Sinatra

by Anthony Summers

  371–72 Ava: (stroke) Evans tapes, Cannon, 126–, corr. Peter Evans; (smoking/drinking) ibid., Evans tapes; (“I can’t say”) ibid.; (Dahl) People, Feb. 12, 1996; (bouquet) Cannon, 103; (photo of wedding) Evans tapes; (plane) Sinatra with Coplon, 214; (limousine) Cannon, 126; (FS broke down) Sinatra with Coplon, 214, “Grieving Sinatra Tells Wife ‘I Want to be Buried Next to Ava Gardner,’ ” unid. clip, 1990, MHL; (not among mourners/“With my love”) int. Barbara Twigg (florist), Cannon, 130; (Albany/Jack Daniel’s/“Sinatra seemed”) Jan. 30, 1990, entry, Where or When?; int. & corr. Ed O’Brien.

  Chapter 35: To the End of the Road

  373 performing in early 1990s: (world tour 1991) Sinatra, Legend, 311, Taraborrelli, 491; (number of concerts) 1991–94 entries, Where or When?; (Hackman) Heist, directed by David Mamet, Warner Brothers, Nov. 9, 2001; (TV special/“Physically”) Dec. 16, 1990, entry, Where or When? NYT, Dec. 31, 1990; (“cracked”) undat. Walter Scott “Personality Parade” column, late 1984; (“shook”) L.A. Weekly, Jan. 15, 1988; (“opaque”) Élan, Sep. 27–29, 1991; (“in a state”) ed. Mustazza, Bibliography, 77.

  373–75 physical decline: (hearing aid) int. Ann Barak, ( Ireland) Sunday Independent, Apr. 22, 2001; (TelePrompTers not at every) corr. Ric Ross; (“He was using”) int. Frank Fighera; (cataract operation) int. Tony Oppedisano, Sinatra with Coplon, 228, AP, undat., May 1998; (“forgot lyrics”) Cue, Oct. 28, 1978; (“I was in the midst”) Sinatra, My Father, 281–; (“We were doing”) int. Tony Mottola; (walked off the stage) Philadelphia Daily News, Sep. 4, 1984; (“incoherently rambling”) LAHE, Oct. 21, 1988; (assumed drinking/“What the hell?”) Variety, Jan. 27, 1989; (“The sickness”) int. Frank Fighera; (pill bottles/Elavil/sisters voiced concern / Tina and FS intellect) Sinatra with Coplon, 195–, Oct. 29, 1988, entry, Where or When?; (Bregman) int. Buddy Bregman, provided to authors by Ed O’Brien; (failed to recognize Liza) int. Ann Barak; (“He was either”) int. Darrien Iacocca.

  375 side effects of medication or drink?: Elavil entry, ed. William Kelly, Drug Handbook, 24th ed., Philadelphia: Springhouse, 2004, 439–, Sinatra with Coplon, 195, Granata, 200. The famous blue eyes now often looked “like marbles,” violinist Tony Posk said. Fighera and violist Ann Barak, who knew Frank was on medication, ascribed variations in Frank’s condition to changes in the dosage (ints. Tony Posk, Ann Barak, Frank Fighera).

  375 Kennamer/“definitely had”: int. Dr. Rex Kennamer. In the late 1990s, brain scans would indicate dementia (Sinatra with Coplon, 259); (“If I were”/“no longer sustain”) GQ, Jun. 1989; (“the spontaneity”) eds. Petkov and Mustazza, 188; (“My guess”) Esquire, Dec. 1987.

  376 what drove FS to go on: (“God, give me”) Sinatra with Coplon, 231, and see int. Tina Sinatra for 60 Minutes, CBS News, Oct. 8, 2000, ints. Tony Oppedisano, Leonora Hornblow.

  376 “A.J. and Amanda”/Michael: Oddly, either because a grandchild born out of wedlock was not enough for him or because his mind was addled, Sinatra spoke as late as 1988—the year after Michael’s birth—as though he had no grandson. (Michael’s birth—Sinatra, Legend, 304; talk publicly 1988—Larry King int. of FS, May 19, 1998 (rerun).

  376 anxiety not outlandish: Information from source close to FS advisers.

