Ава Лавиния Гарднер (англ. Ava Lavinia Gardner; 24 декабря 1922 — 25 января 1990)
Последние годы своей жизни Ава Гарднер провела в Лондоне. В 1986 году актриса перенесла два инсульта, оставившие её частично парализованной и прикованной к постели. Медицинские счета Гарднер оплачивал её бывший муж Фрэнк Синатра. 25 января 1990 года актриса в возрасте 67 лет скончалась от пневмонии. Её последними словами были: «Я так устала…»
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"Gardner was visiting her sister Beatrice in New York City in 1941, when Beatrice's husband Larry Tarr, a professional photographer, offered to take her portrait. He was so pleased with the results that he displayed the finished product in the front window of his Tarr Photography Studio on Fifth Avenue.
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With cameras rolling, he directed the 18-year-old to walk towards the camera, turn and walk away, then rearrange some flowers in a vase. He did not attempt to record her voice because her strong Southern accent made understanding her difficult for him. Louis B. Mayer, head of MGM, however, sent a telegram to Altman: "She can't sing, she can't act, she can't talk, she's terrific!"
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Gardner's third and last marriage was to singer and actor Frank Sinatra, from 1951 to 1957.
During their marriage, Gardner became pregnant twice, but aborted both pregnancies. "MGM had all sorts of penalty clauses about their stars having babies"
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After a lifetime of smoking, Gardner suffered from emphysema and lupus. [21] Two strokes in 1986 left her partially paralyzed and bedridden. Although Gardner could afford her medical expenses, Sinatra 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 of pneumonia at the age of 67, at her London home, 34 Ennismore Gardens, where she had lived since 1968.