THE NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS IS LIMITED!
Get Your Premium Subscription ASAP! Places occupied: 4920 of 5000
All
All
Movies
TV Shows
Anime
Celebrities
Characters
Dear friend, you are using demo version of the Movies Hub!
Notifications
Account Settings
Ava Gardner
Birthday:
24 December 1922
Birth Name:
Ava Lavinia Gardner
Height:
168 cm
Biography
(on why she came out of retirement to appear on a soap opera) For the loot, honey, for the loot.
(on why she came out of retirement to appear on a soap opera) For the loot, honey, for the loot.
[on why she had an abortion during her marriage to Frank Sinatra] We couldn't even take care of ourselves. How were we going to take care of a baby?
[on why she had an abortion during her marriage to Frank Sinatra] We couldn't even take care of ourselves. How were we going to take care of a baby?
[on her role in The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966)] I've never thought of myself as right for this type of part. But John [John Huston] said he had faith that I could do it. Now I am glad I listened to him. Sarah is a wonderful role. She is a selfless woman who gives her maid servant Hagar to her husband when she herself cannot give Abraham a son. Later s...
Show more
[on her role in The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966)] I've never thought of myself as right for this type of part. But John [John Huston] said he had faith that I could do it. Now I am glad I listened to him. Sarah is a wonderful role. She is a selfless woman who gives her maid servant Hagar to her husband when she herself cannot give Abraham a son. Later she is blessed by God and gives birth to a son, at 90. This is one of the most beautiful love stories in the Bible.
Show less
God knows I've got so many frailties myself, I ought to be able to understand and forgive them in others. But I don't.
God knows I've got so many frailties myself, I ought to be able to understand and forgive them in others. But I don't.
[on her first screen test] There wasn't a thing that I could do. I couldn't act--I was the first to be eliminated in high school plays. I had no training whatsoever. I was just a pretty little girl. But I loved the idea, because I loved movies.
[on her first screen test] There wasn't a thing that I could do. I couldn't act--I was the first to be eliminated in high school plays. I had no training whatsoever. I was just a pretty little girl. But I loved the idea, because I loved movies.
I really had very little to contribute, so I played a lot of hatcheck girls, and did mob scenes, extra scenes, dancing scenes, just to have the experience of being on a set. I spent years at that. If the studio wanted a photograph to advertise a film they'd say, 'Who is it that has a good pair of legs and a good pair of breasts and is pretty and not working?...
Show more
I really had very little to contribute, so I played a lot of hatcheck girls, and did mob scenes, extra scenes, dancing scenes, just to have the experience of being on a set. I spent years at that. If the studio wanted a photograph to advertise a film they'd say, 'Who is it that has a good pair of legs and a good pair of breasts and is pretty and not working?' And it was always Ava because she was never working.
Show less
[on her career] Christ, what did I ever do worth talking about? Every time I tried to act, they stepped on me. That's why it's such a goddamn shame, I've been a movie star for 25 years and I've got nothing, nothing, to show for it.
[on her career] Christ, what did I ever do worth talking about? Every time I tried to act, they stepped on me. That's why it's such a goddamn shame, I've been a movie star for 25 years and I've got nothing, nothing, to show for it.
[when asked if her time at MGM had been any fun at all] Christ, after 17 years of slavery, you can ask that question? I hated it, honey. I mean, I'm not exactly stupid or without feeling, and they tried to sell me like a prize hog.
[when asked if her time at MGM had been any fun at all] Christ, after 17 years of slavery, you can ask that question? I hated it, honey. I mean, I'm not exactly stupid or without feeling, and they tried to sell me like a prize hog.
I can't bear to face a camera. But I never brought anything to this business and I have no respect for acting. Maybe if I had learned something it would be different. But I never did anything to be proud of.
I can't bear to face a camera. But I never brought anything to this business and I have no respect for acting. Maybe if I had learned something it would be different. But I never did anything to be proud of.
[on Robert Taylor] I knew him as a warm, generous, intelligent human being. Our love affair lasted three, maybe four months. A magical little interlude. I've never forgotten those few hidden months. I think Bob, despite all his efforts, couldn't break the mold of the beautiful lover. The film world remembers him that way, and I have to say that I do, too.
[on Robert Taylor] I knew him as a warm, generous, intelligent human being. Our love affair lasted three, maybe four months. A magical little interlude. I've never forgotten those few hidden months. I think Bob, despite all his efforts, couldn't break the mold of the beautiful lover. The film world remembers him that way, and I have to say that I do, too.
Although no one believes me, I have always been a country girl and still have a country girl's values.
Although no one believes me, I have always been a country girl and still have a country girl's values.
