PHOTOS: Ava Gardner's life in the limelight

Movie star Mickey Rooney and his bride Ava Gardner enjoy their honeymoon in Del Monte, Ca. on Jan. 12, 1942. They were married in Ballard on Jan. 10. (AP Photo)

Mickey Rooney, 21, Movieland's No.1 boxoffice star, and Ava Gardner, 19, of Wilson, N.C., pose together in this January 5, 1942 photo, at Santa Barbara, Calif., shortly after the couple applied for a license to marry. (AP Photo)

American actress Ava Gardner poses for photographers at the Imperial Hotel in downtown Tokyo, Japan, Monday, Nov. 29, 1954. Gardner is on a round-the world tour to raise funds for CARE, Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere. (AP Photo/Yuichi Ishizaki)

Screen actress Ava Gardner and crooner Frank Sinatra are a smiling twosome as they sit together at the heavyweight championship bout between Ezzard Charles, N.B.A. titleholder, and Joe Louis in New York?s Yankee Stadium on Sept. 27, 1950. (AP Photo)

Singer Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner dine together at Reno's Riverside Hotel, August 19, 1951, where Sinatra is filling a singing engagement while fulfilling the six weeks residence requirement for a Nevada divorce. Asked about reports that Mrs.Sinatra would contest his action, he said "I honestly don't know what she will do." But in the next breath added, "I think you can safely say Miss Gardner and I will be married." (AP Photo)

Film actor Mickey Rooney celebrates his 21st birthday Sept. 23, 1941 at a party in a Hollywood night club. Here he slices his birthday cake with (left to right) Louis B. Mayer, studio head; Mrs. Nell Pankey, his mother, and Miss Ava Gardner. Mickey's father, Joe Yule, is at the right in the background. (AP Photo)

Bandleader Artie Shaw takes his bride, actress Ava Gardner, into his arms after their wedding Oct. 17, 1945 at the Beverly Hills home of Judge StanleMosk who performed the ceremony. (AP Photo)

Actor Mickey Rooney kisses his new bride actress Ava Gardner after their marriage in a Presbyterian church in rural Ballard, Calif., Jan. 10, 1942. (AP Photo)

Actress Ava Gardner is seen on May 20, 1943, in Los Angeles, California. The 20-year-old wife of screen star Mickey Rooney announced that she filed for divorce after 17 months of marriage. (AP Photo)

Ava Gardner arranges the bow tie for her husband, Frank Sinatra, at London's Washington Hotel, December 9, 1951, prior to their leaving for the Coliseum Theater for the "Midnight Matinee." (AP Photo)

Public opinion caused Ava Gardner, film actress and the former Mrs. Mickey Rooney, who arrived here a blonde for picture purposes, to switch back to brunette. She is shown dining with Artie Shaw, orchestra leader, at the Stork Club on Feb. 28, 1945. (AP Photo)

Film director Robert Siodmak, with a sign on his chair with the suggested pronunciation of his name, is pictured on the set of the film "The Bride" with actors Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner, in Hollywood, Oct. 23, 1948. (AP Photo/Frank Filan)

Actor Mickey Rooney, second from right, is shown with his bride Ava Gardner, second from left, and her sister and maid of honor Beatrice Gardner, far left, and Rooney's best man Leslie Petersen, far right, on their weddding day, Jan. 11, 1942, in a Presbyterian Church in rural Ballard, California. (AP Photo)

Actress Ava Gardner talks with actor Clark Gable at a studio luncheon in Hollywood, Ca., on Feb. 10, 1949. (AP Photo)

From left: Ethel Barrymore, film director Robert Siodmak, Ava Gardner and Melvyn Douglas, pose together at a farewell luncheon in the studio cafe in Hollywood for Miss Barrymore at the conclusion of her part in "The Great Sinner," Nov. 16, 1948. The party was given by director Siodmak. (AP Photo)

John Huston, American Film director and actor, with Ava Gardner in this undated photo. Man at right is unidentified. No other caption information available. (AP Photo)

Actress Ava Gardner holds her Corgi Dog, "Cara" during the shooting of the new film, "Tom Lynn" on location in London on August 24, 1969. (AP Photo)

Acting stars Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner react to initial impact of the tremor, left, and hide under car as prop men stand on car dropping fake debris, right on June 6, 1974. Location unknown. (AP Photo)

Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner star in the film ìEarthquakeî in which a giant quake hits Los Angeles. Left, the stars react to the initial impact of the tremor in Los Angeles on April 24, 1974. (AP Photo/David Smith)

Frank Sinatra poses for a photograph with his wife Ava Gardner at the gala debut of Ernest Hemingway's romantic adventure drama, "Snows of Kilimanjaro" September 18, 1952 at the Rivoli Theater in New York. Miss Gardner is one of the stars in the film. (AP Photo)

Biagatti Bergen, left, and Ava Gardner at Maxims in Paris, on Dec. 18, 1968. (AP Photo/Max Micol)

Actress Ava Gardner is instructed by director John Huston on set of the motion picture production of "The Bible," which is filmed in Catania, near the volcano Etna in Sicily, Italy, on August 31, 1964. (AP Photo)

Actress Ava Gardner and actor Charlton Heston are seen on set of motion picture production " 55 Days at Peking, " in Madrid, Spain, on August 2, 1962. (AP Photo)

Ava Gardner as she appeared at the world performance of the M-G-M Seven Arts production of Tennessee Williams' "The Night of the Iguana" at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts to benefit the New York Heart Fund July 1, 1964. (AP Photo)

