Ion Luca Caragiale Ploiesti High School

May you live to be a hundred, and the last voice you hear
be mine (Frank Sinatra 1958)

Advisor: Suditu Iulia

Student: Simion Petrus Valentin
Ion Luca Caragiale High School

FRANK SINATRA

Student: Simion Petrus Valentin

CONTENTS

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 Page

1. Motivation 5

2. Frank Sinatra’s biography 6

3. Frank Sinatra’s films 9

4. Frank Sinatra’s mob life 13

5. Frank Sinatra’s songs 18

6. Frank Sinatra’s love life 23

7. Awards won by Frank Sinatra 25

8. Quotes by Frank Sinatra 26

9. Quotes about Frank Sinatra 27

10. Bibliography

MOTIVATION

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 Whether he was called The Voice, Old Blue Eyes or The Chairman of the Board,
Frank Sinatra’s nicknames all conveyed the adulation and respect reserved for a man who
was commonly thought of as the best American popular singer of the twentieth century.
Sinatra’s voice, whether manifested in song or the spoken word, caressed the ears of
many listeners for over 5 decades. Sinatra’s legacy - countless songs and over 70 films-
continue to ensure him the kind of popularity that has reached beyond the grave to
elevate him past the status of mere icon to cultural institution.
Most of us wish for success during our lives and to be happy in our occupation.
Frank Sinatra succeeded in just about everything he attempted professionally. As he once
admitted during an interview, he regretted not being physically able to serve his country
but he gave back and served in his own way. He lived a full life that many people admire,
whether fans of his music or not. It’s easy for great music or theatrical performances to
live on, but for a persona to persist as long as Frank Sinatra shall is a true testimony to his
legacy.
Besides recording nearly 1,500 songs released on scores of records, Sinatra has
starred in nearly 60 motion pictures, often with "Rat Pack" friends Sammy Davis Jr.,
Dean Martin and Peter Lawford. He also became a media figure thanks to his turbulent
personal life and "tough guy" posturing, evolving into the symbol of an America long
past.
Myths never die. Frank Sinatra has become a vivid legend among all of us who
lived in a time to see him and hear his music. Like him or not, most people would agree
on his extraordinary talent for singing, dancing and acting.
He was an All-American tough guy, a singer, and a movie star. He was as
comfortable with Mafiosi as with presidents. Nothing could stop him, not divorce, not
investigative committees, and not even the FBI who had a file containing over 1300
pages on him, released after his death. He was untouchable. He did it “his way.”
In 1995, Old Blue Eyes lit up the town he loved, literally. As the music world
gathered to pay tribute to Sinatra on his 80th birthday, New York City showed its
appreciation by lighting the Empire State Building in blue light. It was an unmatched
tribute for a man of unmatched talents.

FRANK SINATRA’S BIOGRAPHY

On December 12, 1915, Francis Albert Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey.
He was thought to be stillborn until his grandmother revived him with water. He was the

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only child of Italian immigrants Anthony Martin and Natalie Della “Dolly” who
dessperately hoped that their baby boy would become an engineer. He attended school in
Hoboken, New Jersey, where he was a keen sportsman. On leaving school at the age of
15, he got a job as a copy boy and subsequently cub sports reporter on the Jersey
Observer where he reported on sports events in which he was participating. After hearing
Bing Crosby in 1935, Frank decided he would become a singer. For the performance
Frank partnered up with a singing and dancing trio called The Three Flashes and formed
the Hoboken Four. They won the first prize and went on to more performances with
Major Bowes travelling show. Within a few years, Sinatra was singing regularly on
several radio stations. He got his break while working as a singer and waiter at an
Englewood, New Jersey restaurant, the Rustic Cabin. There, trumpet Harry James found
the young Sinatra and decided he would fit well as the lead singer for his band The Music
Makers. Sinatra married his childhood sweetheart Nancy Barbato, in February, 1939.
Their first child, Nancy Sandra, was born in the following year, and they had two more
children by the end of the 1940s, Franklin Wayne (Frank Jr.) in 1944, and Tina in 1948.
After only six months, Frank left Harry James to join Tommy Dorsey's band. During
his three years with Dorsey, Frank build up a fanatical following of young fans which
enabled him to launch a solo career in 1942. It was with Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra that
the future idol named Frank Sinatra began to form. By the end of 1942, Sinatra decided to
pursue a solo career, agreeing to pay Dorseyone third of his future earnings and another
10 percent to Dorsey's manager, Leonard Vannerson. Inking a deal with Columbia
Records, Sinatra became a prolific artist, recording several times a year and releasing a
single nearly every month during the mid-'40s. His concerts became magnets for
screaming teenage girls, the forerunners of modern-day rock groupies, attracting over
25,000 fans for a 1944 New York appearance. As a youth icon Sinatra used his popularity
to endorse Franklin D. Roosevelt's final run for president, starting a long tradition of
political involvement. By 1946 Sinatra was perhaps America's top performer, selling as
many 10 million singles each year and playing packed houses from coast to coast. Known
for his clean-cut, bow-tie image and popularly referred to as “The Voice”, in 1947 Sinatra
recorded a whopping 72 new songs, a personal high mark; he was making almost a
million dollars a year.
Unfortunately that same year he became the subject of serious allegations about his
personal allegiances: in February it was reported that he spent time in Cuba with mob
boss Lucky Luciano and in April he was accused by a Hollywood gossip columnist of
having ties to the Communist Party (he later punched the man in the face!). Sinatra
denied these charges, claiming he was the subject of anti-Italian prejudice, but rumors
continued to dog him over the next few years. In 1949 the Committee on Un-American
Activities claimed that Sinatra had ties to both the Mafia and the Communists; Sinatra
experienced a career crisis in the late 1940s, which coincided with the beginning of a
tempestuous romance to actress Ava Gardner. 1949 was arguably the worst year of
Sinatra’s career. He was fired from his radio show, and six months later his New York
concerts flopped. He and his wife were divorcing, and his affair with Ava Gardner had
become an open scandal. Six days after the papers were signed in November of 1951,
Sinatra married Gardner.
Columbia Records wanted him out. In 1950, he was released from his MGM film
contract, and his own agent, MCA, dropped him. Sinatra seemed to have become a has-

