Talk:Ava Gardner/Archive 1

Abortion
While Ava Gardner may have admitted to an abortion, it is unrelated to her meeting JRR Tolkien as the paragraph would imply. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.68.124.255 (talk • contribs) 18:41, 2 October 2005 (UTC).
 * I don't know when this comment was posted (sign!), so maybe the article has changed since... but the Trivia section is formatted as a list, and the abortion item does not appear related to the Tolkien item. ironcito 20:23, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

Death
Her death has been wrongly reported by Wikipedia. History channel shows the death as occuring on April 15. See http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=entertainment I have therefore changed the date —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Gr8quizzer (talk • contribs) 06:26, 15 April 2006 (UTC).

Ava Gardner died on Jan. 25, 1990 at her townhouse in London.

Gypsy Blood
Ava is of Romany descent —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 4.244.171.29 (talk • contribs) 08:26, 7 February 2006 (UTC).

I never hear that, but I did hear she had some blood line of some turkish saldoir that came to the states. I hear Honest abe and elvis had this same culture in them those not relate to them. it is very like she was of scot-irish since they were in the area where she come from. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Irishmonk (talk • contribs) 02:42, 21 May 2006 (UTC).


 * The bloodline being referenced is 'Melungeon' -- a sort of swarthy Indo-European lineage, which may well be Turk-Mediterranean. Elvis Presley and Abraham Lincoln were demonstrably so related.  I'm not qualified to say in Ms. Gardner's case, though the visuals "look right." Sskoog (talk) 18:40, 20 December 2014 (UTC)

Ava Gardner's family was scot-irish

She certainly does seem to exude a swarthy flair, perhaps from Romany or Turkish roots? Don't most Scot-Irish have red hair and freckles? She has look of exotic woman of Europe... Perhaps Romany commentator is indeed correct, as these roots are often not commonly disclosed in United States for cultural reasons and to avoid prejudice.


 * An old version of the page claimed that she was of Melungeon descent. --Hashshashin 03:10, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

Help Please
In the movie "Good Night and Good Luck" Robert Downeys Character is leaving for work when his wife says, what other wife would ask her husband to take his wedding ring OFF when he leaves for work, to which Downey replies, "Ava Gardner". Why ?? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 142.165.78.217 (talk • contribs) 04:02, 17 April 2006 (UTC).
 * Ava was married to Frank Sinatra at that time. It was better for Sinatra's image not to wear his wedding ring in public. --Laisak 18:43, 7 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Even Frank Sinatra was not immune to the studio influence, and that included wearing or not wearing a wedding ring. The studio decided what image they wanted him to project, and that is what he did.  Sad, but true. 73.6.96.168 (talk) 17:36, 5 August 2021 (UTC)

Balance
Rereading the article and making some adjustments, I was struck by how unbalanced it is. There is relatively little about her films and a great deal about her alleged lesbianism, private life, etc. On the whole, it reads more like a salacious article than an encyclopaedia article on a major movie star. I suppose that comes from different people adding bits at random. Any views? Orbicle 17:49, 28 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes. You're right. --jpgordon&#8711;&#8710;&#8711;&#8710; 15:25, 1 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes indeed. As beautiful as Monroe, yet also a brilliant, consumate actress - Ava Gardner truly is a in a class of her own. This article really does no justice to her at all. Would do well as a write up in a trashy magazine, though.--DreamsReign 02:18, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

"Lucy Johnson"
Several sources mention "Lucy Johnson" or "Lucy Lavinnia Johnson" as Ava's real name. Has anyone checked this and where does the name of Ava's father come from? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 62.65.143.13 (talk) 01:51, 2 January 2007 (UTC).


