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"It Changed My Life Forever:" Pandora & the Flying Dutchman

By Beth Nevarez on Mar. 03, 2020

Filmed in Spain and England, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman was released in the United Kingdom in February of 1951 but released in the United States on October 15, 1951. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios…

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Celebrating Black History Month at the Ava Gardner Museum

By Ava Gardner Museum on Feb. 13, 2020

In honor of Black History Month, we are celebrating some of Ava Gardner’s African-American contemporaries and friends from the studio era. We are also sharing some of Ava’s personal experiences and…

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“And the nominees are…:” Ava Gardner’s Acting Awards & Nominations

By Beth Nevarez on Feb. 04, 2020

While Ava Gardner never won any of the major acting awards during her 45-year career, she was nominated for several, most notably the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Eloise “Honey Bear”…

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"The Sun Also Rises" & The Lost Generation of the 1920s

By Beth Nevarez on Jan. 28, 2020

January 2020 marks 100 years since the start of the “Roaring Twenties” and the start of Prohibition. The decade of the 1920s is well-known as an economically prosperous time period, a time of cultural…

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True Love & Wedding Number 3: Ava Gardner & Frank Sinatra

By Ava Gardner Museum on Jan. 23, 2020

Ava met the man who would become her third husband while she was still married to her first. Years later she would meet him again and begin a love story that would ultimately last the rest of her…

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Love at First Sight & Wedding Number 2: Ava Gardner & Artie Shaw

By Beth Nevarez on Jan. 23, 2020

Ava was introduced to her second husband by a mutual friend, actress Frances Heflin. Artie Shaw had just returned from World War II and was one of the most popular musicians and bandleaders of the…

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Young Love & Wedding Number 1: Ava Gardner & Mickey Rooney

By Beth Nevarez on Jan. 21, 2020

On her second day in Hollywood in 1941, Ava Gardner met a man dressed like Carmen Miranda. Just 5 months later they would be married. Mickey Rooney was filming Babes on Broadway (1941) when Ava…

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Ava’s North Carolina During the “Roaring Twenties”

By Beth Nevarez on Jan. 14, 2020

The “Roaring Twenties,” also known as the Jazz Age is known for economic prosperity, social progressiveness, parties, flappers, and excess. Prohibition and “The Great Gatsby” come to many people’s…

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The Birthday Girl in Her Own Words

By Beth Nevarez on Dec. 19, 2019

Ava Gardner’s thoughts on her hometown, childhood birthdays, sharing a birthday with Howard Hughes and being born a night owl. Quotes from Ava’s autobiography, Ava: My Story, with historical context…

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"A gloomy film, but Ava at her best:" On the Beach

By Beth Nevarez on Dec. 17, 2019

On the Beach premiered on December 17, 1959 simultaneously in 18 different theaters on all 7 continents. Premieres were held in New York, Hollywood, London, Rome, Tokyo, Caracas, and Melbourne, among…

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