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been at age 34. Sinatra and Gardner married in 1951, but separated a few years later and
divorced in 1957. The relationship between Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner lasted for five
years and was a precursor to the more modern tabloid headline of today. The split hit
Sinatra hard, and Sinatra-watchers say he contemplated suicide during this time. Music
critics, on the other hand, noted that he put more emotion in his songs after the split with
Gardner.
Things got worse when Sinatra lost his voice due to a vocal cord hemmorhage, and
he was rumored to have attempted suicide. Fortunately his voice problems were
temporary, and he helped pick himself back up by resuming his recording career, and
making an important re-entry into films. In 1950 Sinatra saw the script for From Here To
Eternity and became enchanted by the character of the Italian soldier Angelo Maggio, for
whose part he immediately auditioned. Accepting less than a tenth of his usual fee,
Sinatra put his heart into the 1953 film, earning an Academy Award for his performance.
Sinatra's film career was reinvigorated, and Capitol Records signed him to a new record
deal.
With key roles in hit movies like Guys and Dolls and The Man With the Golden
Arm, Sinatra became as well-known for his off-the-cuff acting style as his singing, which
had not suffered during his short break from performing. His first three albums for
Capitol, Young At Heart, Learnin' The Blues, and The Tender Trap, each went platinum,
proving that despite leading a controversial personal life, his golden voice was still loved
by millions of fans. 1956's landmark Songs for Swinging Lovers brought Sinatra back to
the top, now an icon for adults rather than teenagers.
During the 1960s Sinatra, no longer with Ava Gardner, was romantically linked to
actress Lauren Bacall and dancer Juliet Prowse, but did not marry either woman, instead
tying the knot with 21-year-old actress Mia Farrow in 1966, a highly controversial move
for the 51-year-old Sinatra.The couple divorced a little over a year later, in 1967.
The aging singer began performing with "The Rat Pack," composed up of Dean
Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. Sinatra appeared in movies
(such as 1960's Ocean's Eleven), toured, and recorded with the 'Pack in various
combinations; the group became known for their unique slang and “swinging”.
On March 23, 1971 he announced his retirement eager to spend more time with his
family, including the three children he had with Nancy. But he was far from being
finished. A concert with the Rat Pack followed, and also some television shows.
Although Sinatra continued to perform in the early part of the 90’s, his health began
to trouble him. Years of smoking and heavy drinking had taken their toll on his body. On
one occasion he lost consciousness as he was performing and had to be rushed to the
hospital where he spent time recuperating. Realizing that he could not perform as he once
did, he retired to his home. He occupied his time by painting and spending more time
with his family, which allowed him to take the final years of his life a little easier.
His heart problems became progressively worse in 1997 and he was in and out of
hospitals on a regular basis. Finally the end came on Thursday night, May 14th, when
Frank died of a heart attack at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. As reported
from the Sinatra web site, he went out fighting. His children said. “Please know that
Frank was courageous and fought very hard, and that he never gave up, not even at
the very end. He came in fighting for his life, and he went out fighting for his life.”
His last words were, “I’m losing.”

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 Sinatra’s Funeral took place at the Good Shepherd Catholic Church. His casket was
covered with his favorite flower, gardenias, which also hung in wreaths above each of the
three doors of the church. And as usual for “ol blue eyes” it was a standing room only
crowd minus the screaming girls in the front row. More than 500 mourners, including his
widow and children packed the church, which was covered with the white flowers.
Frank was buried with a bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey, a pack of Camels, a Zippo
lighter, and 10 dimes. Daughter Tina Sinatra said carrying the dimes dated back to the
1963 kidnapping of her brother, when her father wanted to make sure he always had pay
phone change. He never wanted to get caught not able to make a phone call. He always
carried 10 dimes.'' She placed the dimes in his pocket. Her sister, Nancy, put the bottle of
whisky in Sinatra's pocket and someone else slipped in the cigarettes and lighter.
Frank’s wife, Barbara, and some of the family accompanied the casket to Palm
Springs on a private jet, where he was buried beside his parents, Natalie “Dolly” Sinatra
and Anthony Martin Sinatra. Like Sonny Bono, Frank is buried in Palm Springs,
California.
Shortly after Frank’s death, it appears that he reached out from the great beyond to
protect something dear to him, a life size portrait of himself that hung on the wall of the
first club he worked in. When the 500 Club, owned by friend Skinny Damato was burned
to the ground the only thing that survived unscathed was Sinatra’s picture.

FRANK SINATRA’S FILMS

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 It may be surprising that Sinatra appeared in no less than 60 films, given that he was
closely identified with his music and music performances.
Sinatra’s first three film appeareances were not roles but simply musical
appearances where he sang a song or two, usually backed by the Tommy Dorsey
orchestra. Then in 1943, RKO beckoned and after the success of “Higher and Higher”
and “Step Lively”, the company signed Frank Sinatra to a seven year contract. “Higher
and higher” is Sinatra’s first big starring role in a musical comedy about a bankrupt
businessman who schemes with his household staff to come up with some cash. They
choose to hoodwink the boy next-door (Sinatra), who happens to be filthy rich, into
marrying a maid who’s posing as the businessman’s daughter. The plan is scuttled when
con man Borge happens onto the scene, imitating a wealthy aristocrat. The film received
2 Academy Award Nominations, including Best Song ( “I Couldn’t Sleep a Wink Last
Night”). For “Step Lively” The Academy Award Nomination was for Best (Black-and-
White) Decoration.

FILMS YEARS
LAS VEGAS NIGHTS 1941
SHIP AHOY 1942
REVEILLE WITH BEVERLY 1943
HIGHER AND HIGHER 1943
STEP LIVELY 1944
ANCHORS AWEIGH 1946
TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY 1947
IT HAPPENED IN BROOKLYN 1948
THE MIRACLE OF BELLS 1949
TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME 1949
ON THE TOWN 1951
DOUBLE DYNAMITE 1951
MEET DANNY WILSON 1951
FROM HERE TO ETERNITY 1953
SUDDENLY 1954
YOUNG AT HEART 1955
NOT AS A STRANGER 1955
THE TENDER TRAP 1955
GUYS AND DOLLS 1955
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM 1955
MEET ME IN LAS VEGAS 1956
JOHNNY CONCHO 1956
HIGH SOCIETY 1956
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS 1956
THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION 1957
THE JOKER IS WILD 1957
PAL JOEY 1957
KING’S GO FORTH 1958
SOME CAME RUNNING 1958

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A HOLE IN THE HEAD 1959
NEVER SO FEW 1959
CAN-CAN 1960
OCEAN-S ELEVEN 1960
PEPE 1960
THE DEVIL AT 4 O’CLOCK 1961
SERGEANTS 3 1962
THE ROAD TO HONG KONG 1962
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE 1962
COEM BLOW YOUR HORN 1963
THE LIST OF ADRIAN MESSENGER 1963
FOUR FOR TEXAS 1964
ROBIN AND THE SEVEN HOODS 1967
NONE BUT THE BRAVE 1965
MARRIAGE ON THE ROCKS 1965
CAST A GIANT SHADOW 1966
THE OSCAR 1966
ASSAULT ON A QUEEN 1966
THE NAKED RUNNER 1967
TONY ROME 1967
THE DETECTIVE 1968
LADY IN CEMENT 1968
DIRTY DINGUS MAGEE 1970
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT 1974
CONTRACT ON CHERRY STREET 1977
THE FIRST DEADLY SIN 1980
CANNONBALL RUN II 1983
LISTEN UP: THE LIVES OF QUINCY 1990
JONES

At this point, however, MGM head, Louis B.Mayer became interested and was able
to purchase Sinatra’s RKO contract. Over the next five years-a time when the MGM
musical was at its zenith, Sinatra showed advantage in a number of films. “Anchors
Aweigh” is the story of a fatherless boy and who lives with his aunt in a city near the
seaside. The turning point is when the sailor leave. The film includes the irresistible
dance sequence with Kelly and Jerry, the cartoon mouse. Academy Award Nominations:
5, including Best Picture, Best Actor Gene Kelly, and Best Song (“I Fall in Love too
Easily”). Academy Awards: Best Scoring of a Musical Picture. “It Happened In
Brooklyn” is a musical about a group of Brooklynites making a bid for superstardom.
Great songs like “Time after Time” and “The Song Gotta Have Heart” represent the
soundtracks of this film.
Of course, not all was roses, for 1948 had brought “The Kissing Bandit” which
Sinatra himself and most critics consider to be the worst film of his career. This 1948
technicolor spectacle features Frank Sinatra in the unusual comedic role of a Mexican

