Hollywood Regency Glamour Girl Ava Gardner Vintage 1950s Large Format Photograph
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:1021574 | Size: 10" x 13" |
| Modified Item: No | Sitter: Ava Gardner |
| Country/Region of Manufacture: United States | Year: 1950s |
| Original/Reproduction: Original |
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ITEM: This is a stunning 1950s vintage and original, large format gelatin silver photograph of Golden Age of Hollywood bombshell Ava Gardner. The stunning brunette is ravishing and dramatically beautiful in this classic Hollywood Regency studio portrait that expertly highlights her beauty and timeless appeal.
Signed to a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941, Gardner appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in "The Killers" (1946). She appeared in several high-profile films from the 1940s to 1970s and she continued to act regularly until 1986, four years before her death in London in 1990, at the age of 67. She is listed 25th among the American Film Institute's 25 Greatest Female Stars of Classic Hollywood Cinema.
Measures 10" x 13" on a matte double weight paper stock.
Handwritten notations on verso.
CONDITION: Fine condition with some creasing and softening around the corners and light edge wear from handling. Please use the included images as a conditional guide.
Guaranteed to be 100% vintage and original from Grapefruit Moon Gallery.
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Ava Lavina Gardner was born on December 24, 1922 in Grabtown, North Carolina, to Mary Elizabeth (née Baker) and Jonas Bailey Gardner. Born on a tobacco farm, where she got her lifelong love of earthy language and going barefoot, Ava grew up in the rural South. At age 18, her picture in the window of her brother-in- law's New York photo studio brought her to the attention of MGM, leading quickly to Hollywood and a film contract based strictly on her beauty. With zero acting experience, her first 17 film roles, 1942-1945, were one-line bits or little better. After her first starring role in B-grade Whistle Stop (1946), MGM loaned her to Universal for her first outstanding film The Killers (1946). Few of her best films were made at MGM which, keeping her under contract for 17 years, used her popularity to sell many mediocre films. Perhaps as a result, she never believed in her own acting ability, but her latent talent shone brightly when brought out by a superior director, as with John Ford in Mogambo (1953) and George Cukor in Bhowani Junction (1956).
After three failed marriages, dissatisfaction with Hollywood life prompted Ava to move to Spain in 1955; most of her subsequent films were made abroad. By this time, stardom had made the country girl a cosmopolitan, but she never overcame a deep insecurity about acting and life in the spotlight. Her last quality starring film role was in The Night of the Iguana (1964), her later work being (as she said) strictly "for the loot". In 1968, tax trouble in Spain prompted a move to London, where she spent her last 22 years in reasonable comfort. Her film career did not bring her great fulfillment, but her looks may have made it inevitable; many fans still consider her the most beautiful actress in Hollywood history. Ava Gardner died at age 67 of bronchial pneumonia on January 25, 1990 in Westminister, London, England.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Rod Crawford
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