Ava Gardner (1922 - 1990) colorized from a 1951 photo

Ava Gardner started as a model and was discovered by MGM, where she was groomed into a glamorous actress regarded as the Most Beautiful Animal in the world in the 50s. After taking bit roles she got a public notice on loan-out to Universal in The Killers (1946). MGM showed her gutsy persona in Mogambo (1953), against a more refined Grace Kelly and an equally earthy Clark Gable. Director George Cukor was so taken by Gardner that he cast the actress in her best and most complex MGM role in Bhowani Junction (1956), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), reflect her own rags-to-riches personal story. She was cast in some of her best parts during the '60s, notably in Seven Days in May and Night of the Iguana (both 1964), but with increasingly fewer roles for an aging beauty, she eventually retired in London, but not before appearing in supporting roles with Sophia Loren in Cassandra Crossing (1976) and with Elizabeth Taylor in the children's fantasy Bluebird (1976).   After apparing in a few TV serious and her last film Regina Roma (1982), Gardner suffered from emphysema through her in smoking habit and an unidentified autoimmune disorder. Two strokes in 1986 left her partially paralyzed and bedridden. Although Gardner could afford her medical expenses, Sinatra, her former husband, wanted to pay for her visit to a specialist in the United States, and she allowed him to make the arrangements for a medically staffed private plane. She suffered a bad fall a week before she died, and she lay on the floor, alone and unable to move until her housekeeper returned. Her last words (to her housekeeper) were reportedly "I'm so tired". She died on January 25, 1990, of pneumonia at the age of 67, at her London home, 34 Ennismore Gardens, where she had lived since 1968. She was buried in the Sunset Memorial Park, Smithfield, North Carolina, next to her siblings and their parents, Jonas (1878–1938) and Molly Gardner (1883–1943). The town of Smithfield now has an Ava Gardner Museum. She was married and divorced three times -- to Mickey Rooney, Frank Sinatra, and Artie Shaw.