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Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra
12 December 1915, Hoboken, New Jersey
14 May 1998, Los Angeles, California
"A friend is never an imposition."
Frank Sinatra
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Frank Sinatra was once quoted as saying rock 'n' roll was only played by 'cretinous goons'.
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra (December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor.
Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, being the idol of the "bobby soxers". His professional career had stalled by the 1950s, but it was reborn in 1954 after he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (for his performance in From Here to Eternity).
He signed with Capitol Records and released several critically lauded albums (such as In the Wee Small Hours, Songs for Swingin' Lovers, Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely and Nice 'n' Easy). Sinatra left Capitol to found his own record label, Reprise Records (finding success with albums such as Ring-A-Ding-Ding, Sinatra at the Sands and Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim), toured internationally, was a founding member of the Rat Pack and fraternized with celebrities and statesmen, including John F. Kennedy. Sinatra turned 50 in 1965, recorded the retrospective September of My Years, starred in the Emmy-winning television special Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music, and scored hits with "Strangers in the Night" and "My Way".
With sales of his music dwindling and after appearing in several poorly received films, Sinatra retired for the first time in 1971. Two years later, however, he came out of retirement and in 1973 recorded several albums, scoring a Top 40 hit with "(Theme From) New York, New York" in 1980. Using his Las Vegas shows as a home base, he toured both within the United States and internationally, until a short time before his death in 1998.
Sinatra also forged a successful career as a film actor, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in From Here to Eternity, a nomination for Best Actor for The Man with the Golden Arm, and critical acclaim for his performance in The Manchurian Candidate. He also starred in such musicals as High Society, Pal Joey, Guys and Dolls and On the Town. Sinatra was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. Sinatra was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Born in December 1915 in Hoboken, New Jersey, Sinatra was the only child of Italian immigrants Natalie Della Garaventa and Antonino Martino Sinatra and was raised Catholic. He left high school without graduating, having attended only 47 days before being expelled because of his rowdy conduct. Sinatra's father, often referred to as Marty, served with the Hoboken Fire Department as a Captain. His mother, known as Dolly, was influential in the neighborhood and in local Democratic Party circles, but also ran an illegal abortion business from her home; she was arrested several times and convicted twice for this offense. During the Great Depression, Dolly nevertheless provided money to their son for outings with friends and expensive clothes. Sinatra was arrested for carrying on with a married woman, a criminal offense at the time. He worked as a delivery boy at the Jersey Observer newspaper, and as a riveter at the Tietjan and Lang shipyard, but music was Sinatra's main interest, and he carefully listened to big band jazz. He began singing for tips at the age of eight, standing on top of the bar at a local nightclub in Hoboken. Sinatra began singing professionally as a teenager in the 1930s, although he learned music by ear and never learned how to read music.
Sinatra got his first break in 1935 when his mother persuaded a local singing group, The Three Flashes, to let him join. With Sinatra, the group became known as the Hoboken Four, and they sufficiently impressed Edward Bowes. After appearing on his show, Major Bowes Amateur Hour, they attracted 40,000 votes and won the first prize — a six month contract to perform on stage and radio across the United States.
Sinatra left the Hoboken Four and returned home in late 1935. His mother secured him a job as a singing waiter and MC at the Rustic Cabin in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, for which he was paid $15 a week.
On March 18, 1939, Sinatra made a demo recording of a song called "Our Love", with the Frank Mane band. The record has "Frank Sinatra" signed on the front. The bandleader kept the original record in a safe for nearly 60 years. In June, Harry James hired Sinatra on a one year contract of $75 a week. It was with the James band that Sinatra released his first commercial record "From the Bottom of My Heart" in July, 1939 - US Brunswick #8443 and UK Columbia #DB2150.
Fewer than 8,000 copies of "From the Bottom of My Heart" (Brunswick #8443) were sold, making the record a very rare find that is sought after by record collectors worldwide. Sinatra released ten commercial tracks with James through 1939, including "All or Nothing At All" which had weak sales on its initial release but then sold millions of copies when re-released by Columbia at the height of Sinatra's popularity a few years later.
In November 1939, in a meeting at the Palmer House in Chicago, Sinatra was asked by bandleader Tommy Dorsey to join his band as a replacement for Jack Leonard, who had recently left to launch a solo career. This meeting was a turning point in Sinatra's career, since by signing with Dorsey's band, one of the hottest bands at the time, he got greatly increased visibility with the American public. Though Sinatra was still under contract with James, James recognized the opportunity Dorsey offered and graciously released Sinatra from his contract. Sinatra recognized his debt to James throughout his life and upon hearing of James's death in 1983, stated: "he (James) is the one that made it all possible."
On January 26, 1940, Sinatra made his first public appearance with the Dorsey band at the Coronado Theater in Rockford, Illinois. In his first year with Dorsey, Sinatra released more than forty songs, with "I'll Never Smile Again" topping the charts for twelve weeks beginning in mid-July.
Sinatra's relationship with Tommy Dorsey was troubled, because of their contract, which awarded Dorsey one-third of Sinatra's lifetime earnings in the entertainment industry. In January 1942, Sinatra recorded his first solo sessions without the Dorsey band (but with Dorsey's arranger Axel Stordahl and with Dorsey's approval). These sessions were released commercially on the Bluebird label. Sinatra left the Dorsey band late in 1942 in an incident that started rumors of Sinatra's involvement with the Mafia. A story appeared in the Hearst newspapers that mobster Sam Giancana coerced Dorsey to let Sinatra out of his contract for a few thousand dollars, and was fictionalized in the movie The Godfather. According to Nancy Sinatra's biography, the Hearst rumors were started because of Frank's Democratic politics. In fact, the contract was bought out by MCA founder Jules Stein for $75,000.
In May 1941, Sinatra was at the top of the male singer polls in the Billboard and Down Beat magazines. His appeal to bobby soxers, as teenage girls of that time were called, revealed a whole new audience for popular music, which had been recorded mainly for adults up to that time.
On December 31, 1942, Sinatra made a "legendary opening" at the Paramount Theater in New York. Jack Benny later said, "I thought the goddamned building was going to cave in. I never heard such a commotion...All this for a fellow I never heard of." When Sinatra returned to the Paramount in October 1944, 35,000 fans caused a near riot outside the venue because they were not allowed in.
During the musicians' strike of 1942–44, Columbia re-released Harry James and Sinatra's version of "All or Nothing at All" (music by Arthur Altman and lyrics by Jack Lawrence), recorded in August 1939 and released before Sinatra had made a name for himself. The original release did not even mention the vocalist's name. When the recording was re–released in 1943 with Sinatra's name prominently displayed, the record was on the best–selling list for 18 weeks and reached number 2 on June 2, 1943.
Sinatra signed with Columbia on June 1, 1943, as a solo artist, and he initially had great success, particularly during the 1942-43 musicians' strike. Although no new records had been issued during the strike, he had been performing on the radio (on Your Hit Parade), and on stage. Columbia wanted to get new recordings of their growing star as fast as possible, so Sinatra convinced them to hire Alec Wilder as arranger and conductor for several sessions with a vocal group called the Bobby Tucker Singers. These first sessions were on June 7, June 22, August 5, and November 10, 1943. Of the nine songs recorded during these sessions, seven charted on the best–selling list.