At premier of movie "The Bible," are, left to right: Actress Ava Gardner, director-actor John Huston and producer Dino de Laurentiis, Sept. 28, 1966, New York. (AP Photo/John Lent)

Actress Ava Gardner poses on the set of the motion picture production "The Naked Maja," in Rome's Cinecitta, Italy, on April 11, 1958. (AP Photo)

Princess Grace of Monaco, left, and Ava Gardner, arriving at the Monaco Sporting Club on Feb. 5, 1960 to attend the "Gala of the Rose," one of the most elegant of the winter in Monte Carlo. It was the first time Princess Grace and Ava Gardner met since Hollywood. Ava was the guest of the Prince and Princess of Monaco as well as Greek shipowner Artistotle Socrates Onassis. (AP Photo/Rene Maestri)

Hollywood screen actress Ava Gardner and her friend Italian comedian Walter Chiari, are pictured at Ciampino Airport in Rome, May 19, 1958, prior to boarding a plane for Madrid. The couple will spend a few days in Spain. The man at right is unidentified. (AP Photo)

Italian stage and film star Anna Magnani, left, and American movie star Ava Gardner are pictured in a hall of the Quirinale Palace in Rome, Dec. 10, 1959. (AP Photo/Mario Torrisi)

Lana Turner, center, is an interested listener as actress Ava Gardner leans over her to chat with Lana's South American boyfriend, Fernando Lamas, during the lavish party tossed in Beverly Hills October 2, 1952 by Marion Davies for singer Johnny Ray. (AP Photo)

Movie actress Ava Gardner is pictured with Italian comedian Walter Chiari at London airport on Jan. 5, 1958. (Ap Photo)

Actress Ava Gardner is flanked by co-stars Mel Ferrer, left, and Tyrone Power, right, during the filming of a bullfight scene for the motion picture "The Sun Also Rises," in Mexico City, Mexico, on May 20, 1957. (AP Photo)

Movie actress Ava Gardner meets the Hong Kong press and tells them that the description as being the "World's Most Beautiful Animal" was a publicity stunt. She made a personal appearance at several Hong Kong theaters which featured her latest picture on Dec. 13, 1954. (AP Photo)

Movie actress Ava Gardner is pictured with Italian comedian Walter Chiari at the Fontana's sisters Fashion House in Rome on March 27, 1957. (Ap Photo)

American screen star Ava Gardner and Spanish matador Angel Peralta pass a young bull between them at Peralta's bull ranch near Seville, Spain November 22, 1957. Miss Gardner and Peralta are planning to make a new film in Andalusia. (AP Photo)

Actress Ava Gardner visits with patients at the U.S. Air Force Hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany on Dec. 25, 1954. (AP Photo/Albert Riethausen)

Ava Gardner, the Hollywood film actress who co-stars with Humphrey Bogart in "The Barefoot Contessa," smokes a cigarette in a long holder during the press reception at the Savoy Hotel, London, Dec. 30, 1954. With her arrival in London, she completes a world tour on behalf of the film which will be released, January 3. (AP Photo/Leonard Brown)

Movie actress Ava Gardner, right, is shown with costume designer Micol Fontana of Rome, Italy, in New York City on Sept. 28, 1954. Gardner is wearing a $1,000 dress of heavy coral satin embroidered with semi-precious stones and cultured pearls. The gown was flown from Italy for the Sept. 29 benefit premiere of "The Barefoot Contessa," in which Gardner wears 26 gowns designed by Fontana. (AP Photo)

Christian Dior, one of the world's top designers, fits one of the dresses he's creating in Paris for Ava Gardner to wear in MGM's "The Little Hut", July 6, 1956. Dior has been commissioned to design her entire wardrobe for the picture, ranging from glamorous evening gowns to startling lingerie. (AP Photo)

Actress Ava Gardner is seen at New York's Idlewild airport, May 26, 1954, after arriving from Paris with the announcement that she would file for divorce from her husband, singer Frank Sinatra. (AP Photo)

Ava Gardner, American film star, surrounded by newspapermen at a cocktail party given in her honor at one of Rome?s fashionable hotels in Italy on Dec. 10, 1953. Ava Gardner is in Italy starring a new film "Barefoot Countess," a production by Joseph L. Makiewicz. (AP Photo/Jim Pringle)

Screen actress Ava Gardner models fancy black velvet bathing suit on yacht at Portofino, near Genoa, Italy on March 8, 1954. She wears the suit in "The Barefoot Contessa" in which she stars. The picture is being filmed on location in Rome and on the Italian Riviera. (AP Photo)

Frank Sinatra and his girlfriend, Ava Gardner, arrive arm in arm for the premier of the actress' newest film, "Show Boat", in Hollywood July 17, 1951. (AP Photo)

Angry actress Ava Gardner insults AP Photographer Mario Torrisi (not in picture) as he takes her picture tonight at the Rome Ciampino Airport when she was leaving for Madrid to spend Christmas on Dec. 23, 1953. Standing left foreground is Ava Gardner's PIO David Hanna. Ava Gardner is in Rome to star in a new film "The Barefoot Countessa." (AP Photo/Mario Torrisi)

American actress Ava Gardner helps Mario Cabre, Spanish bullfighter and actor, with an English language lesson as they sit in the bull ring between filming of "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman" on location at Gerona, Spain, on May 19, 1950. (AP Photo)