she would be in the tabloids
because she was
Mrs. Mickey Rooney.

As a matter of fact,
she signed her autograph

in those days
as Mrs. Mickey Rooney.

And looking back on it,
she said that's where her
self-esteem was.

I think that's how
she got fame to start with,

and of course she was
very beautiful to look at.

Mickey and Ava's
marriage will last
only 16 months.

It's at this time that Ava meets
the eccentric billionaire,
Howard Hughes.

Hughes is an aircraft
manufacturer,

an aviator who's
also a maverick filmmaker,

producing and directing
big budget films.

He's one of the wealthiest,
most powerful men
in the United States,

and a psychotic
womanizer.

This man was
phobic, paranoid

and would sink
into schizophrenia,

a few years later.

but at that time, he still
held his rank.

Howard Hughes was
mad about her.

He wanted her in his bed
and in his life.

He already had a dozen girls.

He'd slept with just about
all the Hollywood actresses.

Amongst his conquests,
was Lana Turner,

the blond bombshell and number
one vamp of that time.

and Ava would have made a nice
addition to his collection.

She doesn't sleep with him.

She has this sort of innate
talent for resisting,

when resistance
is called for.

It's not that she's a prude,
she just senses that
she needs to resist.

Get out of my room!

He was very
possessive.

You know if... If you were
involved with Howard Hughes,

he'd put you in a house,
he gave you a car,

he had private detectives
following you.

That was not... Ava.

As he's paranoid,

he hides microphones
in Ava's house,

and he thinks he hears
Mickey Rooney's voice,

who's reappeared on the scene.

Come on,
I have my Oldsmobile outside.

He bursts into
her home like a madman,

rushes upstairs...

and slaps Ava.

I groped around
the bar for something
to throw at him,

and my hand closed
round the handle

of a large
heavy brass bell.

She grabs it
and throws it at Howard,

hitting him in the face.

He collapses on the floor.

Bang! Right between
the temple and the cheek!

They're
both stunned.

This 24 year-old girl
has actually knocked out,

Hollywood's biggest mogul,
and wealthiest man!

Despite
a fractured cheekbone
and a few broken teeth,

Hughes won't
hold it against her,

and continues to
court her relentlessly.

As for Ava, her Hollywood career
finally takes off,

with a few roles
in low budget films.

[film music

Thanks to
MGMs acting classes,

Ava Gardner is progressively
going to improve as an actress,

and will start to be considered
for more substantial roles.

Well the film that
took her out of the shadows,

well, there's two of them.

There was one calledwhistle Stop.

which was not
a big budget movie,

it had a big male star,
George Raft.

The initial
script of "Whistle Stop"

contained quite
complex dialogue

and Phillip Jordan,
the script writer
is going to say:

"No, no, I have George Raft
on one side, who's not
a great actor,

and Ava Gardner on the other,
who still hasn't
mastered acting,

so we're going to use
much simpler dialogues."

So in the film,
you see them saying lines

such as Yes, no, hello,
how are you.

Quite simply, because the
dialogue has been adapted
to these two actors,

who were visually interesting,

but not the best actors
in Hollywood at that time.

-Hiya beautiful.
-Hiya handsome.

-Gee, I missed ya!
-Oh it's been so long!

And then the
picture that really
moved her up,

was "The Killers" with
Burt Lancaster.

In which the character
plays a very...

Insecure nervous...
Woman. Young woman.

and Ava connected with
that character perfectly.

You been asking for it lately.

Hey.

-Any objections?
-Yeah!

You touch me and you
won't live 'til morning.

-You're not meeting them
tomorrow.
-Aren't I, sweetie?

Filmgoers in 1946
are going to have the choice,

between two bombshells
born the same year.

and both playing dangerous
women in black fur
and satin gloves.

Ava the brunette
in " The Killers"

and Rita
the redhead in " Gilda ."

As Rita is
Mrs. Orson Welles
in real life, ,

Ava becomes Hollywood's
hottest single woman.

She's now
divorced from Mickey,

courted somewhat in vain
by Howard Hughes.

and so she's completely
available for
a new relationship.