Sinatra did not serve in the military during World War II. On December 11, 1943, he was classified 4-F ("Registrant not acceptable for military service") for a perforated eardrum by his draft board. Additionally, an FBI report on Sinatra, released in 1998, showed that the doctors had also written that he was a "neurotic" and "not acceptable material from a psychiatric standpoint". This was omitted from his record to avoid "undue unpleasantness for both the selectee and the induction service". Active-duty servicemen, like journalist William Manchester, said of Sinatra, "I think Frank Sinatra was the most hated man of World War II, much more than Hitler", because Sinatra was back home making all of that money and being shown in photographs surrounded by beautiful women. His deferment would resurface throughout his life and cause him grief when he had to defend himself. There were accusations, including some from noted columnist Walter Winchell, that Sinatra paid $40,000 to avoid the service — but the FBI found no evidence of this.
In 1945, Sinatra co-starred with Gene Kelly in Anchors Aweigh. That same year, he was loaned out to RKO to star in a short film titled The House I Live In. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy, this film on tolerance and racial equality earned a special Academy Award shared among Sinatra and those who brought the film to the screen, along with a special Golden Globe for "Promoting Good Will". 1946 saw the release of his first album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, and the debut of his own weekly radio show.
By the end of 1948, Sinatra felt that his career was stalling, something that was confirmed when he slipped to No. 4 on Down Beat's annual poll of most popular singers (behind Billy Eckstine, Frankie Laine, and Bing Crosby).
The year 1949 saw an upswing, as Frank co-starred with Gene Kelly in Take Me Out to the Ball Game. It was well received critically and became a major commercial success. That same year, Sinatra teamed up with Kelly for a third time in On the Town.
After two years' absence, Sinatra returned to the concert stage on January 12, 1950, in Hartford, Connecticut. His voice suffered and he experienced hemorrhaging of his vocal cords on stage at the Copacabana on April 26, 1950. Sinatra's career and appeal to new teen audiences declined as he moved into his mid-30s.
In September 1951, Sinatra made his Las Vegas debut at the Desert Inn. A month later, a second series of the Frank Sinatra Show aired on CBS.
Columbia and MCA dropped him in 1952.
The rebirth of Sinatra's career began with the eve-of-Pearl Harbor drama From Here to Eternity (1953), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. This role and performance marked a turnaround in Sinatra's career: after several years of critical and commercial decline, becoming an Oscar-winning actor helped him regain his position as the top recording artist in the world.
Also in 1953, Sinatra starred in the NBC radio program Rocky Fortune. His character, Rocko Fortunato (aka Rocky Fortune) was a temp worker for the Gridley Employment Agency who stumbled into crime-solving by way of the odd jobs to which he was dispatched. The series aired on NBC radio Tuesday nights from October 1953 to March 1954, following the network's crime drama hit Dragnet. During the final months of the show, just before the 1954 Oscars, it became a running gag that Sinatra would manage to work the phrase "from here to eternity" into each episode, a reference to his Oscar-nominated performance.
In 1953, Sinatra signed with Capitol Records, where he worked with many of the finest musical arrangers of the era, most notably Nelson Riddle, Gordon Jenkins, and Billy May. With a series of albums featuring darker emotional material, Sinatra reinvented himself, including In the Wee Small Hours (1955)—Sinatra's first 12" LP and his second collaboration with Nelson Riddle—Where Are You? (1957) and Frank Sinatra Sings For Only The Lonely (1958). He also incorporated a hipper, "swinging" persona into some of his music, as heard on Swing Easy! (1954), Songs For Swingin' Lovers (1956), and Come Fly With Me (1957).
By the end of the year, Billboard had named "Young at Heart" Song of the Year; Swing Easy!, with Nelson Riddle at the helm (his second album for Capitol), was named Album of the Year; and Sinatra was named "Top Male Vocalist" by Billboard, Down Beat and Metronome.
A third collaboration with Nelson Riddle, Songs For Swingin' Lovers, was both a critical and financial success, featuring a recording of "I've Got You Under My Skin".
Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely, a stark collection of introspective saloon songs and blues-tinged ballads, was a mammoth commercial success, spending 120 weeks on Billboard's album chart and peaking at #1. Cuts from this LP, such as "Angel Eyes" and "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)", would remain staples of Sinatra's concerts throughout his life.
Through the late fifties, Sinatra frequently criticized rock and roll music, much of it being his reaction to rhythms and attitudes he found alien. In 1958 he lambasted it as "sung, played, and written for the most part by cretinous goons. It manages to be the martial music of every sideburned delinquent on the face of the earth."
Sinatra started the 1960s as he ended the 1950s. His first album of the decade, Nice 'n' Easy, topped Billboard's chart and won critical plaudits. Sinatra grew discontented at Capitol and decided to form his own label, Reprise Records. His first album on the label, Ring-A-Ding-Ding (1961), was a major success, peaking at #4 on Billboard and #8 in the UK.
His fourth and final Timex TV special was broadcast in March 1960, and earned massive viewing figures. Titled It's Nice to Go Travelling, the show is more commonly known as Welcome Home Elvis. Elvis Presley's appearance after his army discharge was somewhat ironic; Sinatra had been scathing about him in the mid fifties, saying: "His kind of music is deplorable, a rancid smelling aphrodisiac. It fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people." Presley had responded: "... Sinatra is a great success and a fine actor, but I think he shouldn't have said it... rock and roll is a trend, just the same as he faced when he started years ago." Later, in efforts to maintain his commercial viability, Sinatra recorded Presley's hit "Love Me Tender" as well as works by Paul Simon ("Mrs. Robinson"), The Beatles ("Something", "Yesterday"), and Joni Mitchell ("Both Sides Now").
Following on the heels of the film Can Can was Ocean's 11, the movie that became the definitive on-screen outing for "The Rat Pack".
From his youth, Sinatra displayed sympathy for African Americans and worked both publicly and privately all his life to help them win equal rights. He played a major role in the desegregation of Nevada hotels and casinos in the 1960s. On January 27, 1961, Sinatra played a benefit show at Carnegie Hall for Martin Luther King, Jr. and led his fellow Rat Pack members and Reprise label mates in boycotting hotels and casinos that refused entry to black patrons and performers. He often spoke from the stage on desegregation and repeatedly played benefits on behalf of Dr. King and his movement. According to his son, Frank Sinatra, Jr., King sat weeping in the audience at a concert in 1963 as Sinatra sang Ol' Man River, a song from the musical Show Boat that is sung by an African-American stevedore.
On September 11 and 12, 1961, Sinatra recorded his final songs for Capitol.
In 1962, he starred with Janet Leigh and Laurence Harvey in the political thriller, The Manchurian Candidate, playing Bennett Marco. That same year, Sinatra and Count Basie collaborated for the album Sinatra-Basie. This popular and successful release prompted them to rejoin two years later for the follow-up It Might as Well Be Swing, which was arranged by Quincy Jones. One of Sinatra's more ambitious albums from the mid-1960s, The Concert Sinatra, was recorded with a 73-piece symphony orchestra on 35mm tape.