 * I have also always been under the impression that her birth name was Lucy Johnson. If that's not true, we should explain where that false name came from.  Here are just a few of hundreds of Google references:,  , , , , , , , .  JackofOz 03:29, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

Her birth name is "Ava Lavinia Gardner." I visited her birthplace today and saw her family bible, high school diploma, and college yearbook; all of these items demonstrate that her birth name is "Ava Lavinia Gardner."--JSCanzona (talk) 02:37, 11 October 2009 (UTC)


 * That seems well established. But it doesn't help explain where this "Lucy Johnson" came from.  That's what we're wanting to find out.  --  JackofOz (talk) 05:32, 11 October 2009 (UT

Hi...Ava's grand nephew here...Lucy Johnson was a name Ava used when checking into hotels, etc. Mgrythym (talk) 19:43, 29 December 2009 (UTC)MGRYTHYM (Morgan Grimes


 * Thanks. That makes a lot of sense.  Easy to see how someone might have made the assumption she was using her legal name.  But is there a published source for this?  --   Jack of Oz    ... speak! ...   21:05, 29 December 2009 (UTC)

Ava's Influence over Daimler-Benz
I deleted the following passage:

"* Ava Gardner is known to have convinced Mercedes-Benz, through mishap, to re-design the doors of the 300SL "Gullwing" to more conventional swing-outs in 1962, after she rolled hers, and could not exit."

This is both unsourced and unlikely. It also references the change to more conventional doors in 1962, which actually happened in 1957. And, if she were the cause of this change, it would likely be referenced in the car's history: it's not: Mercedes-Benz 300SL Meersman 04:32, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Her autobiography
There's only one little mention, that I can see, of Ava Gardner: My Story, and topics that receive considerable discussion there &mdash; such as her relationship with George C. Scott and her allegations that he was physically abusive, or her being told to just look pretty and stop trying to become a good actress &mdash; go unnoticed here. I'll try to find the copy of the book that's lying around my house somewhere so as to add these topics, but if someone else has it handy, that's great, too. Lawikitejana 21:49, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

Howard Hughes
No reference was given to two statements marked for reference in Feb, 2007. 4 months lapsed since marking. Deleted in May 2007.

What's currently writen (10/8/07) sounds more like one's opinion then anything else. Is there anyway to verify what's said? Stormwysper 20:06, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

I am deleting the sentence, "Although he made numerous marriage proposals, Ava did not consider him a romantic interest, as she was put off by his eccentric ways." Not only is it unsourced, and pov but also quite debatable.--TL36 (talk) 14:21, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

I am thinking about adding to this section that Ava stated in her autobiography Ava: My Story, that she was never in love with Howard Hughs, but he was in and out of her life for about twenty years. Howard's trust in Ava was what kept their relationship alive. She describes him as "painfully shy, completely enigmatic and more eccentric...than anyone [she] had ever met." Tracyellen93 (talk) 20:52, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

Drivel
Even by Wikipedia's low standards, this entry is dismal. Nicmart 03:57, 19 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Disagree with you about the "low standards", but MY GOD, this entry is epitome of salaciousness, as duly noted above. Can not someone with editing experience in the area of film stars at least split off her film carreer from (the so-called) "biography"? And while at it, please, delete all the bedroom details and consolidate her multiple marriages into a single short section listing names and dates. For a model of what can be emphasized (and much more importantly, what should be withheld), see the Encyclopaedia Britannica article. Arcfrk (talk) 03:41, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Order
It would appear that chronologically, the short blurb on Howard Hughes should come before the section on Frank Sinatra.

Also, the way things are at this time, the section on "Later life" (which tells of her hysterectomy) comes before the section on her marriage to Frank Sinatra (which tells of her abortion). This was confusing and I had to go back and review it to discover that "Later life" is a subsection of the main biography and is talking about 1968, whereas "Frank Sinatra" is a sub sub section of "Marriages and Relationships" and is talking about the 50's.

Wikikjh (talk) 16:47, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Also, the timing seems off with Hughes and Sinatra; the article states that Gardner and Sinatra married in 1951, but then says that she was with Hughes "into the 1950s". This seems like it can't be right...18.173.1.125 (talk) 17:21, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

The real howler is in "Last Acting Roles" - which comes between two sections about her death (Why two? Who knows?). After the first section, describing her last words and death and Sinatra's grief, comes this: "Gardner's acting career began to lose momentum after this..." Well, yeah, I guess that happens. After that is the section "Death", which is inexplicably separated from the prior section on her death, which is titled "Final Years". Wlegro (talk) 01:42, 8 February 2010 (UTC) I was going to comment on the incredible "news" that Ava Gardner's career started to lose momentum, after her death, but Wlegro has beat me to the punch, so I can only stand behind him. THIS HAS TO BE CORRECTED SOON. As it stands, it's really making Wikipedia amateurish. Uri 67.85.245.81 (talk) 13:16, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