She's invited to parties
in the Hollywood villas.

and it's at one of these
where she meets the man,

who has the whole of Hollywood
singing and dancing.

His name's Artie Shaw.

He's tall, dark and handsome,
just her type.

a sort of Howard Hughes
in fact.

He's a clarinetist...
and bandleader of a world
famous big band.

And several jazz groups.

He's quite arrogant,
quite attractive.

He's an ex-husband
of Lana Turner,

which just shows you
what a small world Hollywood is.

Lana advised her,

not to get involved
with Artie Shaw,

but it's interesting
the reason she said:

"He's the most unkind man...
you'll ever meet."

So of course,
Ava ignored that.

She falls madly
in love with him,

and Ava is someone who often
makes the first move,

who often
approaches men first.

Which wasn't something women
did at that time.

So she invites him to have a
drink with her at this party
they're both attending.

And Artie Shaw, with his
characteristic Ashkenazi
sense of humor,

writes in his memoirs:
"She asked me to have
a drink with her."

: "I should have said no.
I would have been
out of my mind!"

Like many
Hollywood couples,

Ava and Artie lived together
before getting married in 1945.

He did try to...

completely reinvent her.

He knew she'd had no formal
education beyond high school,

so he insisted
she take classes at UCLA.

He insisted she read
certain kinds of books,

which she did... but he
always denigrated her.

He keeps telling her
that she's a dimwit,

he's forever putting her down,

so one day,
just to show him,

she decides
to take an IQ test,

which reveals she has
an above average intelligence.

She scores 120.

Nothing challenged
Ava more than when

She wasn't intellectual,

she wasn't madly interesting.

She was interested.
That was nice.

She was interested in...

in knowing about things,
that were not...

not particularly...
in her profession.

What's interesting
about their couple,

is that they're going to become
this rare thing in Hollywood,

a highbrow couple.

Shortly after
"The Killers ,"

we're going to
see once again,

that it isn't MGM that makes
the best use of Ava Gardner.

Since she's going to be lent out
to Universal for two films,

one called Singapore and
the other One Touch of Venus .

It's probably
the most lighthearted film
in Ava Gardner's career.

It's not a great film,
but it's a film
in which Ava Gardner,

is joyful,
flirtatious and upbeat.

It's a film that's somewhat
in contrast to the other films
of Ava Gardner's career.

I think that movie
was the basis of
a lot of later movies,

a lot of contemporary movies,

about statues coming to life
and robots having real feelings.

"One Touch of Venus"
was a statue coming to life,

and she played
it just right.

I mean I don't think...

she knew what she was doing,
in the sense that:

" well I can repeat that."

but she just had
a natural touch,

the way
she moved properly.

After her Artie Shaw romance,
which ends in divorce,

she's finally going to realize
that she's a free woman.

Ava is a free woman
way ahead of her time.

She completely prefigures
women's liberation.

She lives outside convention,

and that isn't to the liking
of her employer, MGM.

In fact she's
excessively uncontrollable.

What do you mean,
turning me down?

Look out Stims!

I won't look out,
I'm plenty mad!

Cut it out, Stims!

Big baby!

She just wants
to enjoy herself.

What, what, what.

We were just going
to build a campfire,

and toast some marshmallows.

Do join us darling.

She's earthy,
she likes to have a good time.

She's a barfly,
she likes to drink,

she's already a heavy drinker.

She likes to hang out
with black people,

because they have music
in their blood.

Her best friend is Lena Horn.

She loves music, swing, jazz.

She's completely atypical.

At this time, a lot of men
come in and out of her life,

Howard Duff, Robert Taylor,

but the most interesting one
will be the big star
of the moment,

the sexiest man
in Hollywood, Robert Mitchum.

They're going to co-star
in a sort of gothic version,

of "Gone with the wind" called
"My Forbidden Past."

She doesn't
mean anything to you
and you know it!

It's not her
fault... and it's too late.

Is it too late darling...
Is it?

And of course,
off camera, they're going
to have a torrid affair,

which won't at all please
Robert Mitchum's lawful wife.