Sinatra's first live album, Sinatra at the Sands, was recorded during January and February 1966 at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
In June, 1965, Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Dean Martin played live in Saint Louis to benefit Dismas House. The concert was broadcast live via satellite to numerous movie theaters across America. Released in August, 1965, was the Grammy Award–winning album of the year, September of My Years, with a career anthology, A Man and His Music, following in November, itself winning Album of the Year at the Grammys in 1966. The TV special, Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music, garnered both an Emmy award and a Peabody Award.
In the spring, That's Life appeared, with both the single and album becoming Top Ten hits in the US on Billboard's pop charts. Strangers in the Night went on to top the Billboard and UK pop singles charts, winning the award for Record of the Year at the Grammys. The album of the same name also topped the Billboard chart and reached number 4 in the UK.
Sinatra started 1967 with a series of important recording sessions with Antônio Carlos Jobim. Later in the year, a duet with daughter Nancy, "Somethin' Stupid", topped the Billboard pop and UK singles charts. In December, Sinatra collaborated with Duke Ellington on the album Francis A. & Edward K..
During the late 1960s, press agent Lee Solters would invite columnists and their spouses into Sinatra's dressing room just before he was about to go on stage. The New Yorker recounted that "the first columnist they tried this on was Larry Fields of the Philadelphia Daily News, whose wife fainted when Sinatra kissed her cheek. 'Take care of it, Lee,' Sinatra said, and he was off." The professional relationship Sinatra shared with Solters focused on projects on the west coast while those focused on the east coast were handled by Solters' partner, Sheldon Roskin of Solters/Roskin/Friedman, a well-known firm at the time.
Back on the small-screen, Sinatra once again worked with Jobim and Ella Fitzgerald on the TV special, A Man and His Music + Ella + Jobim.
Watertown (1970) was one of Sinatra's most acclaimed concept albums but was all but ignored by the public. Selling a mere 30,000 copies and reaching a peak chart position of 101, its failure put an end to plans for a television special based on the album.
With Sinatra in mind, singer-songwriter Paul Anka wrote the song "My Way", inspired from the French "Comme d'habitude" ("As Usual"), composed by Claude François and Jacques Revaux. (The song had been previously commissioned to David Bowie, whose lyrics did not please the involved agents.) "My Way" would, ironically, become more closely identified with him than any other song over his seven decades as a singer even though he reputedly did not care for it.
On June 13, 1971 — at a concert in Hollywood to raise money for the Motion Picture and TV Relief Fund — at the age of 55, Sinatra announced that he was retiring, bringing to an end his 36-year career in show business.
In 1973, Sinatra came out of retirement with a television special and album, both entitled Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back. The album, arranged by Gordon Jenkins and Don Costa, was a great success, reaching number 13 on Billboard and number 12 in the UK. The TV special was highlighted by a dramatic reading of "Send in the Clowns" and a song and dance sequence with former co-star Gene Kelly.
In January, 1974, Sinatra returned to Las Vegas, performing at Caesars Palace despite vowing in 1970 never to play there again after the manager of the resort, Sanford Waterman, pulled a gun on him during a heated argument. With Waterman recently shot, the door was open for Sinatra to return.
In Australia, he caused an uproar by describing journalists there — who were aggressively pursuing his every move and pushing for a press conference — as "fags", "pimps", and "whores". Australian unions representing transport workers, waiters, and journalists went on strike, demanding that Sinatra apologize for his remarks. Sinatra instead insisted that the journalists apologize for "fifteen years of abuse I have taken from the world press". The future Prime Minister of Australia, Bob Hawke, then the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) leader, also insisted that Sinatra apologize, and a settlement was eventually reached to the apparent satisfaction of both parties, Sinatra's final show of his Australian tour was televised to the nation.
In October 1974, Sinatra appeared at New York City's Madison Square Garden in a televised concert that was later released as an album under the title The Main Event – Live. Backing him was bandleader Woody Herman and the Young Thundering Herd, who accompanied Sinatra on a European tour later that month. The TV special garnered mostly positive reviews while the album — actually culled from various shows during his comeback tour — was only a moderate success, peaking at #37 on Billboard and #30 in the UK.
In August, 1975, Sinatra held several back-to-back concerts together with the newly-risen singer, John Denver. Soon they became friends with each other. John Denver later appeared as a guest in the Sinatra and friends TV Special, singing "September Song" together with Sinatra. Sinatra covered the John Denver hits "My Sweet Lady" and "Leaving on a Jet Plane". And, according to Denver, his song "A Baby Just Like You" was written at Sinatra's request.
In 1979, in front of the Egyptian pyramids, Sinatra performed for Anwar Sadat. Back in Las Vegas, while celebrating 40 years in show business and his 64th birthday, he was awarded the Grammy Trustees Award during a party at Caesars Palace.
In 1980, Sinatra's first album in six years was released, Trilogy: Past Present Future, a highly ambitious triple album that found Sinatra recording songs from the past (pre-rock era) and present (rock era and contemporary) that he had overlooked during his career, while 'The Future' was a free-form suite of new songs linked à la musical theater by a theme, in this case, Sinatra pondering over the future. The album garnered six Grammy nominations — winning for best liner notes — and peaked at number 17 on Billboard's album chart, while spawning yet another song that would become a signature tune, "Theme from New York, New York", as well as Sinatra's much lauded (second) recording of George Harrison's "Something" (the first was not officially released on an album until 1972's Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2).
The following year, Sinatra built on the success of Trilogy with She Shot Me Down, an album that revisited the dark tone of his Capitol years, and was praised by critics as a vintage late-period Sinatra. Sinatra would comment that it was "A complete saloon album... tear-jerkers and cry-in-your-beer kind of things".
Also in 1981, Sinatra was embroiled in controversy when he worked a ten-day engagement for $2 million in Sun City, South Africa, breaking a cultural boycott against apartheid-era South Africa.
He was selected as one of the five recipients of the 1983 Kennedy Center Honors, alongside Katharine Dunham, James Stewart, Elia Kazan, and Virgil Thomson. Quoting Henry James in honoring his old friend, President Ronald Reagan said that "art was the shadow of humanity" and that Sinatra had "spent his life casting a magnificent and powerful shadow".
In 1984, Sinatra worked with Quincy Jones for the first time in nearly two decades on the album, L.A. Is My Lady, which was well received critically. The album was a substitute for another Jones project, an album of duets with Lena Horne, which had to be abandoned. (Horne developed vocal problems and Sinatra, committed to other engagements, could not wait to record.)
In 1990, Sinatra celebrated his 75th birthday with a national tour, and was awarded the second "Ella Award" by the Los Angeles–based Society of Singers. At the award ceremony, he performed for the final time with Ella Fitzgerald.
In December, as part of Sinatra's birthday celebrations, Patrick Pasculli, the Mayor of Hoboken, made a proclamation in his honor, declaring that "no other vocalist in history has sung, swung, crooned, and serenaded into the hearts of the young and old ... as this consummate artist from Hoboken." The same month Sinatra gave the first show of his Diamond Jubilee Tour at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
In 1993 Sinatra made a surprise return to Capitol and the recording studio for Duets, which was released in November.