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bandito. He travels to California to claim the inn his mysterious father left to him. Here,
he discovers that his father was known as the “kissing bandit”. This information initially
shocks Ricardo, but he soon follows in the footsteps of his father due to prodding by his
father’s old gang and local girls such as Kathryn Grayson and Anne Miller who anyone
would want to steal a kiss from. Grayson, as Sinatra’s counterpart is fetching as a
governor’s daughter with tax troubles. Sinatra offers her the goods of his thievery and in
the process steals her heart. Soundtracks include songs like “Love Is Where You Find
It”, “Tomorrow Means Romance”, “What’s Wrong With Me”, and “If I Steal a
Kiss”.
The early 1950’s found Frank Sinatra in decline. He managed to extricate himself
from his MGM contract, but on his own, was unable to secure any worthwhile film roles.
While visiting Africa with his second wife Ava Gardner -- who was filming "Mogambo"
with Clark Gable and Grace Kelly -- Sinatra read the best-selling novel, “From Here to
Eternity” which had a character named Angelo Maggio, an Italian-American man.
Although the part was initially considered for Eli Wallach, Sinatra’s screen test won over
Zinneman (the director of the film) and Frank got the part. It was a turning point in his
career, for he received widespread acclaim for the dramatic role and went on to win the
Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. “From Here to Eternity” brought what was
considered an unfilmable novel to the screen with skill and grace with this story of the
loves, hopes and dreams of those in a close-knit Army barracks in Hawaii shortly before
the attack on Pearl Harbour. Montgomery Clift portrays a former boxer who refuses to
fight after blinding a friend in the ring and is sent to the remote outpost as punishment for
his insubordination. Love and tragedy abound in this unflattering look at military life and
American thought before the war.
The films he appeared in during the years from 1953 to 1970 were a mix of types,
ranging from musicals to westerns to war pictures and to straight dramas. “Suddenly” is a
tese, somehow prescient drama in which Siantra plays a psychopatic triggerman hired to
kill the United States President. On the way he and his two partners take over a widow’s
house, which is perfectly situated for an ambush. After Kennedy’s assassination, the film
shelved and Sinatra tried to have the prints destroyed. In 1955, he starred in the film
“The Man With The Golden Arm” the story of a junkie struggling to kick his heroin
habit. This film may be mild by today’s standards, but an excellent film for its days.
Sinatra got another Oscar nomination, this time as best actor. That same year, Sinatra
sang with Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons in the award-winning musical, “Guys and
Dolls”. The story of “Guys and Dolls” is based on the Broadway show from the Damon
Runyon short story and filled to brim with Frank Loesser tunes such as “Luck Be a
Lady” and “Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat”. This film which is considered to be
one of the most popular film musicals of all time earned four Academy Award
nominations. The “Manchurian Candidate”, which came out in 1962, is considered by
many critics to be one of Sinatra's best. Sinatra continued to perform in comedies, such as
“Ocean's Eleven” (1960) and "Robin and the Seven Hoods" (1964)- films he made
with his legendary “Rat Pack” buddies, including the entertainers Sammy Davis Jr., Dean
Martin, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford. “Ocean’s 11” is one of the most
uncharacteristic films of director Lewis Milestone’s career, starring Frank Sinatra as
Danny Ocean. He pulls together a collection of ten old war buddies to pull a host of five
casinos on the same night. Everything goes right until, of course, something goes wrong.

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“Dirty Dingus Magee” is a bawdy, broad comedic western that lampoons the code of the
west. The unbridled farce stars Frank Sinatra as an outlaw who is about as successful at
stealing as he is at his other occupation, beating people.
In 1971, Frank Sinatra announced his retirement from show business. Actually, he
was soon on the concert trail again. As far as films went, however, things were pretty
well over. He hosted a segment of MGM’s tribute to its musicals and did a TV movie.
His last dramatic role came in “First Deadly Sin” (1980), playing a New York cop on
the hunt for a psychotic killer. The movie was not well-received by critics. It landed co-
star Faye Dunaway a Razzie Award nomination for worst actress. Sinatra’s film career
ended with a cameo as himself in 1983’s Cannonball Run II and with an interview in
1990’s documentary Listen Up: The lives of Quincy Jones.

FRANK SINATRA’S MOB LIFE

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 Rumors of mob connections hounded Frank Sinatra throughout his storied,
tumultuous life. His denials were as ready on his lips as his trademark song "My Way"
became in his waning years. J. Edgar Hoover didn’t buy it. He thought Ol’ Blue Eyes was
a murderer and a Mafioso with a golden voice. Despite Hoover’s FBI amassing the
largest file on Sinatra of any entertainer in U.S. history, none of the damning information
there ever made it to a grand jury. Numerous times the government got close to indicting
Sinatra, but it never did. Sinatra had friends in the highest places, first President Kennedy
and then President Nixon and finally President Reagan. Each, in different ways and to
varying degrees, came to his aid when he most needed them, enabling him to front for the
mob with impunity.
In the 1960s most Americans became aware of Sinatra's friendship with Sam
Giancana, the Mafia boss of Chicago. Most people were unaware of the connections of
Sinatra's family and the help he received from mobsters in his career. His FBI files
definitively show that Sinatra was up to his ears in mob-related schemes and activities
throughout his entire adult life.
Sinatra’s connection with mobsters actually began at birth. His uncle, Babe
Gavarante, was a driver for a gang of armed robbers and may have been connected to
the organization Willie Moretti ran in Bergen County and northern New Jersey.
Gavarante, the brother of Sinatra's mother, was convicted of murder in 1921 in and well-
know gangsters in their own right.
One persistent rumor held that Sinatra was distantly related to Al Capone. Whether
he was a cousin of Big Al, or not, Sinatra did have a life-long relationship with the
infamous Fischetti brothers. Charles, Joseph and Rocco Fischetti were cousins of
Capone.
Charles "Trigger Happy" Fischetti, called a notorious "Chicago gangster" in the
FBI files, was the mob’s political fixer in Chicago. He and Sinatra were known to be
close friends as early as the 1940s.
Joseph Fischetti, also known as a “Chicago gangster”, but better known for his
activities in Miami, especially in connection with the Fontainbleu Hotel, was one of
Sinatra's closest friends in the 1940s. FBI surveillance of Fischetti shows that he and
Sinatra kept in weekly telephone contact for an extended period. They met in person
several times in New York and Miami. Sinatra was Joseph Fischetti's houseguest in
Miami in February 1947 when they traveled to Havana in the company of Joseph's
brother, Rocco, who was in charge of Chicago gambling and was a notorious woman-
beater. On this infamous trip Sinatra met with Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Rumors about
this meeting dogged Sinatra for the rest of his life. Sinatra and Joseph Fischetti remained
friends for years. Sinatra performed many times at the Fontainbleu Hotel in Miami.
Fischetti was deeply involved with this hotel. As early as May 1947 Fischetti had
bragged to an FBI informant about his "financial interest" in Frank Sinatra. Fischetti
worked as a sort of agent for Sinatra in Miami and Chicago and got him several bookings
in the early 1950s when Sinatra’s career was nearly dead. Fischetti's financial interest
nearly came to light in 1963 when the IRS investigated the so-called “Fontainbleu
Complex”. This investigation revealed that Sinatra performed “without charge” at the
Fontainbleu and that Joseph Fischetti, who was being paid more than $1,000 per month to
arrange Sinatra’s performances, gave him expensive pieces of jewelry instead of cash.