The same year as
"My Forbidden Past",

Ava will star
in a masterpiece,

that will forever mark
the history of cinema,

granting its leading actress
a prominent place
in the Hollywood pantheon.

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman

is probably the signature film
of Ava Gardner's career,

or at least one of them.

And it's a film that's going
to play a very important role,

in both her filmography
and private life.

This is "Pandora." She
was bold and beautiful.

Desired by every man
who met her.

Pandora destroyed all
who loved her,
until she met...

the Flying Dutchman!

I'd die for you without
the least hesitation.

Of all the damn
films I made,

"Pandora and the Flying
Dutchman" would probably rank
as one of the most obscure.

Yet it wouldn't be
an exaggeration to say making
it changed my life forever.

Because "Pandora" got me
outside these United States
for the first time,"

and introduced me to the two
countries, England and Spain,

where I was to spend much
of the rest of my life.

On her return
from Spain.

Ava goes club-hopping
with Lana Turner.

to all the fashionable
night spots.

must have thought
they were hallucinating,

when on certain nights,

Rita, Lana and Ava
on the dance floor,
dancing the Cha-cha and Mambo.

Frank Sinatra
is one of Lana's ex-lovers.

And as the two of them chat
in the Beverly Hills bar,

Lana, who's older than Ava,
gives her advice.

She says: "You know,
Frank Sinatra saw you
in the Metro canteen,

and he thinks
you're very pretty."

What do you think?

And Ava replies,
characteristically:

"He's vulgar, I can't
stand him,

he's arrogant and
I hate arrogant men.

I don't even
know who he is."

She must be joking,

he's only America's
biggest heartthrob crooner!

His concerts
drew capacity crowds,

and young girls fainted
during his performance,

He was the Michael Jackson
of his time.

He made
a play for her almost
the first time he saw her,

but Ava was always
very instinctive about,

not responding to that
kind of situation.

He was a very brash, you know,

self-confident,
frankly at times

obnoxious young guy,

who knew he had it all,

and just felt that
he was God's gift,

and in many cases he was.

One evening,
Frankie invites her to dinner
and she accepts.

Obviously after a period of
intense courting on his part.

and that's when
their story begins.

I even know what
they order for dinner!

American lobster and linguini.

And the waiter at the
Musso and Frank Grill,

who's still alive today.

Told me that as
the evening went by,

he saw Ava's
green eyes soften,

and interlock with
Frankie's bright blue eyes.

The Spanish waiter said to me:

"I was shocked to see this,
because I thought
she was divine,

whereas I knew him, he was a
hoodlum."

Nevertheless, the hoodlum and
the divine Ava,

leave together
in a Cadillac that night.

She takes him back to her
retreat in Nichols Canyon,

and that's the beginning
of their torrid romance.

The following morning,
they're in trouble.

He's married to Nancy Sinatra,
he has children.

He's the famous crooner,

and at the same time
the nice boy-next-door.

He's with Ava the killer,

her nickname sinceThe Killers.

Ava the man-eater.

How's this story
going to play out?

Suddenly, she was
labeled a home wrecker.

and some of the religious groups
in the Mid-West,

were making noises,

that they were
going to ban her movies.

and Sinatra was in trouble too,

because he was
the boy next door, literally.

He was the young,
sweet guy with a wife,
and two young kids.

The press
doesn't leave them alone.

Their affair
makes headline news,

and it's all over
the gossip magazines,

much to the dismay
of their mutual employer,

Mayer of Metro Goldwyn Mayer.

While Frank dreams
of a quiet family life,

Ava, the night owl,
doesn't see things that way,

and they spend their time
clubbing and drinking
till dawn.

One night in Las Vegas,

they end up driving
through a small town
in the Nevada desert.

They're both so intoxicated,

that they start shooting
at shop windows.

Ava finds this extremely
amusing and joins in with him,

which results in them
both being arrested.

They're going to prefigure
a model that will continue
after them,

but hadn't existed
up until then.

which is that of the successful
celebrity couple.

Glamorous, crazy,

vulgar... boozy,

violent and unruly.