The other artists who added their vocals to the album worked for free, and a follow-up album (Duets II) was released in 1994 that reached #9 on the Billboard charts.
Still touring despite various health problems, Sinatra remained a top concert attraction on a global scale during the first half of the 1990s. At times during concerts his memory failed him and a fall onstage in Richmond, Virginia, in March, 1994, signaled further problems.
Sinatra's final public concerts were held in Japan's Fukuoka Dome in December, 1994. The following year, on February 25, 1995, at a private party for 1200 select guests on the closing night of the Frank Sinatra Desert Classic golf tournament, Sinatra sang before a live audience for the very last time. Esquire reported of the show that Sinatra was "clear, tough, on the money" and "in absolute control". His closing song was "The Best is Yet to Come".
Sinatra was awarded the Legend Award at the 1994 Grammy Awards, where he was introduced by Bono, who said of him, "Frank's the chairman of the bad attitude... Rock 'n roll plays at being tough, but this guy is the boss—the chairman of boss... I'm not going to mess with him, are you?" Sinatra called it "the best welcome...I ever had". But his acceptance speech ran too long and was abruptly cut off, leaving him looking confused and talking into a dead microphone.
In 1995, to mark Sinatra's 80th birthday, the Empire State Building glowed blue. A star-studded birthday tribute, Sinatra: 80 Years My Way, was held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. At the end of the program Sinatra graced the stage for the last time to sing the final notes of "New York, New York" with an ensemble. It was Sinatra's last televised appearance.
In recognition of his many years of association with Las Vegas, Frank Sinatra was elected to the Gaming Hall of Fame in 1997.
Sinatra had three children, Nancy, Frank Jr., and Tina, all with his first wife, Nancy Barbato (married 1939-1951). He was married three more times, to actresses Ava Gardner (1951–1957) and Mia Farrow (1966–1968) and finally to Barbara Marx (married 1976), to whom he was still married at his death.
Throughout his life, Sinatra had mood swings and bouts of depression. He acknowledged this, telling an interviewer in the 1950s: "Being an 18-karat manic-depressive, and having lived a life of violent emotional contradictions, I have an over-acute capacity for sadness as well as elation." In her memoirs My Father's Daughter, his daughter Tina wrote about the "eighteen-karat" remark: "As flippant as Dad could be about his mental state, I believe that a Zoloft a day might have kept his demons away. But that kind of medicine was decades off."
Sinatra began to show signs of senility in his last years and after a heart attack in February 1997, he made no further public appearances. After suffering a further heart attack, he died at 10:50 pm on May 14, 1998 at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, with his wife Barbara by his side. He was 82 years old. Sinatra's final words, spoken as attempts were made to stabilize him, were "I'm losing". The official cause of death was listed as complications from senility, heart and kidney disease, and bladder cancer. His death was confirmed by the Sinatra family on their website with a statement accompanied by a recording of the singer's version of "Softly As I Leave You". The next night the lights on the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed for 10 minutes in his honor. President Bill Clinton, as an amateur saxophonist and musician, led the world's tributes to Sinatra, saying that after meeting and getting to know the singer as President, he had "come to appreciate on a personal level what millions of people had appreciated from afar". Elton John stated that Sinatra, "was simply the best - no one else even comes close". In a concert live in Ephesus, John tells the audience of an experience which he explains as "one of the most special moments for me as a songwriter", when he went to the Royal Albert Hall in London and seeing Frank Sinatra who sang John's 1976 hit, "Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word".
On May 20, 1998 at the Roman Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd (Beverly Hills) in Beverly Hills, Sinatra's funeral was held, with 400 mourners in attendance and hundreds of fans outside. Gregory Peck, Tony Bennett, and Frank, Jr., addressed the mourners, among whom were Jill St. John, Tom Selleck, Joey Bishop, Faye Dunaway, Tony Curtis, Liza Minnelli, Kirk Douglas, Robert Wagner, Bob Dylan, Don Rickles, Nancy Reagan, Angie Dickinson, Sophia Loren, Bob Newhart, Mia Farrow, and Jack Nicholson. A private ceremony was held later that day at St. Theresa's Catholic Church in Palm Springs. Sinatra was buried following the ceremony next to his parents in section B-8 of Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, a quiet cemetery on Ramon Road where Cathedral City meets Rancho Mirage and near his compound, located on Rancho Mirage's tree-lined Frank Sinatra Drive. His close friends, Jilly Rizzo and Jimmy Van Heusen, are buried nearby in the same cemetery.
The words "The Best Is Yet to Come" are imprinted on Sinatra's grave marker.
The U.S. Postal Service issued a 42-cent postage stamp in honor of Sinatra on May 13, 2008. The design of the stamp was unveiled Wednesday, December 12, 2007 — on the anniversary of what would have been his 92nd birthday — in Beverly Hills, California, with Sinatra family members on hand. The design shows a 1950s-vintage image of Sinatra, wearing a hat. The design also includes his signature, with his last name alone. The Hoboken Post Office was renamed in his honor in 2002. The Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens and the Frank Sinatra Park in Hoboken were named in his honor.
The U.S. Congress passed a resolution on May 20, 2008 designating May 13 as Frank Sinatra Day to honor his contribution to American culture. The resolution was introduced by Representative Mary Bono Mack.
To commemorate the anniversary of Sinatra's death, Patsy's Restaurant in New York City, which Sinatra frequented, exhibited in May 2009 fifteen previously unseen photographs of Sinatra taken by Bobby Bank. The photos are of his recording "Everybody Ought to Be in Love" at a nearby recording studio.
Stephen Holden wrote for the 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide:
"Frank Sinatra's voice is pop music history. Like Presley and Dylan — the only other white male American singers since 1940 whose popularity, influence, and mythic force have been comparable — Sinatra will last indefinitely. He virtually invented modern pop song phrasing."
Wynn Resorts dedicated a signature restaurant to Sinatra inside Encore Las Vegas on December 22, 2008. Memorabilia in the restaurant includes his Oscar for "From Here to Eternity", his Emmy for "Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music", his Grammy for "Strangers in the Night", photographs and a gold album he received for "Classic Sinatra".
There is a residence hall at Montclair State University named for him in recognition of his status as an iconic New Jersey native.
The Frank Sinatra International Student Center at Israel's Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus campus, was dedicated in 1978 in recognition of Sinatra's charitable and advocacy activities on behalf of the State of Israel.
Sinatra held differing political views throughout his life.
Sinatra's parents had immigrated to the United States in 1895 and 1897 respectively. His mother, Dolly Sinatra (1896–1977), was a Democratic Party ward boss.
Sinatra remained a supporter of the Democratic Party until the early 1970s when he switched his allegiance to the Republican Party.
In 1944 after sending a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Sinatra was invited to meet Roosevelt at the White House, where he agreed to become part of the Democratic party's voter registration drives.
He donated $5,000 to the Democrats for the 1944 presidential election, and by the end of the campaign was appearing at two or three political events every day.