Maybe I just didn't have the temperament for stardom. I'll never forget seeing Bette Davis at the Hilton in Madrid. I went up to her and said, "Miss Davis, I'm Ava Gardner and I'm a great fan of yours." And do you know, she behaved exactly as I wanted her to behave. "Of course you are, my dear," she said. "Of course you are." And she swept on. Now that's a s...
Show more
Maybe I just didn't have the temperament for stardom. I'll never forget seeing Bette Davis at the Hilton in Madrid. I went up to her and said, "Miss Davis, I'm Ava Gardner and I'm a great fan of yours." And do you know, she behaved exactly as I wanted her to behave. "Of course you are, my dear," she said. "Of course you are." And she swept on. Now that's a star.
Show less
What I'd really like to say about stardom is that it gave me everything I never wanted.
What I'd really like to say about stardom is that it gave me everything I never wanted.
[in 1985, on why she came out of retirement to appear on a prime-time soap opera] For the loot, honey, for the loot.
[in 1985, on why she came out of retirement to appear on a prime-time soap opera] For the loot, honey, for the loot.
I wish to live until 150 years old but the day I die, I wish it to be with a cigarette in one hand and a glass of whiskey in the other.
I wish to live until 150 years old but the day I die, I wish it to be with a cigarette in one hand and a glass of whiskey in the other.
I made it as a star dressed, and if it ain't dressed, I don't want it.
I made it as a star dressed, and if it ain't dressed, I don't want it.
What's the point? My face, shall we say, looks lived in.
What's the point? My face, shall we say, looks lived in.
Everybody kisses everybody else in this crummy business all the time. It's the kissiest business in the world.
Everybody kisses everybody else in this crummy business all the time. It's the kissiest business in the world.
After my screen test, the director clapped his hands gleefully and yelled, "She can't talk! She can't act! She's sensational!"
After my screen test, the director clapped his hands gleefully and yelled, "She can't talk! She can't act! She's sensational!"
Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.
Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.
I couldn't imagine a better place [Melbourne, Australia] for making a film on the end of the world.
I couldn't imagine a better place [Melbourne, Australia] for making a film on the end of the world.
Nobody ever called it an intellectual profession.
Nobody ever called it an intellectual profession.
I haven't taken an overdose of sleeping pills and called my agent. I haven't been in jail, and I don't go running to the psychiatrist every two minutes. That's something of an accomplishment these days.
I haven't taken an overdose of sleeping pills and called my agent. I haven't been in jail, and I don't go running to the psychiatrist every two minutes. That's something of an accomplishment these days.
I must have seen more sunrises than any other actress in the history of Hollywood.
I must have seen more sunrises than any other actress in the history of Hollywood.
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.
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.
When I lose my temper, honey, you can't find it any place.
When I lose my temper, honey, you can't find it any place.
I have only one rule in acting -- trust the director and give him heart and soul.
I have only one rule in acting -- trust the director and give him heart and soul.
All I ever got out of any of my marriages was the two years Artie Shaw financed on an analyst's couch.
All I ever got out of any of my marriages was the two years Artie Shaw financed on an analyst's couch.
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavina Gardner was born on December 24, 1922 in Grabtown, North Carolina, to Mary Elizabeth (née Baker) and Jonas Bailey Gardner. Born on a tobacco farm, where she got her lifelong love of earthy language and going barefoot, Ava grew up in the rural South. At age 18, her picture in the window of her brother-in- law's New York photo studio brought her to the attention of MGM, leading quickly to Hollywood and a film contract based strictly on her beauty. With zero acting experience, her first 17 film roles, 1942-1945, were one-line bits or little better. After her first starring role in B-grade Whistle Stop (1946), MGM loaned her to Universal for her first outstanding film The Killers (1946). Few of her best films were made at MGM which, keeping her under contract for 17 years, used her popularity to sell many mediocre films. Perhaps as a result, she never believed in her own acting ability, but her latent talent shone brightly when brought out by a superior director, as with John Ford in Mogambo (1953) and George Cukor in Bhowani Junction (1956).After three failed marriages, dissatisfaction with Hollywood life prompted Ava to move to Spain in 1955; most of her subsequent films were made abroad. By this time, stardom had made the country girl a cosmopolitan, but she never overcame a deep insecurity about acting and life in the spotlight. Her last quality starring film role was in The Night of the Iguana (1964), her later work being (as she said) strictly "for the loot". In 1968, tax trouble in Spain prompted a move to London, where she spent her last 22 years in reasonable comfort. Her film career did not bring her great fulfillment, but her looks may have made it inevitable; many fans still consider her the most beautiful actress in Hollywood history. Ava Gardner died at age 67 of bronchial pneumonia on January 25, 1990 in Westminister, London, England.
Close