This model of couple,
with this amount of fame

and don't give a damn attitude,

was unprecedented
at that time,

and there's been
nothing like it since.

Nancy Sinatra
finally agrees to a divorce
that ruins Frank,

but Ava can now finally marry
her favorite crooner,

While Frank's career
is in a slump,
Ava is now a big star .

She becomes
Hollywood's number one star.

She's the invincible
smoldering brunette,

the femme fatale,

the vamp that
everyone wants.

An extraordinary career.

Sinatra was the one
who suffered,

but times were changing,

and his career
suddenly fell apart.

His records weren't selling.
it had nothing to do with Ava.

The war was over,
tastes were changing.

She's the one
who keeps them afloat,

she's the one who
brings in the money
through her film roles.

She does a lot of films,
not duds.

She doesn't
do dud films.

but she works a lot,
and this exhausts her
because she's basically lazy.

But she does it so that
they can have money,

to spend on wonderful trips
to Cuba, Mexico, etc.

and just to have money
to burn,

basically, because
they're both high rollers.

So how does the macho,
Italian crooner feel
about this situation?

Well, he's not very happy
about it.

He'd rather
people didn't know.

He's sometimes even referred to
as Mr. Gardner

And that's very humiliating
for a macho Italian man.

So he's determined
to get back on his feet again.

She was
instrumental,

in keeping his
spirits up,

and telling him that
he was the best singer
in the world...

and that, you know,
he was gonna come out
of this dump.

He never forgot that.

Ava's going to do
something incredible.

She's going to go out
and campaign for Frank.

She's going to do the rounds
of the Hollywood villas, saying:

"There must be someone
who'll hire my husband.

My husband's dying
to have a role inFrom Here to Eternity.

there's a brash little Italian
character in it,

that'd be just
perfect for my man."

But it's not an easy campaign.

Neither Zinnemann nor
the producer, Harry Cohn,
want Frankie.

His popularity's on the wane,
they can't see him in the role.

And what's more
he's too uncontrollable.

He drinks, he fights,
he's violent.

Hollywood
just doesn't want him.

She was good
friends with Joan Cohn
who was Harry Cohn's wife.

She begged Joan Cohn
to talk to her husband,

to make sure that Frank
at least got a screen test.

She says to them"I beg you,
please, please take Frankie,

he'll be great
in the role of Maggio."

And she's even going to go
as far as to offer

to do something
she hates doing.

She says to them: "If you take
Frankie,

I'll make a film
for you for free, next time."

The motion picture
industry's night of nights.

Frank Sinatra
wins another award...

Ava's pugnacity
proves her to be right,

as Frank wins an Oscar award
for best supporting actor
for the year 1953.

While Frank makes a big
come-back,

the volatile couple
gets bogged down
in fits of jealousy,

that become more
and more explosive.

Whenever a man looked at Ava,

he'd jump up and start punching.

He lost all control.

Whenever a woman
looked at Frank,

she'd get up and leave.

She'd drive off into the night,

whether in Manhattan
or Los Angeles,

she'd just disappear.

I think the main
reason my marriages failed,

is that I always loved too well,
but never wisely.

I'm terribly possessive
about the people I love.

I'm jealous of every minute
they spend away from me.

When I couldn't get Frank
on the telephone immediately,

I wanted to kill myself.

It was stupid... I suppose,
but it was me.

Ava returns
to the film set
for two major productions ,

"The Snows of Kilimanjaro,"
which earn her an Oscar
nomination,

and especially
"Mogambo."

Mogambo is a remake of
a 1930s big box-office hit,

"China Seas ,"starring Jean Harlow.

So MGM decide to do a remake
of it 20 years later,

but as Africa is
more fashionable now than Asia,

they decide to set
the story in Africa.

And what's interesting is that
the leading male role,

which was played by Clark Gable
20 years earlier,

is still played by Clark Gable.

So you have this amazing trio
formed by Clark Gable,

Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly.

After hearing rumors
of his wife's infidelities
during the shoot,

he decides to go out to Africa
to join her.

Their fits of jealousy become
more and more frequent,

and Ava soon discovers
that she's expecting
her husband's baby.