  376–77 decline: (Tina re acrimonious exchanges) Sinatra with Coplon, 197–; (Agreement to Rescind) ibid., 198–; (new will) ibid., 291; (As Tina saw it) int. Tina Sinatra for 60 Minutes, CBS News, Oct. 8, 2000; (“ridicule Dad”) Sinatra with Coplon, 194; (“openly dismissive”) ibid., 218; (“cruel”/“mistake”) (London) Daily Telegraph, Mar. 27, 2005. (phoned ex-wife Nancy) ibid., 177; (“the greatest”) int. Sonny King; (“the best thing”) int. Armand Deutsch; (“wonderful”) int. Rex Kennamer and see int. Abbe Lane.

  377–78 reading papers: For news, Sinatra read the New York Times and the New York Daily News. He had an aversion to the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal (int. Tony Oppedisano); (trains/“all the trains”/“an engineer’s hat”) People, Dec. 17, 1990, Sinatra’s Diamond Jubilee World Tour program, USA Weekend, Dec. 18, 1988; (“He asked”) int. Ann Barak; (“the strongest drug”) Newsweek, Mar. 21, 1994; (“It gives me”) New York Daily News, Jan. 23, 1978; (“a dribbling madman”) Frank Sinatra Jr. on Showbiz Today, CNN, Jul. 13, 1989, videotape in authors’ collection; (“his life force”) Tina Sinatra int. for Larry King Live, CNN, Nov. 5, 1992; (“reduce the strain”) LAT, Sep. 16, 1990.

  378 Rizzo killed: LAT, May 7, 1992, int. Tony Oppedisano, Sinatra with Coplon, 223.

  378 performing 1992: (concert tour) Where or When; (helped on stage) Freedland, 409; (MacLaine toured/“a ring ding . . .”) MacLaine, Lucky Stars, 97–, int. Shirley MacLaine; (Clinton/“He and I”) int. Tony Oppedisano.

  378–79 Duets: (Ramone urging/Streisand et al./fiber optic system/Olivier/“I’m singing”) Vanity Fair, Dec. 1993, NYT, Oct. 7, 1993, Granata, xi, 203–. Ramone said he first mentioned the duets concept to Sinatra’s people in 1992, and Sinatra became involved the following year (Granata, 204); (“Tramp”/tears) Pignone, 77–, conv. Henry Cattaneo; (“like Andy Warhol”) GQ, Mar. 1994; (number two/two million) int. Gordon Murray, Billboard, and figures supplied by Recording Industry Association of America, www.riaa.com—Sinatra believed erroneously that Duets went to number one (Sinatra, Legend, 318); (largest selling) Down Beat, Aug. 1998. Duets II, released a year later, sold more than a million copies (www.riaa.com); (“like a little kid”) Sinatra, Legend, 318.

  379–80 wonderful moments/confront reality: (danced in aisles) eds. Petkov and Mustazza, 193; (Queen of Sweden) int. of Bobby Lamb, RTE (Ireland) radio, Sep./Oct. 2002; (“What the hell?”) eds. Petkov and Mustazza, 191; (oxygen) Sinatra with Coplon, 229; (FS “is old”) GQ, Jan. 1994; (FS shuffled) Sinatra with Coplon, 239, Dec. 27–30, 1993 entries, Where or When?; (“He well remembers”) eds. Petkov and Mustazza, 179–.

  380–81 performing in 1994: (handkerchief/“Legend”/toupee/FS responded) 36th Annual Grammy Awards, CBS-TV, Mar. 1, 1994, videotape in authors’ collection; (“a man heavier”) Philadelphia Inquirer, May 17, 1998; (FS vanished/cut off) ed. Mustazza, 66, New York Daily News, Mar. 3, 1994, Sinatra with Coplon, 240; (collapsed) Newsweek, Mar. 21, 1994, (London) Observer, May 17, 1998; (“right through”) int. Tony Oppedisano; (flew to California) LAT, Variety, Mar. 7, People, Mar. 21, 1994, Zehme, 234–; (“You write”) Time, Mar. 21, 1994; (Radio City/“This may be”) Variety, Apr. 25, 1994; (Tokyo) Frank Sinatra in Japan, Dec. 19–20, 1994, videotape of Japanese TV broadcast in authors’ collection—the two appearances appear to have been edited together for the broadcast; (musicians found painful) ints. Ann Barak, Frank Fighera; (“Even before”) Natalie Cole with Digby Diehl, Angel on My Shoulder, New York: Warner, 2000, 289; (Palm Springs resort/golf tournament) Feb. 25, 1995, entry, Where or When?; Architectural Digest, Dec. 1998; (performed well) int. Tony Oppedisano.