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This story came to light again during Nevada Gaming Commission hearings in 1981.
Again the charges were never proved.
Family connections led to another major underworld link that was very important to
Sinatra's career. Nancy Barbato, Sinatra's first wife, was a cousin of a “key member of
mob” named Willie Moretti. After Sinatra’s marriage to Nancy Barbato, Moretti (also
known as Willie Moore) took an interest in the young singer’s career. He arranged
several singing engagements for Sinatra, giving his career a large boost. Moretti also set
an example for other mobsters who would later befriend Sinatra. Sinatra several times
denied that Moretti helped his career. In 1949, when Sinatra separated from his wife and
was seen in public with Ava Gardner, Moretti sent him a telegram urging him to return to
his wife. When Mario Puzo’s book, The Godfather, came out it was widely rumored that
one of the characters was based on Sinatra and that Don Corleone was partly based on
Willie Moretti.
Sinatra’s most enduring, and well known, association with a mobster was with Sam
“Momo” Giancana. Giancana started out as a thief and killer in Chicago in the 1920s.
He was arrested for murder in 1926, but was not prosecuted because the state’s case fell
apart when Alexander Burba, a cab driver and the main witness, was murdered.
Giancana was rumored to be the driver and a gunman at the 1929 St. Valentine’s Day
Massacre. He spent a good part of the 1920s and 1930s in prison for various crimes.
By the late 1940s Giancana was closely associated with Anthony "Tony Batters"
Accardo, an ex-bodyguard of Al Capone and rumored to be one of the gunmen in the
Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. By the late ‘50s Giancana had risen to the top of the
heap in Chicago. There he controlled protection, pinball, prostitution, numbers, narcotics,
loan sharking, extortion, counterfeiting and bookmaking. He was arrested over 70 times,
three times for murder. Giancana liked to be around entertainers and he had several of
them for friends including Joe E. Brown, Jimmy Durante, Dean Martin, Keeley Smith,
and Phyllis McGuire (of the McGuire Sisters). It was Frank Sinatra’s sapphire friendship
ring that Giancana wore every day, though. Giancana was often annoyed by the attention
Sinatra generated and thought he had a “big mouth” but he was a regular at Sinatra’s
legendary parties. Giancana often visited Sinatra in his dressing room at the Sands Hotel
and at the Fontainbleu in Miami. According to FBI files, the autobiography of Antoinette
Giancana and the testimony of Johnny Roselli to the U.S. Senate Church Commission in
1975, it was Giancana, along with a few other mobsters, who conspired with the CIA to
assassinate Fidel Castro in the early 1960s. Giancana also had the distinction of sharing
a mistress, Judith Campbell, with President John F. Kennedy. Sinatra introduced her to
both men. Giancana is often named as a suspect by people who believe the Mafia
assassinated President Kennedy. Giancana was murdered in 1975 after his role in the
Castro plot came to light, but before he could testify at congressional hearings
investigating the CIA. Sinatra’s relationship with Giancana, coupled with his own unruly
temper, gave him a reputation for being dangerous. On more than one occasion people
who had angered Sinatra received threatening phone calls saying that Giancana would
“teach them a lesson”. The most blatant example of this came in 1966 when comedian
Jackie Mason angered Sinatra by making jokes about his marriage to Mia Farrow. Mason
received phone calls threatening his life, but refused to change his routine. Six days later
three bullets were fired through the glass door of Mason’s hotel room in Las Vegas. The
Clark County Sheriff’s Department investigated, but dropped the case because it said

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there was no motive for the shooting. Mason stopped making his jokes about Mia Farrow,
but continued to make cracks about Sinatra in his show. A few weeks later, at an
appearance in Miami, Mason quipped, “I don’t know who it was that tried to shoot me…
After the shots were fired all I heard was someone singing: Doobie, doobie, do.”. Mason
received four death threats that week with warnings that he should stop talking about
Sinatra. On Feb. 13, 1967, while Mason was sitting in a car in front of an apartment
building in Miami, a man wearing brass knuckles yanked open his door and smashed
Mason in the face, breaking his nose and crushing his cheekbone. “We warned you to
stop using the Sinatra material in your act”, the attacker said before leaving. Mason
finally got the message and stopped using jokes about Sinatra.
Frank Sinatra was physically a small man. At his local draft board physical in 1943,
the 5’71/2"-teen idol weighed in at 119 pounds. Sinatra idolized the strong and the tough.
Since boyhood he always wanted to be around the strongest and the toughest men he
could find. This led to his strong attraction to both boxers and gangsters. One FBI
informant said it was well known that Sinatra had a "hoodlum complex". According to
Eddie Fisher, Sinatra once said, “I would rather be a Mafia don than president of the
United States”. According to Jo-Carroll Silvers, wife of comedian Phil Silvers (a good
friend of Sinatra’s), "Phil and Frank adored Bugsy (Ben) Siegel…They were like two
children seeing Santa Claus…They were so wide-eyed and impressed with this man…
They would brag about Bugsy, what he had done and how many people he had killed… I
will always remember the awe Frank had in his voice when he spoke about him (Siegel).
He wanted to emulate Bugsy. Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was the representative of
Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano in Los Angeles from 1934 until his death in 1947.
He was known as one of the original members of the legendary, and some say fictional,
Murder Inc. Siegel was also one of organized crime’s pioneers in Las Vegas, building the
Flamingo Hotel which opened on Christmas Eve 1946. Sinatra and Siegel had a nodding
acquaintance, but there is no evidence that there was anything more than that.
The relationship between Sinatra and Mickey Cohen is well documented. Cohen
was a Siegel lieutenant who made himself an underworld power after Siegel’s death.
Cohen, a Jew, was never a “made guy” (a member of Cosa Nostra), and he had constant
battles with Jack Dragna, the official Mafia boss of Los Angeles, but he remained a
powerful crime figure all through the 1950’s and well into the 60’s. Cohen and Sinatra
were fairly close friends. Sinatra visited him at his home in 1948, even though Cohen
warned him that he was under constant surveillance, to ask him to have Johnny
Stompanato, Cohen’s bodyguard, stay away from Ava Gardner. Cohen told him that he
never mixed in between men and their “broads” and that Sinatra should go back to his
wife and kids. “I talked to him like a friend”, Cohen stated later in his autobiography.
Cohen, like the other mobsters who knew Sinatra, used him for his star power. On at
least one occasion Cohen called Sinatra and asked him to meet with a business associate
from Ohio and his 14-year-old daughter. Sinatra didn’t rush over to Cohen’s house, as
Cohen wanted, but he did invite them to a radio broadcast where all three were allowed to
sit on the stage.
Charles "Lucky" Luciano was one of the most powerful and influential Mafia
bosses in American history. He is considered by some to be the real winner of the
Castellammarese War of 1930, which led to the formation of New York’s Five Families.
After his brief war with Sal Maranzano in 1931, in which he earned his "Lucky"