It's an absolute tragedy.

She leaves for London
and goes to see a doctor.

who tries to dissuade
her from aborting.

: "You're married to
Frank Sinatra, you're a star,

everything is going
well for you,

why not have this baby"?

But she remains firm,
she doesn't want to
have this baby.

she has an abortion...
It's absolutely heart rending.

When Frank Sinatra finally
realizes what she's done,

and comes to visit her
in her hospital room,

he sees her lying there in bed,

in her little white nightgown,

looking very sick.

Not a word is exchanged
between them.

He understands she hadn't
wanted to have this child,

whereas he'd dreamed
of having a daughter with Ava.

he would have loved to have
a little Avita with Ava.

:" As long as I live,
I'll never forget waking up
after the operation,

and seeing Frank
sitting next to the bed
with tears in his eyes.

But I think I was right.
I still think I was right."

In order to try and
forget this terrible ordeal,

Ava throws herself into work.

And the director,
Joseph Mankiewicz,
despite MGM's reticence,

casts her in his new film
"The Barefoot Contessa,"

The role of Maria Vargas be will
the jewel in her crown.

as an actress and will earn her
the nickname she detested,

"the World's
Most Beautiful Animal."

" The Barefoot Contessa"
will shock you, provoke you,
excite you...

as no motion picture
before ever has.

She wasn't first choice
for the part.

There were two
other top contenders,

one was Rita Hayworth.

And The Barefoot Contessa
was supposedly,

to a degree, her story,

you know, of a gypsy girl,
which is what she was.

The other top choice was

Jennifer Jones, who was
desperate to play that part.

The Barefoot Contessa
was, um...

one of Ava's signature films,
for sure.

I mean she's
breathtakingly beautiful in it.

I think she gives
a very real performance.

... or on
a millionaire's yacht.

they all worshipped
the face, the fame, the figure

of the world's most
beautiful animal.

Truffaut will say:
"It's a film that portrays Ava."

and he'll add:
"It's a portrait of a woman,

and not just
any woman,

that of Hollywood's
most exquisitely
beautiful actress.

But, as always, she doesn't care
about any of that.

She distances herself
from it all.

To help calm her nerves before
shooting, she drinks vodka.

She doesn't think
of herself as an actress,

she thinks she can't act and
will repeat this all her life.

Which amuses everyone,
because it just isn't true.

She doesn't realize it,
but she's excellent.

Being a star.
My name in a Cole Porter song.

My footprints in cement
at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Being elected by the
American Sewing Guild,

as the girl
whose measurements they'd
most like to take.

And by the
Elevator Operators Union,

as the girl they'd most
like to be stuck,

at the top of the
Empire State Building with.

The problem
with "The barefoot Contessa"

is that a real-life drama's
taking place behind the scenes.

And this is the breakup
of Ava and Frankie's marriage.

The great British
cinematographer, Jack Cardiff

is going to have
to use all his ingenuity,

to conceal Ava's state
of fatigue and depression.

She needs space.
she needs to get away
from the film studios,

from MGM and the contracts
that are taking a toll on her.

She has just one desire.
To go and live in Madrid.

After filming
"The Barefoot Contessa,"
she moves to Madrid.

In December
of 1955, just short
of my 33rd birthday,

I did something
I'd been threatening to do
for a long time,

something that no one really
believed I'd ever manage.

No, it wasn't leaving
the picture business,
but it was close.

I left
the United States for good
and settled in Spain.

The lifestyle
of Europe,
people left you alone.

It wasn't Hollywood.

Of course you had the
real paparazzi in Italy,

but she wasn't living in Italy,

She was living in Spain...

and... she was very comfortable
with the life-style...

Non-judgmental,

um... Come and go
as she pleased...
great for night life.

She loved flamenco,

she loved
Spanish dancing,

and... she was
very Spanish... really.

I think she took on...

the... Personality of
a Spaniard.

the Spanish senorita.

She doesn't feel
at all American any more,

she's taken to wearing
little red neck scarfs,

tight skirts... hoop earrings.

She's totally
enchanted by Spain.

