Just finished part two on demand tonight. Anyone with any appreciation for what a star truly is or should be should watch this two part documentary. Needless to say they don't make them like Frank anymore. Very rewarding film for anyone who loves The Voice.
I won't lie...I cried at the end. I think I view him through the lens of my grandparents' eyes, so revisiting his death made me feel their loss again. It just fucking sucks to consider someone so full of life and larger than life has been gone for nearly two decades. Dino is my favorite of that crew, and he's been gone 20 years as of Christmas this year. Kind of a smack in the face mortality-wise when you think about these legit icons being subject to the same life cycle that we'll have to face.
Ava Gardner was a once in a lifetime definition of sex appeal. I had no idea she was basically a North Carolina farm girl until I was driving through NC a few years back and saw a billboard for an Ava Gardner festival in whatever small town she is from there. If you read any of the serious biographies on Frank, it is clear how much he loved her but couldn't control her. She basically humiliated him publicly the same way he did Nancy. Ava was crazy, though...She actually posed as a prostitute in European brothels just because she thought it was fun. Frank actually still supported her financially when she was in failing health at the end of her life.
When I was in Vegas a few weeks back I was thinking how if I could trade places with anyone it would have been Frank or Dean in the 50s-60s in Vegas.
Dude was legendary for packing some serious meat. He had to have his pants fitted so that his dick didn't get out of control on stage. Ava had a famous line where the press asked her why she was with someone that was like 140 pounds and she said something to the effect that 20 pounds were cock. The Lord giveth, and He giveth to some motherfuckers damnit.
Yeah Ava has to be up there with the all time greats. I bet Elizabeth Taylor would have laid it on you back in the day too.