Trivia

Once met J.R.R. Tolkien and neither knew why the other was famous.

When shooting Earthquake (1974), she surprised director Mark Robson by insisting that she do her own stuntwork, which included dodging blocks of concrete and heavy steel pipes.

After her death in 1990, her longtime housekeeper, Carmen Vargas, and her dog, a Welsh Corgi named Morgan, were taken in by her former co-star Gregory Peck.

Her three husbands were eventually married to a total of 20 brides between them.

An Australian reporter found her quite adept at foul language, and her swearing was "like a sailor and a truck driver were having a competition." She threw a glass of champagne at the reporter, who said that at the moment she did so "the only thing I could think was how bloody gorgeous the woman was".

A statue of her from The Barefoot Contessa (1954) was given to Frank Sinatra as a gift. He kept it in his backyard garden well after their divorce. When he married Barbara Sinatra, she forced him to get rid of it.

During the first two years of her marriage to Frank Sinatra, he was at the lowest point of his career. She often had to loan him money so he could buy presents for his children. He went broke in 1951, and she had to pay for plane tickets for him so that he could go with her to Africa, where she was shooting Mogambo (1953). This all changed after he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in From Here to Eternity (1953).

Frank Sinatra bought her a puppy for her birthday during their courtship, a Corgi she named Rags. For the rest of her life she always had a Corgi with her. After Rags died, she had Cara and then Morgan.

Her early education was sketchy; by 1945 she had read two books, the Bible and "Gone with the Wind." In later life she more than made up for this lack by continual self-education.

She spent her final years as a recluse in her London apartment--her only companions were her longtime housekeeper Carmen Vargas and her beloved Welsh Corgi, Morgan. Two strokes in 1986 left her partially paralyzed and bedridden. Although she could easily afford her medical expenses, Frank Sinatra wanted to pay for her to visit a specialist in the US, and she allowed him to make the arrangements for a medically-staffed private plane. Her last words (to her housekeeper Carmen) were, "I'm so tired", before she died of pneumonia at age 67. Vargas took her body home to her native North Carolina for private burial. None of her ex-husbands attended.

Production designer John Hawkesworth, an Englishman who was the set designer on Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951), said about her that she "could eat twice as much as anyone, and drink three times as much".

Flamenco became one of her favorite pastimes after she learned it for The Barefoot Contessa (1954); increasingly proficient and needing little sleep, she often danced all night.

She sang in her own voice for The Killers (1946) but in all MGM films her singing voice was dubbed (much to her disgust).

Suffered from a severe case of emphysema in later life, and could not travel far without an oxygen tank for breathing.

Frank Sinatra nicknamed her "Angel".

When her first husband, Mickey Rooney, brought his hugely successful musical "Sugar Babies" to London in the late 1980s, she confessed to him that she had contemplated suicide after being left partially paralyzed by two strokes in 1986.

She and Robert Taylor had a brief love affair during the filming of The Bribe (1949).

Had appeared in three films based on Ernest Hemingway stories: The Sun Also Rises (1957), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) and The Killers (1946).

In Charlton Heston's autobiography "In the Arena" he revealed that she behaved badly during the troubled shoot of 55 Days at Peking (1963). For example, she stopped the filming when a Chinese extra took her picture without permission. Heston also stated that her character was killed off to keep the producers and director from having to deal with her anymore.

Yvonne De Carlo once said of her, "She's one of the few women in Hollywood that I like".

She sought the role of Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate (1967), and reportedly called Mike Nichols saying,"I want to see you! I want to talk about this 'Graduate' thing!" Nichols did not seriously consider her for the role, but did end up visiting her hotel. He later recounted that "she sat at a little French desk with a telephone, she went through every movie star cliché. She said, 'All right, let's talk about your movie. First of all, I strip for nobody'".

By 1945 she was smoking three packs of Winston cigarettes a day.

While living in Spain, she became a good friend of writer Ernest Hemingway, whom she and his other friends called "Papa". Both of them were fans of bullfighting.

Louis B. Mayer once said of her, "She can't talk, she can't act, she's terrific".

Was a good friend of Kathryn Grayson and Lena Horne, despite the fact that Ava and Lena both competed for the part of Julie LaVerne in Show Boat (1951).

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine St. on February 8, 1960.

Underwent two abortions during her marriage to Frank Sinatra, both during the filming of Mogambo (1953).

Although she often gave the name of her North Carolina hometown as Grabtown, and at other times as Smithfield, the township is a crossroads community named Brogden. "Grabtown" is a nickname given to it by locals. Smithfield is a larger town seven miles west.

There is an Ava Gardner Museum of memorabilia in Smithfield, NC. She is buried at Sunset Memorial Park.

When he was married to her, Artie Shaw paid tribute to her home town by making an instrumental record with his Gramercy Five (a small group within his big band) called "The Grabtown Grapple.".

In 1995 she was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#68).

Is portrayed by Marcia Gay Harden in Sinatra (1992) , Deborah Kara Unger in The Rat Pack (1998), by Christine Andreas in Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story (1995), Jon Mack in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999), and by Kate Beckinsale in The Aviator (2004).

Was considered for the role of Leslie Benedict in Giant (1956) but was unable to leave Pakistan, where she was filming Bhowani Junction (1956). The role eventually went to Elizabeth Taylor.

Her singing voice in Show Boat (1951) was dubbed by Annette Warren, although her voice is left in on the soundtrack album.

During her final years living in London, she became the dinner companion of director Michael Winner.

Daughter of Jonas Bailey (1878-1938) and Mary Elizabeth Gardner (1883-1943). Both were born, raised, married and died in North Carolina.

Placed #25 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest American female screen legends.

The youngest of seven children. Her older siblings were Raymond, Melvin ("Jack"), Beatrice ("Bappie"), Elsie Mae, Inez, and Myra.

Under contract at MGM from 1941-58.

In a promotion for The Little Hut (1957), a small island in Fiji was renamed Ava Ava and leased to a contest winner.

Once named "The World's Most Beautiful Animal" (in a 1950s publicity campaign).

Her paternal great-grandparents, William Gardner and Cynthia Eliza Batts, were also the paternal great-great-great-great-grandparents of Mary Elizabeth Winstead. This makes Ava and Mary Elizbaeth second cousins, three times removed.

She didn't like to watch her own performances.

Her The Angel Wore Red (1960) co-star Dirk Bogarde nicknamed her "Snowdrop" because, he said, anything less likely was difficult to imagine.

She and her friend Yvonne De Carlo portrayed biblical matriarchs in epic films. Gardner was Abraham's wife in The Bible in the Beginning... (1966) and De Carlo was Moses' wife in The Ten Commandments (1956).

On August 8, 2019, she was honored with a day of her film work during the Turner Classic Movies Summer under The Stars.

She was a lifelong Democrat.

Although raised Baptist, she identified herself as an atheist later in life.

Was basically shy , didn't like doing interviews and didn't believe she was very good at acting,.

In honor of her 100th birthday, she was honored as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month in December 2022.