14
nickname, Luciano consolidated his power by forming the Commission. The
Commission was a group of heads of Mafia families that met regularly to work out inter-
family problems. The Commission was designed to save the mob from autocratic rule by
dictatorial bosses and internecine warfare. It worked for a while, but its main effect was
to increase Luciano’s power. Luciano became so powerful, in fact, that he was the main
target of New York D.A. Thomas Dewey, who built his political reputation by
prosecuting top mobsters. In 1936 Dewey successfully convicted Luciano of controlling
prostitution in New York. At the end of World War II, Luciano was released from prison
and deported to Italy. In 1946 Luciano traveled to Cuba in an effort to reassert his power
over the American mob. All of the most prominent underworld leaders traveled to pay
their respects to Luciano at the famed “Havana Conference”. It looked as if Luciano
would be able to hang onto his position and rule the mob from Havana. Sinatra made at
least two trips to Havana to meet Luciano. One trip was over Christmas 1946. Sinatra
performed on Christmas Eve at a party held in his honor by Luciano. This party came
during a break in a meeting that decided the fate of Siegel, who was killed a few months
later. The second trip, over a four-day weekend in February 1947 is documented in
Sinatra’s FBI file. He traveled to Havana with Joseph and Rocco Fischetti. They stayed
at the Hotel Nacional and all three met with Luciano on more than one occasion.
Frank Costello was acting boss of what later became known as the Genovese
family during Luciano’s incarceration and exile. In 1947 he became the boss, but spent
the next 10 years feuding with Vito Genovese for control of Luciano’s empire. In 1957 he
was shot and wounded by Vincent “Chin” Gigante. Costello subsequently retired in
favor of Genovese. Costello was known to be the padrino of Willie Moretti so it is
possible that he also took an interest in Sinatra’s career. Costello owned the Copacabana
nightclub in New York and always attended Sinatra’s engagements there. Costello was
believed to be the true owner of the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, in which Sinatra also had
a part ownership.
In 1954 Sinatra obtained a Nevada gaming license and bought a 2 percent interest in
the Sands Hotel. Later, Vicente “Jimmy Blue Eyes” Alo gave him a gift of an additional
7 percent of the hotel. Sinatra remained associated with the Sands until 1967, although he
gave up his ownership in 1963 in the Cal-Neva/Warner Bros. deal, eventually rising to
vice president of the corporation and earning $100,000 per night when he performed.
Among the perks he received at the hotel was free no-limit gambling in the casino. The
Sands Hotel was a joint enterprise run by the Genovese family and the Chicago Outfit.
Many mobsters were associated with the hotel including:
Joseph “Doc” Stacher – the No. 1 man who ran the hotel and who was closely
associated with Meyer Lansky. Stacher had a long police record that included arrests for
assault and battery, robbery, larceny, bootlegging, hijacking and murder. He was also a
close friend of Sinatra.
Charles “Babe” Baron – the official greeter at the hotel, he had previously been a
suspect in a murder.
Joe Fusco – of the old Capone mob.
Meyer Lansky – The highest ranking non-Italian member of "The Syndicate".
Lansky had been closely associated with Charles "Lucky" Luciano, and, since his teen
years, had partnered with Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel.

15
 Abner “Longy” Zwillman – an early member of Irving "Waxy Gordon" Wexler’s
bootlegging operation in New Jersey. He later was a partner with Willie Moretti and was
closely associated with Meyer Lansky.
Anthony “Tony Batters” Accardo – former bodyguard of Al Capone and power
behind the Chicago throne from 1943 until his death in 1992.
Abraham Teitelbaum – former attorney of Al Capone.
John Roselli – Giancana’s representative in Las Vegas. He had been involved in
the early ‘60s plots against Fidel Castro.
In 1967 Howard Hughes purchased The Sands Hotel. Frank Sinatra negotiated a
new contract with the mob-owned Caesar’s Palace and broke his contract with the Sand.
The origin and ownership of Caesar’s Palace in the 1960s is shadowy, but, like the
other Las Vegas casinos that Sinatra was associated with, Caesar’s employed several
people with ties to organized crime. Two in particular were Eugene Cimorelli, the
casino’s official greeter. He was an associate of Chicago gangster Anthony “Tony the
Ant” and golf partner of Anthony “Tony Batters” Accardo, the behind-the-scenes boss
of Chicago. The other was Sanford Waterman, who had previously been one of Sinatra
and Giancana’s partners in the Cal-Neva Lodge. Waterman was later convicted of
racketeering.
In 1970 the IRS began an investigation of operations at Caesar’s Palace. During the
investigation it became evident to investigators that Sinatra was scamming cash from the
casino by cashing in chips that he had received for free. When Waterman, the casino
manager, was informed of this he confronted Sinatra inside the casino. Sinatra reacted
violently. When Sinatra became violent Waterman pulled a gun and pointed it at
Sinatra’s head, ending the fight. Assault charges were dropped against Waterman because
there were visible marks on his throat where Sinatra had been holding him.
After the fight with Waterman, Sinatra vowed never to set foot in Nevada again. He
returned in 1973, after Waterman was arrested on racketeering charges and Caesar’s
Palace offered him $400,000 per week (a record for Las Vegas performers at the time)
and a free bodyguard. In 1980 Sinatra forced Caesar’s Palace to list him as a key
employee so he could apply for a new Gaming License. He said that he wanted to clear
his name from charges that led to his license being pulled in 1963. Sinatra paid $500,000
for an investigation of his past and used all of his connections and power (including the
support of President Ronald Reagan) to influence the outcome of the NSGC hearings.
At the hearings, that took place over several months in 1981, Sinatra lied repeatedly
about his activities and relationships with criminals and mobsters. In the end he was
granted a Nevada Gaming License once again.

FRANK SINATRA’S SONGS

16
 “No one sells a song like Francis Albert Sinatra”, a music critic once wrote. And
that remained true through nearly six decades of sweeping changes in music and pop
culture. Sinatra cut his first record in 1939, and by the time he had finished he had made
some 1,800 recordings, gathered nine Grammys, and was considered by many critics to
be the preeminent singer of this century.
Critics raved that Sinatra was one of the first to care about the words he was
singing, “reading” the lyrics with a clarity that had never been matched, wringing
emotion from each line. “What is the point of singing wonderful lyrics if the audience
can’t understand what is being said or heard?” Sinatra once said.
Claiming he never took voice lessons and could never read sheet music very well,
Sinatra said swimming helped him build lung capacity, which gave him the ability to
lengthen phrases, a Sinatra trademark. It was a singing style that was often imitated.
Ignoring the elder Sinatra’s claim that “singing is for sissies”, young Sinatra, living
in Hoboken, New Jersey, attended a 1933 concert by his idol, Bing Crosby. Sinatra was
so moved by Crosby’s singing, he decided at that moment, he too, would pursue a singing
career. Gigs at local clubs and bars led to a radio contest in which Sinatra, teamed with
another trio, took first prize.
One of his favorite songwriters, the late Sammy Cahn, summed up Sinatra's singing
career in this way: “When he was young, in the '40s, he was a violin. In the '50s, he was a
viola. By the '60s, he was a cello and when he got to the '80s, he was a bass”. “The music
was still sweet. It was just played on a different instrument”, Cahn said.
Sinatra's singing career divides rather neatly into four periods. During the first, he
sang for the big bands of Harry James and Tommy Dorsey and then as a single act for
Columbia Records. If his career had ended in 1952, when Columbia dropped his contract
due to his declining popularity, he would have remained a relatively insignificant figure,
a Crosby-derived crooner able to deliver soft and smooth vocals of a pleasant but not
particularly profound character. 1953 was Sinatra’s watershed year and the beginning of
his second musical period. His personal life and career both seemed to be falling apart
when he got the Oscar-winning role of Maggio in From Here to Eternity and signed with
Capitol Records. Capitol had been formed by musicians after World War II, and the
American Federation of Musicians ban on recording had broken the hold of the major
record labels. Almost overnight, Sinatra's baritone seemed to take on a much deeper,
almost sandy texture. He suddenly grasped the inner rhythmic swing of the melodies and
the use of dynamics. His performances triggered emotional reactions more complex and
profound than those made for Columbia. Sinatra's early Capitol recordings with Riddle,
particularly his "theme" albums, "In the Wee Small Hours", "Swing Easy", "Songs for
Young Lovers", and "Songs for Swinging Lovers", are expressions of the beauty of the
American popular song. Although he maintained a standard of excellence, Sinatra proved
unable to consistently recapture the aesthetic heights of his early Capitol years.
In 1962 his singing career moved into its third phase as he launched his own
company, Reprise Records, and spent the next 10 years either searching for a niche
within the increasingly rock-dominated popular music scene ("Strangers in the Night") or
making generally inferior new recordings of his previous masterpieces. In growing
frustration, Sinatra announced his retirement in 1971.
Sinatra emerged again after a short layoff. The final phase of his singing career was
spent more as an elder statesman of the music, comfortable in his role as the foremost

