Ava Gardner was 42 years old when this movie was made. The great beauty was still there and the incredible figure and beautiful legs were certainly intact. When working with a good director it's nice to see that she was indeed an actress of quality.
shareShocking that not all actresses in the past were crazy dikes like Linsey Lohan. However, the drinking and the smoking had taken away a smidgen of her rosy cheeks. Still, she was a famous Hollywood actress that more than liked men, she would stalk them. O' lucky prey!
share"Shocking that not all actresses...were crazy dikes..."
What are you saying? You're shocked that some actresses weren't "dikes"? What do looks have to do with being lesbian?
"The value of an idea has nothing to do with the honesty of the man expressing it."--Oscar Wilde
I have to disagree. I've never really seen any Ava Gardner movies - except for On the Beach, and I don't remember her - and to me, in this movie, she was a dog. Sorry, but there it is. Not a MILF at all.
Oh yeah, and she was particularly fugly in Earthquake as the boozing wife. Very appropriate, but also, just not attractive. That I remember.
On the other hand, I'd love to see her when she was really in her prime. I understand that she used to be quite the stunner. Can anyone recommend a good movie of hers where she was really smoking?
I asked the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.
Try and see THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA with her and Rozanno Brazzi.
My god she was gorgeous in that one. Edmund OBrien was also in that one too.
On the other hand, I'd love to see her when she was really in her prime. I understand that she used to be quite the stunner. Can anyone recommend a good movie of hers where she was really smoking?
I'd recommend 'The Killers' (1946) & 'The Bribe' (1949).
Thanks, network. I'm watching The Killers right now, and wow! She's a dollface, allright. What the hell happened? It's only 16 years in between the two movies. Where did her looks go? I can't believe smoking and drinking could do that.
I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.
The Flying Dutchman
shareNot that good a movie, unless you are interested in gambling, but she looked great (maybe her best) in The Great Sinner a Gregory Peck movie.
shareshe was definitely smoking hot in "Touch of Venus" 1948, making her 26 at the time
shareI also agree. In "One Touch of Venus" she was incredibly beautiful made even more so by Robert Walker's over the top infatuation with her. This film isn't shown much anymore but it used to be a staple on local television in the 1960's. TCM might carry it. Catch it if you can.
share"Th Killers", which also featured Burt Lancaster".
shareAva was stunningly beautiful when she was young and although the years did begin to show as got older she was still a great beauty. Anyway, she earned her aging face. She lived life to the full including bull fighting in Spain! What a dame!
shareTry My Forbidden Past (1951), where she stars opposite the incomparable Robert Mitchum.
shareTry "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman" (Technicolor) and "The Killers", for starters.
shareAny of her films from the forties or fifties. Try "The Killers", "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman", "The Barefoot Contessa", "One Touch of Venus" or "Bhowani Junction".
shareI strongly disagree. Ava Gardner is old and fat in this movie. There are actresses of 42 years that looks as Ava's granddaughters.
share[deleted]
Ava was a great beauty but by 1964 her looks were fading, she was a heavy drinker and smoker.
Still attractive, but not close to the Ava Gardner of the 40s and 50s.
I'm old enough to appreciate the loveliness of fading beauty. And I do love the fading Ava Gardner in Night of the Iguana. In Seven Days in May she looks good in the scenes at home but the first scene she is in she is a real fright. She is wearing a huge helmet of jet black hair that looks like it could be concealing a nuclear warhead. I couldn't even pay attention to what she was saying because her hair was taking all my attention. I don't know what hairdressers were thinking in those days. It was stranger than Marie Antoinette.
share"...concealing a nuclear warhead"
It was a beehive, which was very popular, at the time.
She was absolutely stunning, as well, in 1951's "Pandora and the Flyng Dutchman".
ETA: Just like Debbie Harry's "do" concealed that time bomb in "Hairspray"!
The hairspray industry really thrived back then.
shareYou're just not used to a 42 year old woman dressing in an un-hookery way. That's how people used to dress in the good old days...their age, and nine times out of ten, ten times classier than anyone does, these days.
shareFrankly I think Ava looks puffed up and haggard in most of her scenes. She doesn't look as good as she did a few years earlier IMO.
shareHer character is SUPPOSED to look that way...she's getting over a love affair the only way she knows how...booze and cigarettes and cocktail parties. Kirk's character cracks a line in disgust about how she's carrying a booze-soaked torch for Scott, and how she's great to have around when she's sober.
shareThat's how Ava was looking in general in 1964 even when not playing that role. By contrast, in 1959 in "On The Beach" she was also playing a lonely alcholic woman but she also looked terrific compared to this film.
shareShe looked pretty that same year in "Night of the Iguana". I still say she was made up to look like she was up all night, boozing and crying her eyes out over her ex.
shareAva liked to party hard; she liked her booze. By the time she hit her 40s that lifestyle had coarsened her once beautiful features. Even the black and white cinematography in this movie couldnt hide the bags under her eyes. The same thing happened to Errol Flynn's once gorgeous looks.
shareShe might have been 42 years old and looked good but she also looked her age.
Its that man again!!
Well said. Some people think movie stars are a different species, but they are human. Look around, and if you saw a 42yo looking like that in your office, you'd all be saying she was an attractive woman, particularly if she were wearing modern clothes and makeup.
For a good idea of her appeal, see "Mogambo" or "Sun Also Rises".
I presume the character of Ava Gardner was supposed to be older than 42. So they made her look a bit older for the film. Or alternatively, that was the best she could look at that moment. So they just filmed her the way she was.
shareIn 1964 age 42 was not what 42 is today.
Another thing, in this movie her makeup is so harsh. Hard drawn on eyebrows? Seriously? and her face was so fat in comparison to her body which looked nice and trim.
I disagree that she was supposed to look bad and haggard. No actress would agree to that. The acting should have taken care of the haggard part.
In those days 42 was like 52 today.
I'm reading a biography about Frank Sinatra. Apparently he and Ava had quite a torrid affair and while it was an on and off again relationship he never got over her, even though they both had terrible tempers and I never understood the attraction for both. Maybe they just needed someone to battle with, although it seems Sinatra to battle with everyone. Sad.
shareYeah, I banged Ava in my time. She was really a panther in bed.
share