After World War II, Sinatra's politics grew steadily more left wing, and he became more publicly associated with the Popular Front. He started reading liberal literature, and supported many organizations that were later identified as front organizations of the Communist party by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s, though Sinatra was never brought before the Committee.
Sinatra spoke at a number of New Jersey high schools in 1945, where students had gone on strike in opposition to racial integration. Later that year Sinatra would appear in The House I Live In, a short film that stood against racism. The film was scripted by Albert Maltz, with the title song written by Earl Robinson and Abel Meeropol (under the pseudonym of Lewis Allen).
In 1948, Sinatra actively campaigned for President Harry S. Truman. In 1952 and 1956, he also campaigned for Adlai Stevenson. In 1956 and 1960, Sinatra sang the National Anthem at the Democratic National Convention
However, Sinatra's closest friendship with a President came with John F Kennedy. In 1960, Sinatra and his friends Peter Lawford, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. actively campaigned for Kennedy throughout the United States; On the campaign trail, Sinatra's voice was heard even if he wasn't physically present. the campaign’s theme song, played before every appearance, was a newly recorded version of “High Hopes,” specially recorded by Sinatra with new lyrics saluting JFK.
In January, 1961, Sinatra and Peter Lawford organized the Inaugural Gala in Washington, D.C., held on the evening before new President John F. Kennedy was sworn into office. The event, featuring many big show business stars, was an enormous success, raising a large amount of money for the Democratic Party. Sinatra also organized an Inaugural Gala in California in 1962 to welcome second term Democratic Governor Pat Brown.
Sinatra's move towards the Republicans seems to have begun when he was snubbed by President Kennedy in favor of Bing Crosby, a rival singer and a Republican, for Kennedy's visit to Palm Springs in 1962. Kennedy had planned to stay at Sinatra's home over the Easter holiday weekend, but decided against doing so, because of problems with Sinatra's alleged connections to organized crime, and stayed at Bing Crosby's house instead. Sinatra had invested a lot of his own money in upgrading the facilities at his home, in anticipation of the President's visit. At the time, President Kennedy's brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, was intensifying his own investigations into organized crime figures such as Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana, who had earlier stayed at Sinatra's home.
Despite his break with Kennedy, however, he still mourned over Kennedy after he learned he was assassinated. According to his daughter Nancy, he learned of Kennedy's assassination while filming a scene of Robin and the Seven Hoods in a Burbank; Once he learned of Kennedy's assassination, he quickly finished filming the scene, returned his Palm Springs home and sobbed in his bedroom for three days.
The 1968 election illustrated changes in the once solidly pro-JFK Rat Pack: Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Shirley MacLaine all endorsed Robert Kennedy in the spring primaries, while Sinatra, Dean Martin and Joey Bishop backed vice-president Hubert Humphrey. In the fall election, Sinatra appeared for Humphrey in Texas at the Houston Astrodome with President Lyndon Johnson, and in a television commercial soliciting campaign contributions. He also re-stated his support for Humphrey on a live election-eve national telethon.
In 1970, the first sign of Sinatra's break from the Democratic Party came when he endorsed Ronald Reagan for a second term as Governor of California; Sinatra, however, remained a registered Democrat and encouraged Reagan to become more moderate. In July 1972, after a lifetime of supporting Democratic presidential candidates, Sinatra announced he would support Republican US President Richard Nixon for re-election in the 1972 presidential election. His switch to the Republican Party was now official; he even told his daughter Tina, who had actively campaigned for Nixon's Democrat opponent George McGovern, "the more older you get, the more conservative you get." Sinatra said he agreed with the Republican Party on most positions, except that of abortion.
During Nixon's Presidency, Sinatra visited the White House on several occasions. Sinatra also became good friends with Vice President Spiro Agnew. In 1973, Agnew was charged with corruption and resigned as Vice President; Sinatra helped Agnew pay some of his legal bills.
In the 1980 presidential election, Sinatra supported Ronald Reagan, and donated $4 million to Reagan's campaign. Sinatra said he supported Reagan as he was "the proper man to be the President of the United States... it's so screwed up now, we need someone to straighten it out." Reagan's victory gave Sinatra his closest relationship with the White House since the early 1960s. Sinatra arranged Reagan's Presidential gala, as he had done for Kennedy 20 years previously.
In 1984 Sinatra returned to his birthplace in Hoboken, bringing with him President Reagan, who was in the midst of campaigning for the 1984 presidential election. Reagan had made Sinatra a fund-raising ambassador as part of the Republicans' 'Victory 84 get-the-vote-out-drive.
President Clinton never met Sinatra before taking office. They had dinner after Clinton's inauguration. Clinton later said that he was glad "to appreciate on a personal level what hundreds of millions of people around the world, including me, appreciated from afar."
Some three decades late, the Hungarian-born actress Eva Bartok claimed that her daughter, Deana, born in 1957 during Bartok's marriage to the actor Curd Jürgens, was actually fathered by Sinatra, during a brief affair that he and Bartok had had following his breakup in 1956 with the sultry Ava Gardner. Sinatra never acknowledged paternity.
Thought by many to be the finest American popular singer of our time.
Father of Nancy Sinatra, Tina Sinatra, and Frank Sinatra Jr..
Inspired the Johnny Fontaine character in The Godfather (1972).
Member (leader) of the "Rat Pack" - Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. All appeared in Ocean's Eleven (1960) and Sergeants 3 (1962).
Interred at Desert Memorial Park, Cathedral City, California, USA. Specific Interment Location: B-8, #151.
According to Mia Farrow's biography, 'What Falls Away', he offered to have Woody Allen's legs broken when he was found to be having an affair with her adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn.
Reportedly kept a picture of Ava Gardner on his mirror long after their break up.
Former father-in-law of Tommy Sands. His daughter Nancy Sinatra and Sands were married on 11 September 1960 and divorced in 1965.
One-time son-in-law of John Farrow and Maureen O'Sullivan.
Brother-in-law of John Charles Farrow, Prudence Farrow, Stephanie Farrow and Tisa Farrow.
A provision in his will is that if anyone contests it, they are automatically disinherited.
The epitaph on his headstone reads "The best is yet to come."
At his funeral, friends and family members placed items in his coffin that had personal references. These are reported to include ten dimes, several Tootsie Roll candies, a pack of Black Jack chewing gum, a roll of wild cherry Life Savers candy, a ring engraved with the word "Dream", a mini bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey, a pack of Camel cigarettes and a Zippo cigarette lighter.
Godfather of singer Nikka Costa.
Permanently injured one of his fingers while shooting a fight scene in The Manchurian Candidate (1962). In the scene, Sinatra threw a Karate chop and his hand went through a solid wooden table, breaking several bones in his little finger. The footage was left in the final cut.
Was, at one time, part owner of the Sands Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the Cal-Neva Lodge in Lake Tahoe. As the name implies, the latter was bisected by the California-Nevada borderline.
Named Humanitarian of the Year by the Variety Clubs of America in 1983.
A forced delivery at his birth left permanent scars on his cheek and ruptured an eardrum. The latter is the reason most often given for his being exempted from service during World War II.