Ernest Hemingway
and Ava had already met before
via film scripts.

They'll maintain
a close, almost...

father and daughter
friendship, their whole lives.

A common taste
for late-night drinking,

flamenco and bullfighting
will seal their friendship.

They spend
a lot of time together
in Madrid,

They go to bullfights together.

He introduces her
to bullfighting,

and his matador friends.

And that's when
she becomes smitten.

Luis Miguel Dominguin is

Ava Gardner's masculine ideal.

He's tall, dark,
elegant, sophisticated.

He's as popular in
Spain and Europe,

as she is
in the United States,

and he offers her
a flamboyant life.

Her Madrid idyll
comes to a sudden end.

Luis is married and Ava,
hounded by the Spanish tax
authorities,

has to leave the country.

She has
no money left.

She doesn't want to work,

which sets her apart from her
other actress friends,

who work
when they run out of money.

Whereas Ava hates being forced
into doing something,

Let's not forget
that her husband,

who she's in the process
of divorcing at this time,

loves her so much,

that he sends
her a few thousand dollars
from time to time.

"The Night of the Iguana"
started with a phone call.

It was in 1963 and I was
lazing around in Spain.

I'd get up late,
chat with my friends.

I'd dance
the flamenco all night long.

In short, I was enjoying life
and not bothering anyone,

and I wanted it
to continue that way.

I had no desire to make a film.

And then the damn phone rang.

In the
"Night of the Iguana"
she plays a hotelkeeper,

who tries to recapture a sort
of past love affair,

with a man who like herself,
is jaded and tainted.

Played by Richard Burton.

So we have an Ava Gardner,
who's quite young in fact,

playing the role of a woman
making a last desperate
attempt at life.

One night,
the Night of the Iguana.
Since man has known woman,

there has never been
such a night.

How weak is man?

What's statutory rape?
I've never known what that was.

That's when a man is seduced
by a girl under twenty.

Obviously Richard Burton
is going to fall,

slightly in love
with Ava Gardner,

but as his wife, Liz Taylor

is on the set all the time,

and never lets him
out of her sight,

we'll never know if anything
would have happened
between Richard and Ava.

Ava behaves herself.

There's
a lot of drinking,

there's Sue Lyon who's
just played Lolita .

It's a high risk shoot,
completely wild.

And Ava is amazing
in this role.

In 1968,
Ava settles in London,
in Ennismore Gardens,

where she finds the
peace and quiet she now seeks.

Since that first
visit on my way to "Pandora and
the Flying Dutchman,"

I've always
loved London.

It's a very civilized town.
And the British leave you alone.

When people do recognize me,
they smile and nod their heads,

which is a hell of a lot
different from the treatment
I've been used to.

All she wants now is to go
and have a few drinks

in the pub behind
Ennismore Gardens
with Tennessee Williams,

and other new friends.

Such as her neighbors
in the building,

two charming homosexuals,

one a pianist,
the other an artist,

whom she'll drop
in on unannounced,

with a cake and a bottle
of champagne in her hand.

And they'd dance the
flamenco together.

As we were
in the same building,

I think
she became a very good friend,

Um...a better friend than
the other people
in the building.

And I think it
was because...

um... it helped me
being a painter perhaps.

Um... Peter Feuchtwanger
being a musician...

and a... a pianist
and a composer.

I think that made it more
interesting for her,

because...at least she could
talk about certain things,

or she could learn...
from what you said.

I have quite
a few friends in London,

what you'd call good friends,
very good friends.

And so far,
I don't feel abandoned.

I'm not a public figure here.
God save the English!

I even received a letter
addressed simply to:

"Ava Gardner,
Hyde Park, London."

And some character at the
Post Office had scrawled
across the envelope:

"Which bench"?

Excerpt,The Sentinel in 5A.

He's blind.

Ava's perpetual
need for money forces her,

to accept roles
in the most improbable films,

for both cinema
and television.

There is danger.
"The Sentinel"!

Why do
I keep acting?

The answer I usually
gave was:

"For the loot, honey,
always for the loot,"

And there was more truth
than poetry, in that remark.

