The star of "Show Boat," "The Barefoot Contessa," and "On the Beach" sets the record straight about her spectacular life and Hollywood career

Ava: My Story

Humor & Entertainment

Gardner, Ava

Movies

Bantam]

The late actress and sex symbol discusses her early days in Hollywood; her marriages to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw, and Frank Sinatra; her memorable roles; her friendships and affairs; and more Reprint. NYT.

An autobiography by Ava Gardner. It covers her arrival in Hollywood at the age of 18, her quick rise to fame, and her turbulent private life. Her three marriages are described, to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra, as is her 20-year friendship with Howard Hughes.

Ava: My story

BANTAM PRESS

This wickedly candid memoir that Ava Gardner dared not publish during her lifetime offers a revealing self-portrait of the film legend’s life and loves in Hollywood’s golden age. “I EITHER WRITE THE BOOK OR SELL THE JEWELS,” Ava Gardner told her coauthor, Peter Evans, “and I’m kinda sentimental about the jewels.” So began the collaboration that led to this remarkably candid, wickedly sardonic memoir. Ava Gardner was one of Hollywood’s great stars during the 1940s and 1950s, an Oscar-nominated leading lady who co-starred with Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, and Humphrey Bogart, among others. Her films included Show Boat, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, The Barefoot Contessa, and On the Beach. But her life off the screen was every bit as fabulous as her film roles. Born poor in rural North Carolina, Gardner was given a Hollywood tryout thanks to a stunning photo of her displayed in a shop window. Not long after arriving in Hollywood, she caught the eye of Mickey Rooney, then America’s #1 box-office draw. Rooney was a womanizer so notorious that even his mother warned Gardner about him. They married, but the marriage lasted only a year (“my shortest husband and my biggest mistake”). Ava then married band leader and clarinetist Artie Shaw, who would eventually marry eight times, but that marriage, too, lasted only about a year (“he was a dominating son of a bitch . . . always putting me down”). She carried on a passionate affair with Howard Hughes but didn’t love him, she said. Her third marriage was a tempestuous one to Frank Sinatra (“We were fighting all the time. Fighting and boozing. It was madness. . . . But he was good in the feathers”). Faithfully recording Ava’s reminiscences in this book, Peter Evans describes their late-night conversations when Ava, having had something to drink and unable to sleep, was at her most candid. So candid, in fact, that when she read her own words, she backed out and halted the book. Only now, years after her death, could this frank and revealing memoir be published. “If I get into this stuff, oh, honey, have you got something coming,” Ava told Evans. Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations is the stunning story of a legendary star’s public and private lives.

Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations

EVANS, Peter

Simon&Schuster

The wickedly candid New York Times bestesller that Ava Gardner dared not publish during her lifetime—“the heartbreaking memoir of the ultimate heartbreaker” (Philadelphia Inquirer). Ava Gardner was one of Hollywood’s biggest and brightest stars during the 1940s and ’50s, an Oscar-nominated leading lady who co-starred with Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, and Humphrey Bogart, among others. But this riveting account of her storied life, including her marriage to Frank Sinatra, and career had to wait for publication until after her death—because Gardner feared it was too revealing. “I either write the book or sell the jewels,” Gardner told coauthor Peter Evans, “and I’m kinda sentimental about the jewels.” The legendary actress serves up plenty of gems in these pages, reflecting with delicious humor and cutting wit on a life that took her from rural North Carolina to the heights of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Tell-all stories abound, especially when Gardner divulges on her three husbands: Mickey Rooney, a serial cheater so notorious that even his mother warned Gardner about him; bandleader Artie Shaw, whom Ava calls “a dominating son of a bitch…always putting me down;” and Frank Sinatra (“We were fighting all the time. Fighting and boozing. It was madness. But he was good in the feathers”). “Her story is a raw-nerved revelation. . . . A vivid portrait” (Chicago Tribune). Witty, penetrating, unique in its voice, it is impossible to put down—“A complete delight” (Philadelphia Inquirer).

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

The star of "Show Boat," The Barefoot Contessa," and "On the Beach" sets the record straight about her spectacular life and Hollywood career

Ava: My Story (Thorndike Press Large Print Basic Series)

Thorndike Pr

The late actress and sex symbol discusses her early days in Hollywood; her marriages to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw, and Frank Sinatra; her memorable roles; her friendships and affairs; and more Reprint. NYT.

Ava : My Story

Thorndike Press

Ava Gardner was one of Hollywood’s great stars during the 1940s and 1950s, an Oscar-nominated leading lady who co-starred with Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, and Humphrey Bogart, among others.Born poor in rural North Carolina, Gardner was given a Hollywood tryout thanks to a stunning photo of her displayed in a shop window.

Memoirs

Center Point Pub

Celebrate the creative and empowering bond between a father and his daughter in this picture book from the real-life creators of the blog Daddy Dressed Me following a single dad’s sewing journey as he makes clothes to inspire his daughter.\nIt’s Move Up Day for Ava and her kindergarten class, and Ava is chosen to recite a poem! She worries about remembering the words, but her daddy reassures her he will help her practice until she’s confident. But Daddy struggles with self-doubt himself when he decides to sew Ava a new dress for the occasion but isn’t sure he knows the stitches and techniques to make her a one-of-a-kind creation.\nWord by word and stitch by stitch, father and daughter work together, helping each other stand tall, proud, and confident, wrapped in love.

Daddy Dressed Me

Children's Books

Gardner, Michael

Growing Up & Facts of Life

Aladdin

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gardner, Ava. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Gardner, Ava

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gardner, Ava. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Ava: My Story

Ava: My Story

Ava: My story

Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations

Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations

Ava: My Story (Thorndike Press Large Print Basic Series)

Ava : My Story

Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations

Daddy Dressed Me

Daddy Dressed Me