Yes, she was truly a star and a very talented and beautiful actress! I always thought she would have been perfect for portraying Wonder Woman. Her physiognomy would have been a perfect fit.

Originally a small-town North Carolina tomboy, she had a thick southern accent. But after an MGM screen test, studio head Louis B. Mayer said of her, "She can't sing, she can't act, she can't talk. She's terrific!" The notion that she was hired for her beauty rather than her talent plagued her throughout her career.

The studio gave her speech lessons and groomed her thoroughly, and this transformation is, ironically, what she always hated about herself and her career. I've sometimes wondered if what she really hated most was herself for allowing them to do this to her. She had a few really good film roles at the peak of her career, but ended up sliding into TV movies and alcoholism, eventually dying of pneumonia. Sad ending for an enduring icon.

I mainly remember Miss Gardner from her post-prime era (the phase she was in while I was growing up seeing her on t.v.). By then she'd taken on a somewhat rough look and often seemed like she'd no doubt had a few stiff drinks before going on camera (presumably also otherwise).

But she certainly was gorgeous and had "that special something" back during the years of her both professional and personal prime. When I see certain ones of her movies from back then, I definitely "get" why she was a star and what all the fuss was about.

Miss Gardner - beautiful, to be sure.

And also a staunch humanitarian and a modest lady.

For one thing, she threw her star clout out there to get F Sinatra cast in "...Eternity," which greatly helped his fledging career. Long after they went on their separate ways, it is said that he returned the favor.

For another thing, when recent stars would compliment her nice looks, she would tell them that now it's their turn to look nice because she already had been there and done that.

And as for her sweet Southern background, that was really shocking for a long time because A Garner seems mostly Hollywood-ish - or at least until you consider how sweet and pretty North Carolina-ites can turn out - like Janet Pascal or Kay Hagan - right up there with the best singers or politicians - or fine actresses like Ava.

I had forgotten, till you mentioned Sinatra, that Miss Gardner had three high-profile marriages, to (in chronological order) Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw, and Sinatra. Quite an impressive line-up!

Though I certainly know who she was, the only film I've ever seen her in was "On the Beach" (1959).

She was cast against type as it relates to the original story (in Nevil Shute's book, her character was much younger), but she did a good job, and I found the film itself excellent. Reading recently about her online, I was surprised to find that she was born in the U.S. For some crazy reason I always thought she'd been born in Austria (shows how smart I am!). Although, in my feeble defense, I did read that the ancestry of her parents was a bit muddled (of course, this could be said of most Americans, myself included:))

Where her pre-1970s movies are concerned, I remember Miss Gardner most from 1949's The Bribe, both because I re-watched it just a couple years ago and because clips from it are used, entertainingly, in 1982's Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (a film that's a lot of fun for fans of old movies).

Otherwise I remember her mainly from appearances in various made-for-t.v. movies/miniseries and series Knots Landing of the '80s, as well as from 1974's Earthquake. After the '70s Miss Gardner's film career had dried up, therefore she was solely doing t.v. work during her final years.