Whenever I need money,
I take a deep breath
and agree to do a film.

And to be honest,

my reasons
for accepting a role,

are rarely the best ones.

Amongst the several
third-rate films she appears in,

the US/Austrian production:
"Permission to Kill"
holds a place of honor.

For me,
personally, the shoot
was marvelous.

For her, it was a bit more
complicated with the crew,

because we had two shooting
schedules each day,

in case she was tired,

because she was
already drinking a lot.

So in order to ensure
her well-being,

and not to jeopardize
the shoot,

there were two shooting
schedules each day,

and they'd use one
or the other,

depending on
how Ava felt.

And what touched me the most,

was that we shared the
same trailer on the set,

which proves that
she wasn't a snob,

since she agreed to share
her trailer with
a young French actress.

She'd seen that I had
a small cassette player,

and during make-up,

or Frank Sinatra songs.

and every morning I'd put on
"Strangers in the Night."

And one day, not the first day,
but the second day,

she said
to me: "Put Frankie on,
Nicole, please."

So I'd put Sinatra
on every morning,

and every time she'd cry.

which meant that her make-up
had to be entirely redone,

every morning because
she was in tears.

And that created
a wonderful bond between us:

"Put Frankie on please."

Although she
continues to work,

she remains voluntarily
mysterious for the press.

and still always hates
to give interviews.

She was
very understanding
of the problems,

her PR people faced.

For instance,
when she dealt with me,

she says I know
they're going to be
pestering you, honey.

Just tell them:
"she's not available."

Ava will even play
a trick on a young
French journalist,

and film critic who came
especially to London
to interview her.

A true story that
director Xavier Gianoli,

will turn into
a short fiction film.

--Yes?

Hello, Miss Vargas, hello.
It's Julien Bernardini,

Oh yes,
one moment please.

Yes?

Hello, it's
Julien Bernardini,

I believe we have
an appointment.

Yes, I was expecting you.

I'm sorry, the door
doesn't open. The door
is not opening.

-Hello?
-No, no, I know,
but I'm listening.

Considering her work
to be of no interest,

Miss Gardner won't answer
any of the poor
interviewers questions.

He'll go back home having
obtained nothing from his idol.

A few years ago,
an unexpected thing
happened to me.

I had a stroke,

which left me with
walking difficulties,

and an almost useless left arm.

Despite that, I soldier on.

I don't have a choice.

There's one lesson I learned
very early in life,

you have to persevere.

Sometimes she was
a bit down in the dumps.

And in retrospect I put that
down to the fact that,

she was not well.

And then of course, the stroke
did affect her,

And it couldn't have been,

the nicest thing
to happen to anybody.

But she dealt with it

as... she knew best.

and I think
she enjoyed those two years.

And we tried to be
as nice as we could,

if she needed anything,

and... it was lovely,

to... to be close
to her like that.

What's less known is that
Ava locks herself away
at 8pm every evening,

to wait for the phone call
from the love of her life.

And it's heartrending because
he's over there in New York,

he's married to another woman
called Barbara,

she's blond, attractive,

the perfect
all American wife.

But all he wants
is to talk with Ava.

From time to time he'll say:

"I really wish we could have
ended up together,"

and she'd say: "Yes sweetheart,

we could have. But you know,
we were both too jealous."

At the end of her life,
Ava burns Frankie's letters.

We don't know what
he wrote in them.

But we can imagine
they contained,

all the blues, swing
and whirls of cigarette smoke,

the century had to offer.

She said to me
quite a few times:

"Well, when I go, I hope
I'll have my champagne...
and a cigarette,

that's the way
I want to... be."

Well she got her wish
because the woman,

the concierge, told me:

"You know, Miss Gardner,

she got
her wish alright."

On the night
of a storm I believe.

Which would be, yah...

One thing
I've always known,

is that the process
of growing up, growing old,

and growing toward death

has never seemed frightening.

And, you know, if I had
my life to live over again,

I'd live it
exactly the same way.

Maybe a few changes here
and there, but nothing special.

Because the truth is, honey,
I've enjoyed my life.

I've had
a hell of a good time.