When I was young, from about 15 to about 30 years of age - the first 15 years during which I would say I started to listen to music and watch movies seriously, I did not care much for Frank Sinatra. His singing left me flat and he was filler in the movies that I watched in which he played a role.
In my thirties, and especially in my later forties through currently, I have watched movies and listened to music with a different approach. I am still very story oriented when watching a movie and very mood oriented when I listen to music and don't just dance to it. As I grew more into that I have come to appreciate Frank Sinatra's talents much more.
I no longer see him as an overblown singer, as I still view Elvis Presley. When I fell in love with Harry Connick Jr.'s voice I started reading and listening to his interviews. He based his style on two singers, Nat "King" Cole and Frank Sinatra. I soon became a devoted worshipper of King Cole and gained a better appreciation of Frank. I am convinced that King Cole is the best popular singer who has lived, so far. However, Harry is still good and maybe improving, and Frank was no slouch. I don't think that Cole ever acted in a movie, though he did sing the narration in Cat Ballou. Harry acted in the dramatic version of Memphis Belle, not to be confused with the documentary and he was barely competent. He also chose never to act again. Frank, however, was certainly a talented actor.
He was usually used by producers and casting directors for his star power. In spite of that, he managed to give several noteworthy, even Oscar worthy performances, including as DiMaggio in From Here to Eternity.
What I needed to do to see Frank's talent was to shut my mind to the hostility I felt towards him due to his FAME. Excessive fame dumped on someone tends to alienate me from the individual. I think I never felt that way about John Wayne because he was constantly under attack in my life time from liberals who hated him for his politics. I don't mean that they hated his politics, I mean that they hated John Wayne, just as they do still hate Ronald Reagan and Rush Limbaugh for their unabashed conservatism. There has been none of that for Frank Sinatra, or for Elvis Presley, or Tom Hanks. They seem to get universal congratulation and admiration. When that happens, I need to push away an instinctive hostility toward them for being too popular.
An actor's job is to play each role they are assigned believably. Public acceptance and likability is an asset to getting hired because of the box office issue, but the job is still to play the role. I think Frank Sinatra did that well many times, and he was also a terrifically good singer.
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