Shrine de Gardner

Much thanks to Ed for doing a very cool thing by directing me to his local paper's write-up on the Ava Gardner Museum, located in Smithfield, North Carolina (the starlet's hometown).


According to the article, the museum "features paintings, posters and costumes from some of the nearly 50 movies she appeared in, along with displays that take visitors from her birth in 1922 to her death in 1990."

We also learn from the article that Ava was "petite." That's not what I imagined at all. I've always pictured her towering slightly above Sinatra, for example. According to a museum docent, she had an 18-inch waist and wore a size zero dress by today's standards. She was 5 feet, 6-1/2 inches, and she wore a size 6 shoe.


Credit: TAKAAKI IWABU - tiwabu@newsobserver.com

There's a nice gallery of pics the News Observer's photographer took at the museum.