  381–82 eightieth birthday: (gestures/Empire State/Fifth Avenue) Commonweal, Dec. 15, 1995, Philadelphia Daily News, May 18, 1998; (TV special/“Patron Saint”) Variety, undat., Dec. 1995; (Dylan song/trouble understanding) LAT, Nov. 21, 1995, corr. Ric Ross; (“New York, New York”) int. George Schlatter, Variety, undat., Dec. 1995; (“cent’ anni”) Voices in Italian-Americana, vol. 10, Fall 1992, e.g., Apr. 16, 1977, entry, Where or When? Anecdotal evidence suggests that cent’anni is a contraction of a cento anni, an old toast usually made at birthday parties (research by Livia Borghese, int. Ann Barak).

  Chapter 36: Exit

  383 “You gotta love”: int. Tony Oppedisano.

  383 friends’ deaths: (choked up) undat. article by Robert Wolinsky, www.nj.com; (“gone to the mountains”) ibid.; (Martin “brother”) Taraborrelli, 504; (“There was”) int. Tony Oppedisano; (did not attend) int. Mort Viner.

  383 Sands closure/“Frank took”: “La Rue’s Sands,” www.lvstriphistory.com.

  383–84 FS house move: (Fabergé/artists) LAT, Jul. 28, 1991, catalogue for Christie’s sale of Sinatra collection, Dec. 1, 1995.

  384 Fifth Avenue in snow: ibid., 51, and see “My Li
fe with Frank Sinatra,” article draft by Marva Peterson, Jul. 21, 1947, MHL. The Christie’s catalogue listed a painting entitled Fifth Avenue in the Snow, by Wiggins. In a 1947 magazine interview, Nancy Sinatra mentioned “special days like the time Frank brought me the painting of Fifth Avenue, N.Y., in a snow storm and had it hanging over the fireplace Christmas morning.”

  384–85 gifts etc. in auction: Christie’s catalogue, 16, 14, 18, 93, 108, 91, 111, 91; (he could play) int. Tony Oppedisano, Frank, 77; (caboose) Architectural Digest, Dec. 1998; (Christie’s/$5 million) Christie’s catalogue, Newsweek, Dec. 11, 1995; (house sold/$2 million) Architectural Digest, Dec. 1998, LAT, May 7, 1995; (“everybody”) Sinatra, Legend, 322; (devastated) Architectural Digest, Dec. 1998; (“grieving”/allowed stay on/twenty-six staff) Sinatra with Coplon, 243–, int. Tony Oppedisano, Architectural Digest, Dec. 1998; (Beverly Hills spread) (Newark, NJ) Sunday Star-Ledger, Mar. 22, 1998; (Malibu/ neighbors) int. Shirley MacLaine, LAT, Sep. 2, 1990; (sterile/“They must be doing”/ocean reminded) Sinatra with Coplon, 245, int. Tony Oppedisano; (“When are we?”) Sinatra with Coplon, 244; (“Where am I?”) Time, May 25, 1998.

  385 renew vows/daughters not attend: Such was the tension in the family that Tina did not see or even speak with her father for almost a year (Sinatra with Coplon, 251–).

  385 Final months: (“pinched nerve”/heart attack/pneumonia, etc.) LAT, Nov. 2, 3, (Long Beach, CA) Press-Telegram, Nov. 3, New York Post, Nov. 10, 1996, Sinatra with Coplon, 253–; (scans/psychiatrist/nurse) ibid., 257–, 266, int. Dr. Rex Kennamer; (“He didn’t know”) int. George Jacobs; (Gold Medal) ( Long Beach, CA) Press-Telegram, Apr. 30, People, May 19, 1997, www.congressional goldmedal.com; (“wind up”) Sinatra with Coplon, 215; (sauce/ties) LAT, May 24, 1990, Apr. 15, 1995.

