The actor of Frank Sinatra
- In full:
- Francis Albert Sinatra
- Born:
- December 12, 1915, Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S.
- Died:
- May 14, 1998, Los Angeles, California (aged 82)
- Also Known As:
- Francis Albert Sinatra
- Awards And Honors:
- Grammy Award (1995)
- Kennedy Center Honors (1983)
- Grammy Award (1966)
- Grammy Award (1965)
- Grammy Award (1959)
- Grammy Award (1958)
- Academy Award (1954)
- Academy Award (1954): Actor in a Supporting Role
- Special Award of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (1946)
- Cecil B. DeMille Award (1971)
- Golden Globe Award (1958): Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
- Golden Globe Award (1954): Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
- Golden Globe Award (1946): Promoting International Understanding
- Grammy Award (1996): Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance
- Grammy Award (1995): Grammy Legend Award
- Grammy Award (1967): Record of the Year
- Grammy Award (1967): Album of the Year
- Grammy Award (1967): Best Vocal Performance, Male
- Grammy Award (1966): Lifetime Achievement Award
- Grammy Award (1966): Album of the Year
- Grammy Award (1966): Best Vocal Performance, Male
- Grammy Award (1960): Album of the Year
- Grammy Award (1960): Best Vocal Performance, Male
- Grammy Award (1959): Best Album Cover
- Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (1971)
- Notable Family Members:
- spouse Ava Gardner
- spouse Mia Farrow
- daughter Nancy Sinatra
- Married To:
- Barbara Marx (married 1976)
- Mia Farrow (1966–1968)
- Ava Gardner (1951–1957)
- Nancy Barbato Sinatra (1939–1951)
- Movies/Tv Shows (Acted In):
- "Who's the Boss?" (1989)
- "Magnum, P.I." (1987)
- "Cannonball Run II" (1984)
- "The First Deadly Sin" (1980)
- "Laugh-In" (1977–1978)
- "Dirty Dingus Magee" (1970)
- "Lady in Cement" (1968)
- "The Detective" (1968)
- "Tony Rome" (1967)
- "The Naked Runner" (1967)
- "Assault on a Queen" (1966)
- "Cast a Giant Shadow" (1966)
- "Marriage on the Rocks" (1965)
- "Von Ryan's Express" (1965)
- "None But the Brave" (1965)
- "Robin and the 7 Hoods" (1964)
- "4 for Texas" (1963)
- "Come Blow Your Horn" (1963)
- "The List of Adrian Messenger" (1963)
- "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962)
- "Sergeants 3" (1962)
- "The Devil at 4 O'Clock" (1961)
- "Pepe" (1960)
- "Ocean's Eleven" (1960)
- "Can-Can" (1960)
- "Never So Few" (1959)
- "A Hole in the Head" (1959)
- "Some Came Running" (1958)
- "Kings Go Forth" (1958)
- "Pal Joey" (1957)
- "The Joker Is Wild" (1957)
- "The Pride and the Passion" (1957)
- "Around the World in 80 Days" (1956)
- "Johnny Concho" (1956)
- "High Society" (1956)
- "The Man with the Golden Arm" (1955)
- "The Tender Trap" (1955)
- "Guys and Dolls" (1955)
- "Producers' Showcase" (1955)
- "Not as a Stranger" (1955)
- "Young at Heart" (1954)
- "Suddenly" (1954)
- "The Colgate Comedy Hour" (1954)
- "From Here to Eternity" (1953)
- "Meet Danny Wilson" (1952)
- "Double Dynamite" (1951)
- "On the Town" (1949)
- "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (1949)
- "The Kissing Bandit" (1948)
- "The Miracle of the Bells" (1948)
- "It Happened in Brooklyn" (1947)
- "Till the Clouds Roll By" (1946)
- "Anchors Aweigh" (1945)
- "Step Lively" (1944)
- "Higher and Higher" (1943)
- "Reveille with Beverly" (1943)
- Movies/Tv Shows (Directed):
- "None But the Brave" (1965)
- "The Frank Sinatra Show" (1957)
- Albums:
- "Rat Pack Collection" (1998)
- "Duets II" (1994)
- "Duets" (1993)
- "A Man and His Music" (1986)
- "L.A. Is My Lady" (1984)
- "She Shot Me Down" (1981)
- "Trilogy: Past, Present & Future" (1979)
- "Some Nice Things I've Missed" (1974)
- "The Main Event: Live" (1974)
- "Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back" (1973)
- "Sinatra & Company" (1971)
- "Watertown" (1969)
- "My Way" (1969)
- "A Man Alone: The Words & Music of McKuen" (1969)
- "The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas" (1968)
- "Cycles" (1968)
- "Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim" (1967)
- "The World We Knew" (1967)
- "Francis A. & Edward K." (1967)
- "That's Life" (1966)
- "Strangers in the Night" (1966)
- "Sinatra at the Sands" (1966)
- "Sinatra '65" (1965)
- "September of My Years" (1965)
- "My Kind of Broadway" (1965)
- "Moonlight Sinatra" (1965)
- "Softly, As I Leave You" (1964)
- "Robin and the 7 Hoods" (1964)
- "It Might as Well Be Swing" (1964)
- "Guys and Dolls" (1964)
- "Days of Wine and Roses, Moon River and Other Academy Award Winners" (1964)
- "America, I Hear You Singing" (1964)
- "Sinatra's Sinatra: A Collection of Frank's Favorites" (1963)
- "I Remember Tommy" (1963)
- "The Concert Sinatra" (1963)
- "Sinatra-Basie: An Historic Musical First" (1962)
- "Sinatra Sings Great Songs from Great Britain" (1962)
- "Sinatra and Swingin' Brass" (1962)
- "Sinatra & Sextet: Live in Paris" (1962)
- "All Alone" (1962)
- "Sinatra & Strings" (1962)
- "Swing Along with Me" (1961)
- "Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!! And More" (1961)
- "Ring-a-Ding Ding!" (1961)
- "Point of No Return" (1961)
- "Frank Sinatra Conducts Music from Pictures and Plays" (1961)
- "Come Swing with Me!" (1961)
- "Nice 'n' Easy" (1960)
- "Can-Can [Original Soundtrack]" (1960)
