
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Considered one of the most iconic stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, she was ranked as the 25th greatest female screen legend by the American Film Institute. Initially cast in minor roles, her breakthrough came with the classic film noir The Killers (1946), which established her as a leading lady. Her career flourished in the 1950s with notable performances in films like Mogambo (1953), for which she received an Academy Award nomination, The Barefoot Contessa (1954), and The Night of the Iguana (1964), which earned her a BAFTA nomination. Off-screen, Gardner's personal life and progressive politics attracted significant attention. Her marriages to Mickey Rooney and Artie Shaw were gossiped about, but her tumultuous relationship with Frank Sinatra particularly headlined. Gardner was a strong supporter of racial equality and desegregation, and became a member of the NAACP in 1968. Gardner was a heavy smoker, which deteriorated her health as she grew older. She continued acting in minor roles in the 1980s before she suffered a stroke in 1986 and retired. Gardner moved to Spain and England, where she spent her final years before passing away from bronchopneumonia on January 25, 1990.
99 acting credits
Acting · 99

Knots Landing
1979

What's My Line?
1950

Intimate Portrait
1993

Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields
2023

A.D.
1985

Earthquake
1974

Harem
1986

The Bible: In the Beginning...
1966

55 Days at Peking
1963

The Cassandra Crossing
1976

The Long Hot Summer
1985

The Sentinel
1977

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
1982

Seven Days in May
1964

The Killers
1946

Knights of the Round Table
1953

The Barefoot Contessa
1954

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
1972

On the Beach
1959

The Snows of Kilimanjaro
1952

Mayerling
1968

Mogambo
1953

The Night of the Iguana
1964

Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
2010

Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
2018

Show Boat
1951

John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick
1988

The Sun Also Rises
1957

Lone Star
1952

The Blue Bird
1976

The Band Wagon
1953

That's Entertainment!
1974

Iconic Couples of Hollywood
2015

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
1951

Ride, Vaquero!
1953

Shadow of the Thin Man
1941

Reunion in France
1942

The Hucksters
1947

That's Entertainment! III
1994

Harem
1986

Hitler's Madman
1943

City on Fire
1979

Two Girls and a Sailor
1944

The Naked Maja
1958

Rat Pack
2022

La Rabbia
1963

The Little Hut
1957

Singapore
1947

The Bribe
1949

Whistle Stop
1946

Twenty Years After
1944

Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1950s: The Golden Era of the Musical
2009

The Great Sinner
1949

The Angel Wore Red
1960
Screen Actors
1950

Du Barry Was a Lady
1943

Lost Angel
1943

Chavela
2017

Blonde Fever
1944

Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century
1998

The Kidnapping of the President
1980

Bhowani Junction
1956

The Ballad of Tam Lin
1970

Sunday Punch
1942

Priest of Love
1981

Calling Dr. Gillespie
1942

One Touch of Venus
1948

Kolossal - The Magnificent Macisti
1977

Young Ideas
1943

East Side, West Side
1949

This Time for Keeps
1942

Ava Gardner: Life Is Bigger Than the Movies
2017

My Forbidden Past
1951

H.M. Pulham, Esq.
1941

3 Men in White
1944

On the Trail of the Iguana
1964

Fallout
2013

Maisie Goes to Reno
1944

Swing Fever
1943

Beautiful Like a Poem
2020

Permission to Kill
1975

Kennedy, Sinatra and the Mafia
2023

Ava Gardner, the Gypsy of Hollywood
2018

The Costume Designer
1950

Joe Smith, American
1942

Ghosts on the Loose
1943

All Night Long
2010

Strange Testament
1941

Mighty Lak a Goat
1942

Kid Glove Killer
1942

She Went to the Races
1945

Regina Roma
1982

De Madrid a la Luna
2006

Legends of the West
1992

Året var 1953
2003

Fancy Answers
1941

Frank Sinatra glömde aldrig Finspång
2003

We Do It Because
1942

I'm a Civilian Here Myself
1945