17
exponent of the classic popular song. While age of course had its effects, Sinatra
remained unparalleled as an interpreter of classic songs. This was proven beyond doubt
when, as he approached the age of 80, Sinatra made a series of recordings with other
singers on his very successful "duets" albums. Only a few of the guests, Tony Bennett for
example, were able to hold their own on the same tune with Sinatra. For the most part,
the gulf between Sinatra's lyricism and that of the current pop idols with whom he
recorded was staggering.
Frank Sinatra came to the fore during the swing era of the 1930s and '40s, helped to
define the "sing era" of the '40s and '50s, and continued to attract listeners during the rock
era that began in the mid-'50s. He scored his first number one hit in 1940 and was still
making million-selling recordings in 1994.
Among his eight Top Ten hits in 1946 there were two that hit number one ("Oh!
What It Seemed to Be" and Styne and Cahn's "Five Minutes More"), as well as "They
Say It's Wonderful” and “The Girl That I Marry”.
He managed to score four more Top Ten hits during 1950-1951 - among them an
unlikely reading of the folk standard "Goodnight Irene". In June 1953, he scored his first
Top Ten hit in a year and a half with "I'm Walking Behind You".
Together with arranger/conductor Nelson Riddle, Frank formed a pair that produced
notable chart entries in February 1954 on both the singles and albums charts. "Young-at-
Heart", which just missed hitting number one, was the singer's biggest single since 1947,
and the song went on to become a standard. The title was used for a 1955 movie in which
Sinatra starred. Then there was the “Songs for Young Lovers” album, the first of
Sinatra's "concept" albums, on which he and Riddle revisited classic songs by Cole
Porter, the Gershwins, and Rodgers and Hart in contemporary arrangements with vocal
interpretations that conveyed the wit and grace of the lyrics. The album lodged in the Top
Five. In July, Sinatra had another Top Ten single with Styne and Cahn's "Three Coins in
the Fountain", and in September “Swing Easy!” matched the success of its predecessor
on the LP chart.
In 1955, he hit number one with the single “Learnin' the Blues” and the LP “In
the Wee Small Hours”, a ballad collection later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame
On September 15, 1955, he appeared in a television production and sang "Love and
Marriage" (written by Sammy Cahn and his new partner James Van Heusen), which
became a Top Five hit. Early in 1956, he was back in the Top Ten with Cahn and Van
Heusen's "(Love Is) The Tender Trap", the theme song from his new film, The Tender
Trap. As part of his thematic concepts for his albums of the '50s, Sinatra alternated
between records devoted to slow arrangements (In the Wee Small Hours) and those
given over to dance charts (Swing Easy).
The rise of rock & roll and Elvis Presley began to make the singles charts the
almost-exclusive province of teen idols, but Sinatra's "Hey! Jealous Lover" (by Sammy
Cahn, Kay Twomey, and Bee Walker), released in October, gave him another Top Five
hit in 1957. Sinatra began 1957 by releasing “Close to You”, a ballad album with
accompaniment by a string quartet, in February. It hit the Top Five, followed in May by
“A Swingin' Affair!”, which went to number one, and another ballad album, “Where
Are You?”, a Top Five hit after release in September. He was also represented in the LP
charts in November by the soundtrack to his film “Pal Joey” (based on a Rodgers & Hart
musical), which hit the Top Five, and by the seasonal collection “A Jolly Christmas

18
From Frank Sinatra”, which eventually was certified platinum. “The Joker Is Wild”,
another of his 1957 films, featured the Cahn-Van Heusen song “All the Way”, which
became a Top Five single.
In February 1958, Sinatra reached the Top Ten with "Witchcraft", his last single to
perform that well for the next eight years. That month, Capitol released “Come Fly with
Me”, a travel-themed rhythm album, which hit number one. The year's ballad album,
“Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely”, released in September, also topped the
charts, and it went gold. In between, Capitol released the compilation “This Is Sinatra”,
Vol. 2, which hit the Top Ten.1959 followed a similar pattern. “Come Dance With Me!”
appeared in January and became a gold-selling Top Ten hit. It also won Sinatra Grammy
Awards for Album of the Year and for vocal performance. “Look to Your Heart”, a
compilation, was released in the spring and reached the Top Ten. And “No One Cares”,
the year's ballad collection, appeared in the summer and just missed topping the charts.
His next regular album was a year in coming, and when it did, Nice 'n' Easy was a
mid-tempo collection, breaking his pattern of alternating fast and slow albums. The wait
may have caused pent-up demand; the album spent many weeks at number one and went
gold.
Although Sinatra had not yet completed his recording commitment to Capitol, he
began in December 1960 to make recordings for his own label, which he called Reprise
Records. As a result, record stores were deluged with five new Sinatra albums in 1961: in
January, Capitol had “Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!!”; in April, Reprise was launched
with the release of “Ring-a-Ding Ding!”; in July, Reprise followed with “Sinatra
Swings” the same week that Capitol released “Come Swing with Me!”; and in October,
Reprise had “I Remember Tommy...”, an album of songs Sinatra had sung with the
Tommy Dorsey band. There was also the March compilation “All the Way” on Capitol,
making for six releases in one year. Remarkably, they all reached the Top Ten.
Meanwhile, Reprise's first single, "The Second Time Around", a song written by Cahn
and Van Heusen for Bing Crosby, won Sinatra the Grammy for Record of the Year. By
1962, the market was glutted. Capitol released its last new Sinatra album, “Point of No
Return”, as well as a compilation, and Reprise put out three new LPs, but only Reprise's
“Sinatra & Strings” reached the Top Ten. In 1963, however, all three Reprise releases,
“Sinatra-Basie”, “The Concert Sinatra”, and the gold-selling “Sinatra's Sinatra”,
made the Top Ten.
The onset of the Beatles in 1964 began to do to the LP charts what Elvis Presley
had done to the singles charts in 1956, but Sinatra continued to reach the Top Ten with
his albums of the mid-'60s. Nearing 50, he released “September of My Years”, a ballad
collection keyed to the passage of time. After "It Was a Very Good Year" was drawn
from the album as a single and rose into the Top 40, the LP took off for the Top Five and
went gold. It was named 1965 Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards, and Sinatra
also picked up a trophy for best vocal performance for "It Was a Very Good Year".
Sinatra returned to number one on the singles charts for the first time in 11 years
with the million-selling "Strangers in the Night" in July 1966; the song won him
Grammys for Record of the Year and best vocal performance. A follow-up album named
after the single topped the LP charts and went platinum. Before the end of the year,
Sinatra had released two more Top Ten, gold-selling albums, “Sinatra at the Sands” and
“That's Life”, the latter anchored by the title song, a Top Five single. In April 1967,