- "No One Cares" (1959)
- "Come Dance with Me!" (1959)
- "Only the Lonely" (1958)
- "Come Fly with Me" (1958)
- "Where Are You?" (1957)
- "A Swingin' Affair!" (1957)
- "Pal Joey [Original Soundtrack]" (1957)
- "A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra" (1957)
- "Close to You and More" (1957)
- "High Society" (1956)
- "Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color" (1956)
- "Songs for Swingin' Lovers!" (1956)
- "In the Wee Small Hours" (1955)
- "The Voice" (1955)
- "Songs for Young Lovers" (1954)
- "Swing Easy!" (1954)
- "Requested by You" (1953)
- "Swing and Dance with Frank Sinatra" (1950)
- "The Voice of Frank Sinatra" (1947)
News •
Sinatra appeared in several films throughout the 1940s, the best among them being the musicals in which he costarred with dancer Gene Kelly. Of these, Anchors Aweigh (1945) and Take Me Out to the Ballgame (1949) are pleasant diversions, whereas On the Town (1949) ranks among the greatest of film musicals. It was acting, rather than music, that precipitated Sinatra’s comeback in 1953. He pleaded with Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn for the role of the scrappy, tragic soldier, Maggio, in From Here to Eternity (1953), and he agreed to work for scale. His performance was universally praised and earned him an Oscar for best supporting actor. Sinatra went on to become one of the top film stars of the 1950s and ’60s, and he delivered fine performances in quality films such as Suddenly (1954), Young at Heart (1954), The Man with the Golden Arm (1955; Academy Award nomination for best actor), Guys and Dolls (1955), The Joker Is Wild (1957), Pal Joey (1957), and Some Came Running (1958). The political thriller The Manchurian Candidate (1962) is perhaps Sinatra’s greatest film and features his best performance. With the possible exception of Bing Crosby, no other American entertainer achieved such a level of respect and popularity as both singer and actor. Although it is said that Sinatra stopped taking films seriously after The Manchurian Candidate, owing to his ongoing frustration with the tedious filmmaking process, his motion-picture résumé remains impressive. In later years, he was memorable in The Detective (1968), and in his final starring vehicle, The First Deadly Sin (1980).
The Capitol years
In 1953 Sinatra’s musical style took a dramatic turn. He signed with Capitol Records and, throughout the next nine years, issued a series of recordings widely regarded as his finest body of work. He is credited (though perhaps not accurately so) with inventing the “concept album”—an LP collection of songs built around a single theme or mood. His new approach also demanded new arrangements, and the in-house arrangers at Capitol were among the best. He worked with veteran big-band musician Billy May on outstanding up-tempo albums such as Come Fly with Me (1958) and Come Dance with Me! (1959), and with the arranger-composer Gordon Jenkins, whose lush string arrangements heightened the melancholy atmosphere of Where Are You? (1957) and No One Cares (1959).
As excellent as the albums with May and Jenkins were, however, Sinatra’s collaboration with arranger Nelson Riddle was truly a legendary musical partnership. Riddle, a former big-band trombonist who had arranged for artists such as Nat King Cole and Ella Mae Morse, scored some of Sinatra’s first Capitol sessions in 1953, initiating a collaboration that would extend over two decades and hundreds of recordings. Riddle was, in Sinatra’s words, “the greatest arranger in the world,” and critics agreed. With an instinctive sense for the proper musical setting, Riddle employed everything from quartets to 50-piece orchestras for ballad arrangements that were often characterized by a dominant solo instrument (particularly a mournful trombone), and by Riddle’s “private melodies,” which served as counterpoint to Sinatra’s highly personal approach. For swing tunes, Riddle developed his trademark “heartbeat rhythm,” a steady, driving beat, slightly slower than most swing charts, and meant to emulate “the pulse rate of the human heart after a brisk walk,” in Riddle’s words. Virtually all of the albums the Sinatra-Riddle team made for Capitol—such as In the Wee Small Hours (1955), Songs for Swingin’ Lovers! (1956), and Only the Lonely (1958)—are masterpieces.
Despite the importance of the Capitol arrangers in determining Sinatra’s new sound, the resulting albums were still very much dominated by the singer himself. Sinatra’s voice, which Riddle often described as having the warm timbre of a cello, had deepened and grown in power; gone was the whispery crooning of the Columbia days. His failed marriage to Gardner infused his ballad singing with a heretofore unseen emotional urgency and plaintive quality, although he eschewed anything that approached heart-on-the-sleeve histrionics. He attacked swing numbers with abandon and displayed his jazz influences with an uncanny sense of syncopation and an innate knowledge of “blue notes,” which he incorporated into the melody line. Two of his most heralded recordings—“I’ve Got You Under My Skin” (1956) and “One for My Baby” (1958), both arranged by Riddle—illustrate well his varied approach to moods and tempos.