Became estranged with Dean Martin during the final years of their lives, ever since Dean quit 'The Together Again Tour'.
An accomplished amateur painter, he not only recorded the Grammy-winning album "Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely" (Capitol: 1958), but designed the cover art, as well.
Had numerous #1 albums, and seven #1 singles (or more, depending on whether you include the songs he sang fronting a big-band): "Five Minutes More", "Leanin' the Blues", "Mam'selle", "Oh! What It Seemed To Be" "Strangers in the Night", "All Or Nothing At All" with the Harry James Band, and "Somethin' Stupid", shared with his daughter Nancy Sinatra. He also has four #1 hits singing as the front singer of the Tommy Dorsey Band, although he was not directly credited as the artist. These include "I'll Never Smile Again", "Dolores", "There Are Such Things", "In The Blue Of Evening".
Received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 1971 Academy Awards for his many contributions to charity over the years. Bob Hope, who hosted the Oscars that year, remarked, "It's interesting how Sinatra announced his retirement, and they gave him a humanitarian award". Sinatra himself hosted or co-hosted the Academy Awards four different times, in 1963, 1969, 1975 and 1985.
While filming a kidnapping scene for the film Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), he learned that his son, singer Frank Sinatra Jr., had been kidnapped from his hotel room in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. For obvious reasons, the scene was never used in the completed film.
His album "Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color" (Capitol: 1955) not only was rare in the sense that he conduced an orchestra as opposed to singing, but was also the first album to be recorded at the Capitol [Records] Tower, today a prominent landmark at Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles.
In 1960, when he was in the process of forming his own label, Reprise Records, he pointed out the Capitol Tower to a friend, saying, "See that? I helped build that. Now, it's time to build one of my own." A few years later, referring to his label's success, he stated, "We may not be a Cadillac yet, but we ain't no Bug [Volkswagen], neither."
While filming a funeral scene in Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), he learned that his close friend and benefactor, President John F. Kennedy, had been killed in Dallas earlier that day.
Named Entertainer of the Century in 2000.
Served as a mentor to performer Harry Connick Jr., whom he referred to as "The Kid".
Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1980.
Was originally signed on to play Billy Bigelow in Carousel (1956), but he walked off the set on the first day of filming after he found out that they were going to shoot each scene twice, using two different lens sizes, and was quoted as saying "I was paid to make one movie, not two".
Second cousin of composer/arranger/conductor Raymond Sinatra. Ray Sinatra's father was a cousin of his father.
Mentioned in the Marillion song "Sugar Mice" (from their 1987 album "Clutching at Straws").
His death is referred to in the Badly Drawn Boy song "You Were Right".
Was best friends with Dean Martin. Of all the members of the Rat Pack, he considered Dean his closest confidant and best friend.
On 14 May 1998, his last day of life, his family drove him to the hospital, frantically running stop signs and red lights. However, traffic was unusually light at that time, since many Americans were at home watching the final episode of the TV show "Seinfeld" (1990).
Writer of several songs including "This Love of Mine" and "I'm a Fool to Want You.".
Divorced his third wife Mia Farrow after she refused to quit filming the classic thriller Rosemary's Baby (1968) in order to co-star with him in Rat Pack crime drama The Detective (1968). He had the divorce papers delivered to her on set.
In On the Town (1949), he co-sang "New York, New York". Years later, he used the song "Theme From New York, New York" (first performed by friend Liza Minnelli, and commonly referred to as simply "New York, New York") as a showstopper in his live performances.In his "Concert For The Americas"(1982) he combined the 2 songs,using the first verse of the earlier song.
Played the Stage Manager in a musical version of "Our Town" on a TV special in 1955, with Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint playing George and Emily. In that production, he introduced what would become another of his well-known signature songs: "Love and Marriage."
Turned down the lead role in The Pajama Game (1957), which would have paired him up with Janis Paige, who played the role on Broadway. As a result, Paige lost out on playing the part to Doris Day, who was considered a bigger box- office draw.
Godfather to Quinn Gonzalez
Was the first choice to play the title role in Dirty Harry (1971), but broke his finger before shooting started and had to bow out of the production.
When Bela Lugosi died virtually penniless, Sinatra quietly paid for his funeral.
Grandfather of singer A.J. Lambert.
He was voted the 59th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
He was known for his mercurial personality, as all those who were close to him knew, he could be as sweet as a person could be one minute and equally as nasty and violent in the next moment. Some theorized that he was bipolar.
Turned down the role of Paul Kersey in Death Wish (1974). It was eventually given to Charles Bronson, and was the role that made him an international superstar.
He was drafted into the Army during World War II but got a 4F because of a damaged eardrum, something that was apparent at birth after a complicated delivery using forceps.
The only member of the "Rat Pack" to win an Academy Award
He and the other members of the Rat Pack were banned from Marilyn Monroe's funeral by Joe DiMaggio
While on a tour in 1974 which included Australia, Sinatra became enraged by his treatment by members of the Australian press. After a brief scuffle at the airport, he appeared on stage and delivered a hateful tirade against the press, calling them "bums and parasites," and calling the female reporters "buck-and-a-half hookers." In retaliation, the aviation union refused to refuel or otherwise maintain his private jet until he apologized. He never did. He was spirited away in the night after intervention by a high-level union leader.
Though he had a lot of affairs during his marriage with his first wife Nancy, it was his relationship with Ava Gardner that finally led to a divorce.
Was broke by 1951. Ava Gardner had to pay his plane ticket, so he could accompany her to Africa, where she shot Mogambo (1953).
His heritage was entirely Italian.
Owned an extensive collection of electric toy trains. He had coveted electric trains as a boy and set up a track that wove through the path of his career. The train started at a replica of the Hoboken train station.
Was offered the role of "Don Altobello" in The Godfather: Part III (1990). Even though he had been a vocal critic of the first "Godfather" film, which featured a character based on him, he was intrigued by the offer, reportedly because the first two "Godfather" films had been so successful. Ultimately, he declined the offer and The part was played by Eli Wallach, whom Sinatra competed with for the role of Maggio in From Here to Eternity (1953).
Called "Something", written by George Harrison and performed by The Beatles, one of his favorite songs.
Was such a big fan of Chicago's song, "Colour My World" that he offered to write a second stanza to it.
In 1963, his son, Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped. The kidnappers told Frank Sr. to call them from pay phones. During one call, he ran out of coins, and briefly feared that the loss had cost him his son (the kidnappers gave him another chance). He paid the $250,000 ransom, Frank Jr. was returned, and the kidnappers were eventually caught. However, as a result of the payphone scare, Sinatra swore never to be caught without dimes again, and carried a roll of dimes with him constantly until his death.
Was in line to star in Dirty Harry (1971) as was noted in several trade papers at the time. Irvin Kershner was slated to direct, but Sinatra had to back out of the project because of some trouble with a broken bone in his hand, although it has been suggested that he wanted to act in something lighter after the recent death of his father.