19
Sinatra was back at number one on the singles charts with the million-selling "Somethin'
Stupid", a duet with his daughter Nancy. By the late '60s, even Sinatra had trouble
resisting the succeeding waves of youth-oriented rock music that topped the charts. But
“Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits!” a compilation of his '60s singles successes released in
August 1968, was a million-seller, and Cycles, an album of songs by contemporary
writers like Joni Mitchell and Jimmy Webb, released that fall, went gold. In March 1969,
Sinatra released "My Way", with a lyric specially crafted for him by Paul Anka. It
quickly became a signature song for him. The single reached the Top 40, and an album of
the same name hit the Top Ten and went gold.
In the spring of 1971, at the age of 55, Sinatra announced his retirement. But he
remained retired only until the fall of 1973, when he returned to action with a new gold-
selling album and a TV special both called “Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back”. In this late phase of
his career, Sinatra cut back on records, movies, and television in favor of live performing,
particularly in Las Vegas, but also in concert halls, arenas, and stadiums around the
world. He refrained from making any new studio albums for six years, then returned in
March 1980 with a three-LP set, “Trilogy: Past, Present, Future”. The most memorable
track from the gold-selling set turned out to be "Theme From New York, New York",
the title song from the 1977 movie, which Sinatra's recording belatedly turned into a
standard.
The 1990 Christmas season found Capitol and Reprise marking Sinatra's 75th
birthday by competing with the three-disc “The Capitol Years” and the four-disc “The
Reprise Collection”. Both went gold, as did Reprise's one-disc highlights version, Sinatra
Reprise –“The Very Good Years”. Sinatra himself, meanwhile, while continuing to tour,
had not made a new recording since his 1984 LP “L.A. Is My Lady”. In 1993, he re-
signed to Capitol Records and recorded “Duets”, on which he re-recorded his old
favorites, joined by other popular singers ranging from Tony Bennett to Bono of U2
(none of whom actually performed in the studio with him). “Duets I” includes 21 duets
Frank Sinatra recorded on his own TV show which aired on ABC from 1957 to 1960.
And the line-up of songs and song partners can't be topped-“Witchcraft” and “Love Me
Tender” with Elvis Presley, “Together” with Dean Martin, “September Song” with
Bing Crosby, “Put Your Dreams Away” with Ella Fitzgerald, “Nice Work If You Can
Get It” with Peggy Lee, “Birth of the Blues” with Louis Armstrong, “Something's
Gotta Give” with the McGuire Sisters, “I’ve Got a Crush On You” with Barbara
Streisand, “I'll Never Smile Again” with the Hi-Lo's, “Me and My Shadow” with
Sammy Davis, Jr., “I Can't Believe You're in Love with Me” with Louis Prima and
Keely Smith. Barbara Streisand sang with Frank Sinatra in "I've Got A Crush On You".
Reportedly, Barbara also recorded a solo version of the song but didn't include it on the
album. After Sinatra's initial new recording in July 1993, the producers added a female
voice to his recording to demonstrate their conception of Streisand's part, which required,
among various things, modulation between Sinatra's F key and Streisand's E-flat key.
Barbara recorded her duet part on August 17, 1993. She received a huge flower bouquet
and message from Sinatra. Touched by the gesture, Barbara sent Frank a thank you note
along with a photocopy of a message he had written her after seeing “Funny Girl” on
Broadway. All 13 artists who dueted with Sinatra on this album agreed to perform for no
payment or royalties and are free to release their contributions on their own solo albums.
It became his biggest-selling album, with sales over 3,000,000 copies, and was followed

20
in 1994 by “Duets II”, which won the 1995 Grammy Award for Traditional Pop
Performance. “Duets II” is a musical extravaganza of the best international rock, jazz,
pop, and country artists singing with Frank Sinatra. Jimmy Buffett, Neil Diamond, Lena
Home, Chrissie Hynde, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Patti LaBelle, Steve Lawrence & Eydie
Gorme, Luis Miguel, Lorrie Morgan, Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, Jon Secada, Frank
Sinatra, Jr., and Stevie Wonder & Gladys Knight bring their own interpretations to songs,
lyrics and arrangements that Frank Sinatra has been associated with throughout his
extraordinary career. He's the only performer to have recorded and achieved unanimous
praise for his recordings since his first session seven decades ago in 1937.
Sinatra finally retired from performing in his 80th year in 1995. His popularity as a
singer and his productivity has resulted in an overwhelming discography. Its major
portions break down into the Columbia years (1943-1952), the Capitol years (1953-
1962), and the Reprise years (1960-1981).

FRANK SINATRA’S LOVE LIFE

21
 His personal life was a top attraction to the media, who were drawn to his legendary
image as a "connected" carouser, a lover, and a fighter. And in reports that followed his
every move, the nation soon learned that for Sinatra, love and marriage didn't exactly go
together like a horse and carriage.
Frank married four times. His first marriage was to Nancy Barbato (1939-1951) His
second and most passionate marriage was to Ava Gardner - some say the love of his life.
In 1966, after almost ten years of having affairs, Frank married the very young actress
Mia Farrow, a strange coupling that ended long before their divorce in 1968. His last and
longest marriage was to Barbara Marx - they married in 1976 and she remained faithful
to him until his death. Many have said that the feisty, loving Barbara was the best thing
that ever happened to Frank.
Media learned about the relationship with his first wife, Nancy Barbato. She was
his sweetheart from his teen years, the one who knew him when he dreamed of a career
as a singer. The couple met in 1934 at the New Jersey resort of Long Branch, when he
was 19 and she was 17. His insatiable appetite for women was causing trouble, and in
1938 he was arrested for seducing a girl on the promise of marriage. Although the
charges were dropped, Dolly was furious and made her son marry Nancy. They married
in 1939 as Sinatra's career reached the countdown stages before lift-off. Over the next
few years they rarely saw each other because of Sinatra’s busy work schedule. Their first
child, Nancy Sandra, was born in the following year, and they had two more children by
the end of the 1940s, Franklin Wayne (Frank Jr.) in 1944, and Tina in 1948. But the
fairytale marriage that ascended with Sinatra's fame soon came crashing down when
Sinatra became involved with one of the world's best-known sex symbols, Ava Gardner.
The affair made headlines and led to Sinatra's divorce from Nancy. Six days after
the papers were signed in November of 1951, Sinatra married Gardner. Sinatra gave her a
six-carat diamond engagement ring, but she threw a tantrum and flung it out of the
window. It was never found. The relationship between Sinatra and Gardner was
passionate and volatile. "The troubles were all out of bed – the quarreling started on the
way to breakfast", Sinatra said. Ava Gardner was far from the homely wife from New
Jersey, but the couple’s relationship proved just as stormy. They separated in 1953 and
divorced in 1957. The split hit Sinatra hard, and Sinatra-watchers say he contemplated
suicide during this time. Music critics, on the other hand, noted that he put more emotion
in his songs after the split with Gardner. When the two split, he tore up his favourite
picture of her in a fury and then tried to glue it back together again. But a piece was
missing. A delivery boy found it and Sinatra gave him a gold watch.
Through the years that followed his break-up with Gardner, Sinatra was linked to
some of the most beautiful women in the world, including Marlene Dietrich, Lauren
Bacall, Lana Turner and Marilyn Monroe.
Sinatra shocked fans in the 1960s with his courting of and marriage to Mia Farrow.
She was 20; he was 50. Farrow's mother, actress Maureen O'Sullivan, said at the time:
"Never mind Mia. He should be marrying me". Even fellow "Rat Pack" buddy Dean
Martin got into the act. "I've got scotch older than Mia Farrow", Martin said. Farrow and
Sinatra divorced in 1968, two years after they were married.
Sinatra finally settled down with Barbara Marx, the former wife of Zeppo Marx.
She was a former model and dancer. They married in 1976 and she escorted the

