as MGM’s biggest star, 12, 67, 141
money collected by bookies from, 159–60, 166, 243
size of, 11, 64, 166, 192
Turner and, 115, 133, 160, 166
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 67, 150, 155, 156, 245
Russell, Jane, 190, 252
Rutherford, Ann, 122, 166
Sachs, Manny, 271, 274
Salinger, J. D., 26
Saroyan, William, 207
Schenck, Joe, 140
Schenck, Marvin, 93–95
Schenck, Nicholas M., 93, 140, 214
Schulberg, Budd, 15
Scott, George C., 7, 143, 202–3, 252
Scott, Hazel, 94
Servant, The, 12
Sharif, Omar, 217
Shaw, Artie, 113, 201, 227, 247, 257, 274
on Ava, 264–65
Ava on, 64, 137–38, 192, 201, 250
Ava’s divorce of, 125, 205, 206, 245
Ava’s marriage to, 15, 16, 31–33, 34–35, 37–38, 54–55, 112, 186, 201, 203–4, 207–8, 225–26, 241, 243, 245, 252
music and, 205–6, 208–9
Turner and, 201–2, 227, 247, 252
Shipman, David, 6
Show Boat, 178, 234, 270
Siegel, Benny, 63
Simon, Neil, 50
Simon & Schuster, 51, 79, 81
Sinatra, Frank, 5, 42, 52, 58, 59, 80, 99, 116, 139, 202, 226–28, 238–39, 262, 267, 276, 280
on Ava, 38, 44
Ava on, 1–2, 56, 64, 137, 159, 192, 222–23, 227, 237, 264–65
Ava’s affair with, 176–79, 225
Ava’s divorce from, 8, 222
Ava’s marriage to, 7, 16, 31, 51, 79, 125, 158, 175–79, 224, 227, 236–38, 245, 250, 265, 270–71, 272–74
Ava’s memoir and, 175–76
drinking of, 178, 224
fans of, 153
fired by MGM, 237
mock suicides of, 7, 271
music and, 49, 208–9, 222–23, 224, 273
Nancy’s divorce from, 177–78, 224, 227, 270, 274
penis comment and, 179–80, 181–82, 195, 196, 221, 228–29
smoking by, 232
Turner and, 227
as unfaithful, 176–79, 224–25
Sinatra, Nancy, 177–78, 224–25, 227, 270, 273, 274
Skolsky, Sidney, 125
Smith, Luddy, 247
Snows of Kilimanjaro, The (film), 62, 234
Snows of Kilimanjaro, The (Hemingway), 62
Snyder, Dick, 98, 100, 112, 132, 149, 179–80, 181, 195
Ava’s meeting with, 79–86, 173
Spain, 225
“Stardust,” 222
Steinbeck, John, 42
Steiner, Max, 85
Stevens, Warren, 236
Stewart, James, 116
Stormy Weather, 205
Strickling, Howard, 139–40, 239
Sturges, Preston, 248
Sugar Babies, 11
Sullivan’s Travels, 248
Sun Also Rises, The (film), 15–17, 42, 62, 85, 150, 182, 260
Sun Also Rises, The (Hemingway), 15–16, 17, 42, 62, 182, 260
Sunset Boulevard, 102
Swanson, Gloria, 102
Tarr, Beatrice Gardner, see Gardner, Beatrice “Bappie”
Tarr, Larry, 71, 92–93, 141–42, 170–71
Taylor, Elizabeth, 22, 85, 98
Taylor, Robert, 176, 177, 262
Teacherage, 44–46, 69–70, 90
Theodora (Evans), 8, 23, 82, 150, 174
Thomson, David, 120
Time, 238
Truman, Harry, 136
Turner, Lana, 125, 160, 168
Ava on, 9, 45, 63
Hughes and, 190, 247
Rooney and, 115, 133, 160, 166
Shaw and, 201–2, 227, 247, 252
Sinatra and, 227
smoking by, 45, 114
wrinkles of, 9, 83
TWA, 188, 250
Twentieth Century-Fox, 205
24 Hours, 280
Two-Faced Woman, 121
Un-American Activities Committee, 205
Vargas, Carmen, 18, 269
Vargas, Maria (char.), 234–35
Variety, 207
Veiller, Tony, 32, 54
Victor, Ed, 98, 112, 164, 171, 174–75, 179–80, 181, 184, 221, 256, 279–81
advice to Evans from, 8, 150
on Ava, 8
Ava on, 22, 50, 52
Ava’s meeting with Snyder and, 79–86
Evans’s friendship with, 6, 52, 173–75
father and, 200–201
Viertel, Berthold, 16
Viertel, Peter, 15–18, 51, 56, 261
warnings about Ava from, 15–17, 21, 24, 88–89, 150, 182–83
Viertel, Salka, 16
Viertel, Virginia “Jigee,” 15
Virginia (maid), 45–46, 69, 74, 110, 192
Visconti, Luchino, 13
Wallace, Henry, 136
Warner Brothers, 54
Weiss, Milton, 108–9, 114
Welles, Orson, 16, 231–32
Whistle Stop, 63, 99, 206–7, 241
Williams, Esther, 122, 168
Williams, Tennessee, 6, 26, 62
Wilson, Teddy, 206
Winner, Michael, 10, 33
Winsor, Kathleen, 205, 252
Winters, Shelley, 178, 238
Wizard of Oz, The, 120
Yank at Eton, A, 167
Yule, Joe, Sr., 120, 134, 141
Zinnemann, Fred, 159
Simon & Schuster
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Copyright © 2013 by The Estate of Peter Evans and the Ava Gardner Trust
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Simon & Schuster Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition July 2013
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Designed by Joy O’Meara
Jacket design by Jackie Seow
Jacket photograph © mptvimages.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Evans, Peter.
Ava Gardner : the secret conversations / Peter Evans and Ava Gardner. –– First Simon & Schuster hardcover ed.
pages cm
Includes index.
1. Gardner, Ava, 1922–1990. 2. Motion picture actors and actresses––United States––Biography. I. Title.
PN2287.G37E84 2013
791.4302'8092––dc23
[B] 2012048411
ISBN 978-1-4516-2769-5
ISBN-13: 978-1-4516-2771-8 (ebook)
Photo Credits
1: Courtesy of the Ava Gardner Trust · 2, 4: State Archives of North Carolina and The News and Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina · 3, 9: Everett Collection · 5, 8: Photofest · 10: Hulton Archive/Getty Images · 11, 13: © Sunset Boulevard/Corbis · 6, 7, 12, 14: © Bettman/Corbis · 15: © 1983 Tom Zimberoff.