Sinatra saw Steve McQueen in his western TV series "Wanted: Dead or Alive" (1958) and requested him to take Sammy Davis Jr.'s role in Never So Few (1959). Davis had said in an interview he thought he was bigger than Sinatra in the entertainment world at that time. Since Davis' role in the film was originally written as a sidekick, it had to be re-written somewhat for McQueen. During filming they got along so well that Sinatra wanted McQueen to appear in Ocean's Eleven (1960) as the cowboy Louis Jackson. McQueen was all for it but was convinced otherwise by critic Hedda Hopper, who told him it would not be a wise career move to be known as a Sinatra flunky. McQueen passed on the film, and although there were no hard feelings his brief friendship with Sinatra came to an end.
Godfather of Lorna Luft.
Was considered for the role of Nicky Arnstein in Funny Girl (1968). This was vetoed by Barbra Streisand, as she didn't like him. The role was eventually played by Omar Sharif.
Lee J. Cobb credited Sinatra with saving his life after his career was nearly ruined by his defiance of the House Un-American Activities Committee investigating Communist "subversion" in the film industry. Cobb had defied HUAC for two years, after being named as a supposed Communist by Larry Parks in 1951. During those two years, Cobb's once flourishing career floundered and his wife had to be institutionalized after having a mental breakdown. Finally he agreed to testify as a "friendly" witness, appearing before HUAC in 1953. At the conclusion of his testimony, he praised the committee. Soon after his appearance there he had a massive heart attack. Sinatra--who barely knew Cobb--got him a part in his film The Miracle of the Bells (1948) when no other studio would hire Cobb. In addition, knowing that Cobb was broke, Sinatra paid his hospital bills, then had Cobb stay with him before renting him a luxurious apartment. Cobb believes that Sinatra identified with him as a troubled artist down on his luck, as Sinatra's own career had been in a severe tailspin before he resurrected himself by winning an Oscar for From Here to Eternity (1953). Cobb later said that if it wasn't for Sinatra, he didn't think he would have come through that period alive. Sinatra told Cobb he thought that Cobb was "robbed" when he failed to win the Oscar for his performance as Johnny Friendly in On the Waterfront (1954) (ironically, Sinatra originally had been scheduled to star in the picture, which was filmed in his hometown of Hoboken, NJ, but producer Sam Spiegel gave the role to Marlon Brando when he realized he could raise $1 million in financing for the picture by using Brando versus $500,000 if Sinatra was the star).
Is one of only five actors/actresses to have both a #1 single and an Oscar for acting. The others are Cher, Barbra Streisand, Jamie Foxx, and Bing Crosby.
Made no further public appearances after suffering a heart attack in January 1997.
Campaigned for Ronald Reagan in the 1980 and 1984 presidential elections.
Was active in Democratic Party politics from the 1944 presidential election until the late 1960s. In 1970 he supported Ronald Reagan's re-election campaign for Governor of California, and in 1972 he attended the Republican National Convention for the first time.
Underwent major surgery for intestinal cancer in 1986.
He was instrumental in reuniting Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin after their decades of estrangement. During an appearance on Lewis' annual telethon for Muscular Dystrophy, Sinatra said that he had a friend who wanted to say hello; then, he escorted Martin onto the stage to a flabbergasted Lewis. The two remained reunited until Martin's death.
On 20 May 1998, his funeral service was held at the Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, California. Stars in attendance included Kirk Douglas, Gregory Peck, Robert Wagner, Jack Lemmon, Sidney Poitier, Jack Nicholson, Nancy Davis, Jerry Lewis, Wayne Newton, Johnny Carson, Milton Berle, Bruce Springsteen, Debbie Reynolds, Liza Minnelli, Bob Dylan, Tom Selleck, Tony Bennett, Mickey Rooney, Shirley MacLaine, Robert Stack, Mia Farrow, Bob Newhart, Don Rickles, Sophia Loren, Diahann Carroll, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gormé, Joey Bishop, Tony Danza, Quincy Jones, Dom DeLuise, Tim Conway, Cuba Gooding Jr., Anthony Quinn, Tony Curtis, Jack Paar, Angie Dickinson, Paul Anka, Ben Vereen, Ed McMahon, Johnny Mathis, Red Buttons, Marlo Thomas, Phil Donahue, Suzanne Pleshette, Lorna Luft, Ann Miller, 'Dionne Warwick, Mamie Van Doren, Suzanne Somers, James Darren and of course, his children, 'Frank Sinatra Jr', Tina Sinatra, and Nancy Sinatra. Over a thousand Sinatra fans lined the streets outside the church during the funeral, and gave him one final round of applause as his flower-draped coffin was carried out of the church. Overhead, a skywriting plane flying created a giant heart in the sky. Ironically, Sinatra had attended Gary Cooper's funeral at the same church, almost to the day of his own, some 37 years before.
Suffered from dementia in his final years.
He asked to sing at Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey's 1978 funeral in St. Paul, MN. The officiating minister refused. The job went to Metropolitan Opera baritone Robert Merrill.
Has sold over 250 million records worldwide.
Was in talks to appear in The Verdict (1982).
Was the godfather of Linda Thorson's son Trevor.
Although the song Sinatra is most identified with is his hit "My Way", he originally didn't want to record it because he thought the song was "self-serving and indulgent.".
Got the role of Pvt. Maggio in From Here to Eternity (1953) after Eli Wallach passed on it to do a Tennessee Williams play on stage, according to Wallach on a June 20th broadcast of "Morning Sedition" on "Air America Radio.".
Weighed over 13 pounds at birth, and had to be delivered by forceps; as a result, one of his ears was nearly severed. Showing no signs of life, he was held by his grandmother under cold, running water; and suddenly he began to breathe, and cry. His mother - a Practical nurse - and his father - a Hoboken tavern owner - had been hoping for a girl, and had already chosen the name Frances. So they gave him the masculine form of the name: Francis.
Was a great admirer of John F. Kennedy, campaigning for him in the 1960 presidential election and organizing his inauguration ball on 20 January 1961. In August 1962, Kennedy decided not to stay with Sinatra in Palm Springs, due to recent allegations of Mafia ties, and instead stayed with Bing Crosby - Sinatra's original rival and an active Republican.
Briefly lost the ability to sing after his vocal chords hemorrhaged in 1953. When his voice returned, it had an extra dimension which many fans believed made his singing better than before.
Elected to the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2007 for his services to the entertainment industry (inaugural election). Official induction ceremonies held in May 2008.
Mentioned in the song "Hey Manhattan!" by Prefab Sprout.
Mentioned in the song "Its My Life" by Bon Jovi.
Pictured on a 42¢ USA commemorative postage stamp issued 13 May 2008, one day before the 10th anniversary of his death.
In 1981 he was heavily criticized for performing a ten-day gig in South Africa. Jesse Jackson and the United Nations special committee on Apartheid publicly condemned Sinatra for "collaboratng with the apartheid regime.".
He had a longstanding dislike of Marlon Brando from the time they starred in Guys and Dolls (1955/I). Sinatra always felt he should have played Brando's part, with Gene Kelly in the other role. Sinatra nicknamed Brando "Mr Mumbles" while Brando called him "Mr Baldy".
Was the favorite singer of and a big influence to The Doors front man Jim Morrison.
Once appeared as a head-and-shoulders shot on MasterCard credit card.
