Ava Gardner married Frank Sinatra on Nov. 7, 1951, at a friend’s home. Sinatra had left his wife, Nancy, for Gardner. Sinatra was blasted by gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, the Hollywood establishment, the Roman Catholic Church, and by his fans for leaving his wife for a noted femme fatale.
The marriage was turbulent, with many well-publicized fights and altercations. During their marriage Gardner became pregnant twice, but aborted both pregnancies, the reason being that MGM had all sorts of penalty clauses about their stars having babies. Years later she said:
“We couldn’t even take care of ourselves. How were we going to take care of a baby?”
The couple formally announced their separation on October 29, 1953, through MGM. Gardner filed for divorce in June 1954, at a time when she was dating matador Luis Miguel Dominguín, but the divorce was not settled until 1957. It was Gardner’s third and final marriage. She would later say in her autobiography that Sinatra was the love of her life. Sinatra continued to feel very strongly for her, and they remained friends for life. He was still dealing with her finances in 1976.
Frank and Ava at their wedding in 1951. (Photo Credit: Getty Images) via
On 21 December 1952, aged 18, Brigitte Bardot married director Roger Vadim in Paris. The couple met after the bourgeois Bardot appeared on the cover of a magazine and the director Marc Allégret, who Vadim was assisting, invited her to do a screen test. When her family forbade the teen from seeing the much older Vadim, she attempted suicide.
In the sixties, Bardot paved the way for the off-the-rack, no-fuss, leg-exposing bride. On her weddding to Vadim she wore a high-collared, bustled dress accessorized with muff and veil. According to the groom:
“Brigitte designed and chose the material for the white, handsewn wedding dress from Madame Ogive, the dressmaker on the Rue de Passy.” (source)
The couple divorced in 1957, but remained friends and collaborated in later work.
Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim’s wedding, 1952 via
Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim’s wedding, 1952 via
Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim’s wedding, 1952 via
Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim’s wedding, 1952 via
Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim’s wedding, 1952 via
On 18 June 1959 Brigitte Bardot married fellow actor Jacques Charrier, her costar in Babette Goes to War.
The wedding took place in Louveciennes, France. The bride wore a coquettish pink gingham shirtwaist by Jacques Esterel as her wedding dress. When the actual marriage was to take place photographers burst into the registry office and formally asked Brigitte for permission to photograph the ceremony. Brigitte allegedly stamped her foot and shouted ‘Non, non, non.’ Then buried her face in her hands and burst into sobs.
Bardot and Charrier divorced in 1962. They had one son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, Bardot´s only child, born in 1960. Nicolas was raised in the Charrier family and did not maintain close contact with Bardot until his adulthood.
Brigitte Bardot’s wedding to actor Jacques Charrier, Louveciennes, France, 1959 via
Brigitte Bardot’s wedding to actor Jacques Charrier, Louveciennes, France, 1959 via
Brigitte Bardot’s wedding to actor Jacques Charrier, Louveciennes, France, 1959 via
Invited at Cannes’ Film Festival, in 1955, Grace Kelly meets the prince of Monaco and in 1956, the American actress becomes a princess while she settles in Monaco after a sumptuous wedding. News of the engagement was a sensation, even though it meant a probable end to Kelly’s film career.
The Napoleonic Code of Monaco and the laws of the Roman Catholic Church necessitated two ceremonies – both a civil ceremony and a religious wedding.
The 16-minute civil ceremony took place in the Palace Throne Room of Monaco on April 18, 1956,and a reception later in the day was attended by 3,000 Monaco citizens. To cap the ceremony, the 142 official titles that she acquired in the union (counterparts of his) were formally recited.
The following day the church ceremony took place at Monaco’s Saint Nicholas Cathedral, before Monaco’s Bishop Gilles Barthe.
The wedding was estimated to have been watched by over 30 million viewers on live television, and was described by biographer Robert Lacey as “the first modern event to generate media overkill.”
Her wedding dress, designed by MGM’s Academy Award–winning Helen Rose, was worked on for six weeks by three dozen seamstresses. The bridesmaids’ gowns were designed by Joe Allen Hong at Neiman Marcus.
The 700 guests included several famous people, including Aristotle Onassis, Cary Grant, David Niven and his wife Hjördis, Gloria Swanson, Ava Gardner, the crowned head Aga Khan III, Gloria Guinness, Enid, Lady Kenmare, Daisy Fellowes, Etti Plesch, Lady Diana Cooper, Louise de Vilmorin, Loelia Lindsay, and Conrad Hilton.
She and Rainier left that night for their seven-week Mediterranean honeymoon cruise on his yacht, Deo Juvante II.
Grace Kelly & Rainier III, Prince of Monaco Wedding Day, April 19, 1956 via
Grace Kelly & Rainier III, Prince of Monaco Wedding Day, April 19, 1956 via
Grace Kelly & Rainier III, Prince of Monaco Wedding Day, April 19, 1956 via
Grace Kelly & Rainier III, Prince of Monaco Wedding Day, April 19, 1956 via
Grace Kelly & Rainier III, Prince of Monaco Wedding Day, April 19, 1956 via
Grace Kelly & Rainier III, Prince of Monaco Wedding Day, April 19, 1956 via
Grace Kelly & Rainier III, Prince of Monaco Wedding Day, April 19, 1956 via
Grace Kelly & Rainier III, Prince of Monaco Wedding Day, April 19, 1956
Grace Kelly & Rainier III, Prince of Monaco Wedding Day, April 19, 1956 via
Grace Kelly & Rainier III, Prince of Monaco Wedding Day, April 19, 1956 via
In April 19th 1956, the world watched as Prince Rainier of Monaco wed Hollywood actress Grace Kelly at the Cathedral of St Nicholas.
FROM THE BYGONE 