Ava Gardner : "love is nothing"

"The most complete and engrossing biography yet of this exotic Southern girl...Excellent."—Liz Smith She was the sex symbol who dazzled all the other sex symbols. She was the temptress who drove Frank Sinatra to the brink of suicide and haunted him to the end of his life. Ernest Hemingway saved one of her kidney stones as a sacred memento, and Howard Hughes begged her to marry him—but she knocked out his front teeth instead. She was one of the great icons in Hollywood history—star of The Killers , The Barefoot Contessa , and The Night of the Iguana —and one of the few whose actual life was grander and more colorful than any movie. Her jaw-dropping beauty, charismatic presence, and fabulous, scandalous adventures fueled the legend of Ava Gardner—Hollywood's most glamorous, restless and uninhibited star. In this acclaimed first full biography of Gardner, Lee Server... She was the sex symbol who dazzled all the other sex symbols. She was the temptress who drove Frank Sinatra to the brink of suicide and haunted him to the end of his life. Ernest Hemingway saved one of her kidney stones as a sacred memento, and Howard Hughes begged her to marry himbut she knocked out his front teeth instead. She was one of the great icons in Hollywood historystar of The Killers, The Barefoot Contessa, and The Night of the Iguanaand one of the few whose actual life was grander and more colorful than any movie. Her jaw-dropping beauty, charismatic presence, and fabulous, scandalous adventures fueled the legend of Ava GardnerHollywood's most glamorous, restless and uninhibited star. In this acclaimed first full biography of Gardner, Lee Server recreateswith great style and vivid detailthe actress's life, from her beginnings as a barefoot North Carolina farm girl to her heady days as a Hollywood goddess. He paints the full spectacle of her tumultuous private lifeincluding her string of failed marriages to Mickey Rooney, Sinatra and Artie Shawand Gardner's lifelong search for adventure and love. The First Full-length Biography Of The Farm Girl From North Carolina Who Became A Hollywood Goddess. It Recreates A Life Of Glamour, Hedonism, And Self-destruction, Painted In Bold Colors On The Canvas Of Big-studio Hollywood In The Forties And Fifties, Exotic Locations, The Rome Of La Dolce Vita, And The Spain Of Bullfighters And Dictators. Her Stunning Beauty And Lack Of Inhibition Led To A Tumultuous Private Life And A Long Search For Love, Including Marriages To Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw And Frank Sinatra, And Relationships With Hemingway, Howard Hughes, George C. Scott, And Famous Matador Mario Cabre.--from Publisher Description. Ava -- Goddess Country -- Zombies At The Beachcomber -- Femme Fatale -- Venus In Furs -- Frankie Goes To Hollywood -- Torrid Was Your Blood -- Tempt Me To Madness -- Spanish For Cinderella -- Sun And Shadow -- Vita, Dolce Vita -- Love Is Nothing... -- Venus Falling. Lee Server. Filmography: P. [527]-533. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [501]-525) And Index. The first full-length biography of the farm girl from North Carolina who became a Hollywood goddess. It recreates a life of glamour, hedonism, and self-destruction, painted in bold colors on the canvas of big-studio Hollywood in the forties and fifties, exotic locations, the Rome of La Dolce Vita, and the Spain of bullfighters and dictators. Her stunning beauty and lack of inhibition led to a tumultuous private life and a long search for love, including marriages to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra, and relationships with Hemingway, Howard Hughes, George C. Scott, and famous matador Mario Cabre.--From publisher description.Presents a detailed account of the Hollywood icon, tracing her numerous affairs, her marriages to such men as Mickey Rooney and Frank Sinatra, and her larger-than-life, passionate lifestyle.