AVA GARDNER
Ava Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers (1946). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in Mogambo (1953). Gardner continued to act regularly until 1986, four years before her death in London in 1990 at the age of 67. She is listed 25th among the American Film Institute’s Greatest Female Stars. (More from Wikipedia)
There were personal connections to many of Jim Sullivan’s songs that were not at all obvious to the casual listener. “Jerome” opens the album and is about a ghost town in Arizona – but it also happened to be the name of Kathie Doran’s hometown. “So Natural” was written in honor of his older brother, Jack Sullivan, an insurance salesman who died of a heart attack on his way home from work. “Whistle Stop” was inspired by the 1951 film Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (a personal favorite of mine as well), starring James Mason as the cursed seaman who was able to escape his fate with the help of a beautiful and spoiled village girl played by Ava Gardner.
(October 2011)