When Sinatra first met Mia Farrow in 1964, he was 48 and she was 19, a fact that prompted Dean Martin to quip that he owned a bottle of Scotch older than Farrow.
The film Von Ryan's Express was his most successful of the 1960s, grossing over $17 million US dollars in 1965.
All the films he produced made a profit.
His only job as film director was the anti-war film None But the Brave, which was the first Japanese and American co-production. The studios involved were Warner Bros. and Toho Studios.
Has a 62 year span of top-ten albums on Billboard -- from The Voice of Frank Sinatra which reached No. 1 in 1946 to Nothing But the Best, which reached No. 2 in 2008.
His father's name was Martin Anthony Sinatra. His mother's name was Natalie 'Dolly' Garavente, a midwife.
He is credited as co writer of 7 songs including "This Love Of Mine" (1941) and " Mr. Success" (1958).
All of his single recordings in 1943 which included "Oh What A Beautiful Morning"/ "People Will Say We're In Love" were recorded a cappella with The Bobby Tucker Singers because of a musician's strike.
He was awarded 3 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 1600 Vine Street, for Recording at 1737 Vine Street, and for Television at 6538 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
Frank Capra claimed that Sinatra had the potential to be the best actor there ever was. He once told Frank to quit his musical career and concentrate solely on acting and that if he did he would go down as the greatest actor who ever lived.
He and Paul Newman are the only people to win an Honorary Oscar, a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and a competitive Oscar.
Died the same month as Phil Hartman, who often impersonated him on Saturday Night Live.
While recording the gold "Sinatra Christmas Album" at Cherokee Recording Studios in 1975, he met and shared studio space with glam rocker David Bowie.
On May 10, 1964, Film Star Brad Dexter (Magnificent Seven, etc.) saved both Frank Sinatra's Life and the Life of Ruth Koch (wife of Producer Howard Koch), during production of the World War II film, None But the Brave, in Kaui, Hawaii. They were swimming at a beach when they were swept out to sea by the outgoing tide and nearly drowned in high billowing waves. Sinatra's co-star Dexter swam out and rescued them together and were not able to reach shore for nearly 45 minutes. In the waves, Sinatra reportedly became separated and murmured "Its all over...please take care of my kids...Im going to die..." Towards the end, both Sinatra and Koch had fallen unconscious for several minutes before two surfers arrived to help Dexter take them to shore. Dexter was later awarded a Red Cross medal for his bravery.
Like most members of The Rat Pack, Sinatra was known to much prefer the labels "The Clan" and "The Summit".
His version of "New York, New York" is played at Yankee Stadium after every Yankee home win. Liza Minnelli's version is played after every Yankee home loss.
Throughout his life, Frank Sinatra was a strong supporter of Jewish causes. Sinatra stepped forward in the early 1940s, when big names were needed to rouse America into saving Europe's remaining Jews, and he sang at an "Action for Palestine" rally (1947). He sat on the board of trustees of the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and he donated over $1 million to Jerusalem 's Hebrew University, which honored him by dedicating the Frank Sinatra International Student Center. As the result of his support for the Jewish State, his movies and records were banned in some Arab countries.
I'm trying to figure out, Chairman of what Board? People come up to me and seriously say: "Well, what are you Chairman of?" And I can't answer them.
I'm for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayer, tranquilizers or a bottle of Jack Daniels. But to me religion is a deeply personal thing in which man and God go it alone together, without the witch doctor in the middle.
A friend is never an imposition.
[his last words] I'm losing it.
[Talking about Burt Reynolds] He is the one the ladies like to dance with and their husbands like to drink with. He is the larger-than-life actor of our times. He is gifted, talented, naughty and nice.
A fella came up to me the other day with a nice story. He was in a bar somewhere and it was the quiet time of the night. Everybody's staring down at the sauce and one of my saloon songs comes on the jukebox, "One for My Baby", or something like that. After a while, a drunk at the end of the bar looks up and says, jerking his thumb toward the jukebox, "I wonder who he listens to?"
[when Dean Martin walked out on The Together Again Tour] You can't put a gun to his head. He just didn't want to do it.
Nothing anybody's said or written about me ever bothers me, except when it does.
[after the deaths of Sammy Davis Jr., Ava Gardner, Jilly Rizzo and Dean Martin] I'm next. I ain't scared, either. Everybody I ever knew is already over there.
[on Elvis Presley in 1957] Sung, played and written for the most part by cretinous goons; and by means of its almost imbecilic reiterations and sly, lewd - in plain fact, dirty - lyrics it manages to be the martial music of every sideburned delinquent on the face of the Earth. This rancid-smelling aphrodisiac I deplore. His kind of music is deplorable, a rancid smelling aphrodisiac . . . it fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people.
[on Ava Gardner] I love her, and God damn me for it.
You better get busy living, because dying's a pain in the ass.
[on Elvis Presley's death in 1977] There have been many accolades uttered about his talent and performances through the years, all of which I agree to wholeheartedly, I shall miss him dearly as a friend.
There are moments when it's too quiet. Particularly late at night or early in the mornings. That's when you know there's something lacking in your life. You just know.
Recording with Billy May is like having a bucket of cold water thrown into your face. Nelson Riddle will come to a session with all the arrangements carefully and neatly worked out beforehand. With Billy you sometimes don't get copies of the next number until you've finished the one before. Billy and Nelson both work best under pressure. Billy May is always driving while Nelson has more depth, and with Gordon Jenkins, it's just plain beautiful and simple.
[on Marlon Brando] He is the most overrated actor in the world.
No man's lifetime of work has better expressed the land of the free and the home of the brave. No man's lifetime of work has given proof to the world that our flag is still there. John Wayne is in truth a star-spangled man whom so proudly we hail.
For over half a century, Mr. Wayne [John Wayne] has served honorably as America's symbol to the world of the highest morals and prudent standards of our society.
[on Don Rickles] I like him. But that's because I have no taste.
In Hoboken, when I was a kid, I lived in a plenty tough neighborhood. When somebody called me a "dirty little pig," there was only one thing to do: break his head. When I got older, I realized you shouldn't do it [get even] that way. I realized you've got to do it through education . . . maybe with a few exceptions.
[1965] For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business. He excites me when I watch him. He moves me. He's the singer who gets across what the composer has in mind, and probably a little more.
I detest bad manners. If people are polite, I am. They shouldn't try to get away with not being polite to me.
I'm a performer. I'm better in the first take.
Don't tell me. Suggest. But don't tell me.
[on the resignation of US President Richard Nixon, Aug. 9, 1974] Any man can make a mistake.
[on friend Peggy Lee] Her wonderful talent should be studied by all vocalists; her regal presence is pure elegance and charm.
A well balanced girl is the one who has an empty head and a full sweater.
That guy Heston has to watch it. If he's not careful, he'll get actors a good name. - On Charlton Heston
I hate this song ['My Way'] - you sing it for eight years, you would hate it too! (Caesars Palace, 1978)
[On Rat Pack buddy Sammy Davis Jr.] He goes to the refrigerator for a snack, opens the door, and when that light hits him, he does 45 minutes of his act!
