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Frank Sinatra


Birth name: Francis Albert Sinatra
Birth: 12 December 1915
Died: 14 May 1998
Nationality: American
Frank Sinatra

Career / Biography

Frank Sinatra was famous for both his acting and singing and was a huge star during his career of 5 decades. As a child and a teenager he started singing and became well known when he joined the Tommy Dorsey band in 1939. Together they had a string of hits songs but in 1942 he started performing solo. He was the first performer to create mass hysteria in his audience. It is at this point that his film career took off with the song and dance musical Anchors Aweigh and then in the light-hearted On The Town. These showed not only his singing ability, but also his acting and comic ability. He and his family moved to Hollywood and enjoyed the life style. In the early 1950's his career and marriage were struggling. He then divorced and married Ava Gardner. It was his performance in From Here To Eternity that revived his acting career and won him an Oscar. His affairs led to the end of his marriage to Ava Gardner. In the mid 1950's his singing career took off with a swing sound with Nelson Riddle. He then stared in a number of critically acclaimed films that were a mix of musicals and more serious darker films. He did become more difficult to work with refusing to do more than one take for a scene. The Man With The Golden Arm where he plays a drug addict was a very different role for him. He then appeared in some films with some top actors in Guys And Dolls and High Society which were huge commercial successes. In High Society he sings with Bing Crosby for the only time. Ocean's Eleven was one of the great heist movies with the Rat Pack. This was followed by one of his best performances in the political thriller The Manchurian Candidate. None but the Brave was his first film as actor and director. During the 1960's he was also at the height of his singing career. His acting took more of a back seat and he appeared in several lighter films, but came back with the war films none But the Brave and Von Ryan's Express. It was during filming Von Ryan's Express that he met his third wife Mia Farrow. After Lady in Cement he effectively retired from acting though he continued with singing through the 1970's to the 1990's. His career always had connections with the Mafia which he denied.

Films

Lady In Cement (1968)
Von Ryan's Express (1965)
None But The Brave (1965)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The Devil At 4 O’Clock (1961)
Ocean's Eleven (1960)
Never So Few (1959)
The Pride And The Passion (1957)
Joker Is Wild (1957)
Around The World In 80 Days (1956)
High Society (1956)
Guys and Dolls (1955)
Man With The Golden Arm (1955)
From Here To Eternity (1953)
On The Town (1949)
Anchors Aweigh (1945)
Higher And Higher (1943)

Oscars

Won - Best Supporting Actor - From Here To Eternity (1953)
Nomination - Best Actor - Man With The Golden Arm (1955)

Frank Sinatra