Birthplace
According to the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield, the farmhouse where she was born now has a postal address of Smithfield. It is on Grabtown Road, off Brogden Road, nine miles southeast of Smithfield, closer to Smithfield than to Brogden. See

Brogden,_North_Carolina

Grabtown,_North_Carolina

HowardMorland (talk) 19:12, 1 March 2011 (UTC)


 * My mistake (partly anyway). I have lived near there. Grabtown in Johnston County is usually known by locals as Brogden, but there's another Brogden, North Carolina in Wayne County. To make it more complicated, there is another Grabtown in Bertie County. Anyway, I restored it to Grabtown, North Carolina because that links to a page that describes both Grabtowns. Cresix (talk) 21:31, 1 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Birthplaces are in the form of City,State. "Grabtown" is an old, currently unused nickname for a small section of the Brogden community, which itself is also not a town.  Her birthplace in other encyclopedias is given as Smithfield, NC because that is the actual town in which she resided.  152.7.12.206 (talk) 11:43, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

Luis Miguel Dominguín
Ava Gardner dated Luis Miguel Dominguín before she divorced from Frank Sinatra. --LordWeller (talk) 20:36, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

Frank Sinatra
Regarding the quote: “With him [Frank] it’s impossible…it’s like being with a woman. He’s so gentle. It’s as though he thinks I’ll break, as though I’m a piece of Dresden china and he’s gonna hurt me.” This may be out of context. The book Frank (given as the source) notes that this is the story as told by Artie Shaw, so may not be reliable. Not sure if this disclaimer should be added, or the quote removed altogether. 66.59.156.141 (talk) 18:41, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

Cultural references
Margaret Atwood poem "Ava Gardner reincarnated as a magnolia' in her collection Morning in the Burned House published 1995. I don't really know how, or where this would fit into the current article.Lacunae (talk)

Odd remark
This sentence seems inappropriate for an encyclopedia entry, under Film portrayals:

The Aviator commits a huge mistake by showing Hughes escorting her

I don't think this opinion should be here, as factual as it may be. At least the wording seems in need of work. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.221.73.42 (talk) 19:42, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

This sentence doesn't make sense.
During The Little Hut film's set in Cinecittà Walter Chiari had the opportunity to work with Ava, then estranged wife of Frank Sinatra, and chatted with her clasped a tumultuous flirt: this unexpected publicity made Chiari even get a gig on Broadway, where he played well in 1961, 113 replicas of the musical The Gay Life, taken from Schnitzler.[11] [12] — Preceding unsigned comment added by PaigeAFI (talk • contribs) 04:49, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

I came here to note that same sentence and find that it's already been noted. It's either damaged, irrelevant or nonsense. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 23.119.205.88 (talk) 02:37, 15 April 2014 (UTC)


 * The content was added by, who is an Italian editor living in Italy. I suspect English is not his first language, and Google Translate is a terrible way to edit the English Wikipedia if one's grasp of the language is not at a content-writing level. If it can't be written in proper English, it either needs to be rewritten or removed, because it is useless as it is now. Doc   talk  03:30, 15 April 2014 (UTC)

Relationship with George C. Scott?
Scott's own Wiki article suggests a later-in-life "relationship" with Ava -- and makes sidelong reference to alcohol(ism) worsening their already-tempestuous dynamic. While the desire for propriety and privacy is understandable, his and her writeups are currently inconsistent. Sskoog (talk) 18:48, 20 December 2014 (UTC)

The article doesn't mention the relationship with Italian actor Walter Chiari
The article doesn't mention Ava's relationship with Italian actor Walter Chiari which completely drove Frank Sinatra out of his mind — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.218.169.241 (talk) 18:59, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 08:41, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Luck or design?
Oh please. This article makes it sound like Gardner had no desire to become an actress. How do we know she wasn't being photographed because she wanted to get her face out there? You people write and believe anything you come across.

Because she likes to design and garden Sharon Odubela (talk) 20:52, 8 January 2017 (UTC)