Frank Sinatra: It Was a very Good Life

Chairman of the Board, the Voice, Old Blue Eyes. Call him what you will, there will never be another Francis Albert Sinatra.

Frank Sinatra will always be remembered for his life and his singing. In fact, some of his best known songs were quite reflective. That's Life, The September Of My Years, One For my Baby and of course My Way are about a man looking back at his life. Not only did he sing about life, but Sinatra lived one hell-of-a-life as well, and along the way he made some good films as well.

Born in Hoboken NJ. Sinatra first entered the entertainment world singing on a radio program with a group called the Hoboken Four. They appeared on local radio stations. This lead to Sinatra singing with the popular Tommy Dorsey swing band. With The Dorsey Band, Sinatra had a cameo in a couple of movies. He left the Dorsey band and became one of the first teen idols. Young girls, called Bobbysoxers, flocked to his shows and bought his records.

He also starting acting in movies. He almost always played some innocent rube. Such as in It Happened in Brooklyn(1947), in which he sings a love song to the Brooklyn bridge. He played a priest in The Miracle of the Bells in 1948. His most successful movies at this point were a series of musicals with Gene Kelly. Anchors Aweigh (1945), Take Me Out to the Ballgame (1949) and On The Town (1949) all had Sinatra playing innocent sidekick to Kelly's more worldly characters. Born in 1915, Sinatra was quickly outgrowing the young, innocent roles that had made him successful up to this point. Also befalling Sinatra was having his vocal cords hemorrhage. Looking back now it was as if the first teen idol was about to be the first fatality of a career that could not change and grow to a new level. Decades before Madonna perfected the art of reinventing herself. Sinatra fought for the role, and took a pay cut, to play a supporting part in From Here to Eternity, (1953). He won the supporting actor Academy Award and a new career playing dramatic roles.

Frank Sinatra made some of his best movies in the 1950's. He continued to prove his acting chops in such heavy dramas as Suddenly (1954) and The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) in which he recieved an Academy Award nomination for best actor. He continued to record albums and starred in many great musicals such as Young at Heart, (1954) Guys and Dolls, (1955) High Society (1956), and Pal Joey (1957).

In the 1960's, Sinatra's career changed again. He, and his Rat Pack; Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr and Peter Lawford headlined countless Las Vegas shows. Sinatra would sing, tells stories and jokes. Often the jokes were at the expense of another member of the Rat Pack or about alcohol such as, "We feel sorry for people who don't drink because when you wake up in the morning that is as good as your going to feel for the rest of the day."

The Rat Pack would make several movies together. Their most famous were Oceans 11 (1960) and Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964). During this time, Sinatra made some great movies on his own as well. In 1962 he starred in , what is considered by some to be his best film, The Manchurian Candidate. Sinatra had an affection for World War II movies. He starred in many, such as Some Came Running in 1958. It was based on a novel written by the same man who wrote From Here to Eternity. His last great war movie was Von Ryan's Express (1965).

In the 1960's Frank made countless television appearances and even more recordings. He even scored a number one pop hit, Something Stupid, a duet with his daughter Nancy in 1967. That same year, Sinatra started a movie series, playing detective Tony Rome in the movie Tony Rome. The following year he reprised the role playing opposite Raquel Welch in Lady in Cement. Sinatra would continue to record and perform shows for years to come but he literally dissapeared from film in the 1970's. In 1980 he played his last starring role in The First Deadly Sin, with Faye Dunaway. His final screen appearance was playing himself in a cameo role in Cannonball Run II.

And through it all, Sinatra had a personal life that involved a punctured eardrum that kept him out of miltary service in World War II. He had 4 marriages. The first to Nancy, with whom he had three children, Tina, Frank jr and Nancy. The second to Ava Gardner after having a notorious affair. The third was to Mia Farrow who was 30 years his junior. His last marriage was to Barbara Marx who was once married to Zeppo Marx. His son Frank jr was kidnapped in 1963. Daughter Nancy married and divorced, singer, Tommy Sands. He became a grandfather in 1974 when Nancy gave birth to a daughter.

Frank Sinatra has been a puppet, a pauper, a pawn and a king, but let the record show, he did it his way.