1. Gardner was born the youngest of 7 siblings in a farming community in North Carolina
2. She was scouted for a Hollywood screen test aged 18 after her brother-in-law put a photo portrait he took of her in his shop window.
3. Despite her almost incomprehensible Southern accent (incomprehensible to the studio execs anyway!) MGM loved her
4. She was briefly considered for the role as Mrs Robinson in the Graduate, a role which was later given to the younger Anne Bancroft.
5. She married Mickey Rooney in 1942 but divorced the following year.  Gardner is reported to have said of the marriage, “He may have enjoyed the sex, but [goodness knows] I didn’t.”
6. Her second husband was Lana Turner‘s ex-husband jazz musician Artie Shaw.
7. Her third (and final) husband was Frank Sinatra who she called the love of her life.
8. She once swam naked in Ernest Hemmingway Hemingway’s pool, after which he ordered his staff  “The water is not to be emptied”
9. Ava Gardner died of pneumonia at the age of 67 at her London home in Ennismore Gardens, where she had lived since 1968.
10. She was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in the 1953 movie Mogambo but was beaten to it by Audrey Hepburn for Roman Holiday.

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Source, image source and copyright: This work is in the public domain in that it was published in the United States between 1923 and 1977 and without a copyright notice.