22
entertainer through the twilight of his career. Blonde Barbara was as beautiful as all
Sinatra’s previous brides, but she was also older and mature. At the time of his death they
had been married for more than 20 years in what looked like the happiest relationship of
his life. By all accounts Siantra is said to had been a stern husband. Barbara said she was
not allowed to sing at home, or even hum a tune.
Sinatra might have been a better friend to his former wives than he was as a
husband. When it was revealed that former wife Mia Farrow's love interest, director
Woody Allen, was having an affair with her adopted daughter, it was reported that
Sinatra offered to have Allen's legs broken.
Unlike the vast majority of famous male actors, Frank Sinatra was not gay. Due to
this social status Sinatra had innumerable mistresses on the side. One of his most notable
achievements, perhaps unequaled in American history, is that Frank Sinatra had love
affairs with the wives of two presidents of the United States: Jacqueline Kennedy and
Nancy Reagan. He even spent time alone with Nancy Reagan in the White House while
her husband was president. Frank Sinatra had many things going for him: he could sing,
he was good looking, he was famous, plus he had that one thing which women want more
than anything else in a man: money. He was one of the most desirable and attractive men
in the world and it should come as no surprise that he could have almost any woman he
wanted. Frank Sinatra introduced President John F. Kennedy to Kennedy’s long standing
mistress Judith Campbell Exner. Sinatra is known to have tested the wares himself before
recommending them to the president.
It has been rumored that Frank Sinatra also had love affairs with Lauren Bacall,
Jacqueline Bisset, Angie Dickinson, Marlene Dietrich, Anita Ekberg, Zsa Zsa Gabor,
Judy Garland, Pamela Harriman, Jill St.John, Hope Lange, Grace Kelly, Jacqueline
Kennedy, Evelyn Keyes, Sophia Loren, Shirley MacLaine, Marilyn Maxwell, Marilyn
Monroe, Kim Novak, Victoria Principal, Dorothy Provine, Juliet Prowse, Debbie
Reynolds, Princess Soraya (the ex-wife of the Shah of Iran, Elizabeth Taylor, Lana
Turner, Gloria Vanderbilt, Tuesday Weld, Natalie Wood.

AWARDS WON BY FRANK SINATRA

1945: Honorary Oscar for “The House I live In”. Award given to the producers, script
writers, songwriters (of the title tune) and to Sinatra for their work in this short
subject advocating racial, ethnic and religious tolreance.
1953: Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for “From Here to Eternity”
1953: Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for “From Here to Eternity”

23
1954: Golden Globe: Best Supporting Actor for “From Here to Eternity”
1955: Best Actor In A Leading Role for “The Man With the Golden Arm”
1956: Nominated BAFTA Film Award: Best Foreign Actor for “Not as a Stranger”
1956: Nominated Emmy: Best Male Singer
1957: Nominated BAFTA Film Award: Best Foreign Actor for “The Man with the
Golden Arm”
1958: Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy for “Pal Joey”
1957: Golden Globe Award for Best Actor-Musical/Comedy for “Pal Joey”
1958: Grammy Award for Best Album Cover for “Only the Lonely”
1959: Grammy Award for Album of the Year for “Come Dance with Me”
1959: Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, Male for “Come Dance with Me”
1965: Grammy Award for Album of the Year for “September of My Years”
1965: Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, Male for “It Was a Very Good
Year”
1965: Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement. Presented by the National Academy
1966: Grammy Award for Record of the Year for Strangers in the Night
1966: Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, Male for “Strangers in the Night”
(single)
1966: Grammy Award for Album of the Year for A Man & His Music
1970: Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Statuette presented by the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences
1970: Cecil B DeMille Award. Presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
1972: Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award
1980: National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Trustee Award
1982: Best Historical Album
1982: Hall of Fame Award: “I’ll Never Smile Again”
1983: Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Achievement Award
1984: Hall of Fame Award: “In the Wee Small Hours”
1985: Presidential Medal of Freedom
1987: NAACP Lifetime Achievement Award
1993: Desert Palm Achievement Award. Honored by the Palm Springs International Film
Festival for his 50 films.
1994: Grammy Legend Award
1995: Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance
1996: Grammy for Traditional Pop Vocal Performance for Duets II
1997: Congressional Gold Medal.

QUOTES BY FRANK SINATRA

“ I feel sorry for people who don’t drink, because when you get up in the morning
that’s as goos as you are going to feel for the rest of the day.” ( The Sands- 1966)

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 “ I can honestly say to you slaves of the press, that if I had as many love affairs as
you have given me credit for, I would now be speaking to you from a jar at the Harvard
Medical School.”
“ When I sing, I think I’m honest.” ( to Walter Cronkite, 1965)
“ A song can be a lament, it can be an exclamation of joy, or a song can tell the sum
and substance of a man’s life.” ( TV, 1965)
“ May you live to be a hundred and the last voice u hear be mine.” ( 1958)
“ I think being jilted is one of life’s most painful experiences. It takes a long time to
heal a broken heart. It happened to all of us and never gets any easier. I understand,
however, that playing one of my albums can help.”
“ Critics don't bother me because if I do badly, I know I'm bad before they even
write it. And if I'm good, I know I'm good. I know best about myself, so a critic doesn't
anger me.”
“You only live once, and the way I live, once is enough.”
“ I don't know what other singers feel when they articulate lyrics, but being an 18-
karat manic-depressive and having lived a life of violent emotional contradictions, I have
an over acute capacity for sadness as well as elation. I know what the cat who wrote the
song is trying to say. I've been there - and back. I guess the audience feels it along with
me. They can't help it. Sentimentality, after all, is an emotion common to all humanity.
I'm gonna live till I die.”
“ A man doesn't know what happiness is until he's married. By then it's too late”
(The Joker is Wild, 1957)
“ The best revenge is massive success.”
“ Luck is fine, and you have to have luck to get the opportunity. But after that,
you've got to have talent and know how to use it.”
“ I'm for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayer, tranquilizers, or a
bottle of Jack Daniel's.”

QUOTES ABOUT FRANK

“People who understand music hear sounds that no one makes when Sinatra sings.”
(Walter Cronkite)

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 “Every woman wants to have him, every man wants to be him.” (Shirley
MacLaine)
“ Frank Sinatra’s voice expresses more eloquence that I can ever say in mere
words.” (Billy Joel)
“He was the epithone of what singing is all about, beautiful sounds, smooth as silk,
effortless, impeccable phrasing, stylish, intelligent and full of heart.” (Barbara
Streisand)
“Frank Sinatra is one of the greatest performers of those century.....I have grown up
with Frank Sinatra and he will be deeply missed.” (British Prime Minister Tony Blair)
“He of course had his talent, his charisma and his voice, but he also had his
personality, warm, passionate... I had the chance to meet him and there was immediate
sympathy between us. He will not be replaced.” (French President Jacques Chirac)
“I think every american would have to smile and say he really did do it his way.”
(Bill Clinton)
“Ladies and gentleman, are you ready to welcome a man heavier than the Empire
State, more connected than the Twin Towers, as recognizable as the Statue of Liberty,
and living proof that God is a Catholic! Will you welcome the King of New York City,
Francis Albert Sinatra!” (Bono’s speech at the 1994 Grammys)
"Today, the sound of heaven's chorus is a little brighter and more beautiful as our
dear friend, Frank Sinatra, joins its ranks. Frank's golden gift made him a Hollywood
icon. He sang about real people and real emotions; his songs and music transcend age and
time. We will never forget when Frank performed at our inaugural celebrations - it made
those evenings much more special to the both of us." (President Reagan and Nancy
Reagan)
"We have lost part of our capacity to self-reflect because Frank is gone. His music
helped us understand our own lives more clearly because he was authentically honest
about himself. I am so sad for all of us who are now without him." (Shirley MacLaine)
"Frank knew how to do it. Everything. ...It humbles me to have been a small part of
his gigantic presence." (Quincy Jones)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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 Pete Hamill - “Why Sinatra Matters”

 Bill Zehme; Phil Stern - “The Way You Wear Your Hat: Sinatra and the Lost Art of
Living”

 Donald Clarke - “All or Nothing at All: A Life of Frank Sinatra”

 Leonard Mustazza - “Frank Sinatra and Popular Culture”

 Ethlie Anne Vare - “Legend: Frank Sinatra and the American Dream”

 Web Pages:

www.spiritofsinatra.com

www.franksinatra.com

www.sinatraarchive.com

www.oldiesmusic.com

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