  385 “Sinatra’s wife”: Wall Street Journal, Sep. 26, 1997. In 1999, less than a year after her father’s death, Tina Sinatra would announce plans to market: a candle with her father’s favorite fragrance, lapel pins, a miniature of a typical Sinatra hat, and a music stand with a hat dangling from a microphone boom. In 2001 she would attend a ceremony in Las Vegas to introduce a Frank Sinatra slot machine. Explaining these plans, Tina said the items would be sold to raise money for the Frank Sinatra Foundation, of which she was president. The project, she said, would “keep the flame alive” and raise money, in particular, for “youth education” (1999 plans—Variety, Apr. 22, 1999; 2001—Las Vegas Review-Journal, Dec. 7, 2001).

  385–87 Best moments: (Stern) USA Today, Dec. 15, 1997; (Clinton/Lewinsky/ “Obviously”) int. Tony Oppedisano, Giuliano audiotape; (“I sat”/Old friends/“I went”) People, Jun. 1, 1998, and int. Sonny King; (“Barbara had gone”) int. Tony Oppedisano; (until millennium) Sinatra with Coplon, 278, Bill Boggs int.; (“This is not”) int. Tony Oppedisano; (Catholic faith) Ladies’ Home Journal, Oct. 1979, LAT, Apr. 29, 1980, int. Tony Oppedisano; (“We had a talk”) int. Shirley MacLaine; (previous life) int. Tony Oppedisano; (“get my mother”) Sinatra with Coplon, 276.

  387 Churchill “closed”: LAHE, Apr. 29, 1980. Sir Winston, moreover, died on January 25, 1965, not at ninety-one but at ninety, following a series of strokes. Lord Moran, his physician, recalled that he had appeared not to recognize anyone, or to move, for some two weeks (Lord Moran, edited diaries, Winston Churchill: The Struggle for Survival 1940–1965, London: Constable, 1966, 788).

  387 death: (Barbara out dining) int. Abbe Lane; (complained) cbsnews.com, May 16, 1998; (sat up and screamed) Sinatra with Coplon, 285; (paramedics) Philadelphia Inquirer, May 17, 1998; (“still very much”) int. Tony Oppedisano; (“very tired”) cbsnews.com, May 16, 1998; (“Fight”) Philadelphia Daily News, May 18, 1998, citing Jerry Vale; (“I’m losing it”) Las Vegas Review-Journal, AP, May 20, 1998, Esquire, Jan. 1999.

  387 “beyond talking”: int. Dr. Rex Kennamer. The Sinatra death certificate gives the cause of death as “cardiorespiratory arrest” due to “acute myocardial infarction” and “coronary atherosclerosis.” The authors have reported Sinatra’s dying moments on the basis of what seem to be the most reliable accounts. They discounted a version attributed in press reports to a man named Artie Funair. Funair, who said he had been a friend of Sinatra’s, was reported in 1998 as saying that he learned Sinatra’s last words had been, “Oh dear Lord, oh mother” (death certificate—County of Los Angeles, Department of Health Services, Certificate of Death no. 090097308; most reliable sources—cbsnews.com, May 16, 1998, reporting family statement, Variety, May 19, 1998, int. Tony Oppedisano, Sinatra with Coplon, 285, Sinatra, Legend, 323, int. Tony Oppedisano, Jerry Vale quoted in Philadelphia Daily News, May 18, 1998; Funair—ibid. and attempt to int. Artie Funair); (daughters arrived) Sinatra with Coplon, 281.

  387–88 reaction to death: (editors) NYT, Philadelphia Daily News, May 18, 1998; (broadcasters) Philadelphia Inquirer, May 17, 1998; (Empire State) Variety, May 18, 1998; (Capitol tower) Philadelphia Inquirer, May 17, 1998; (Vegas lights) corr. Ed Walters, by permission, Esquire, Jan. 1999; (Cal-Neva) Granta:76, Winter 2002; (Hoboken mass) (Newark, NJ) Star-Ledger, May 19, People, Jun. 1, 1998, int. Rev. Michael Guglielmelli.

  388 vigil and funeral: (Miller played) New Yorker, Jun. 1, 1998, Sinatra with Coplon, 294; (those at mass) Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 20, NYT, LAT, Variety, May 21, 1998, Villa; (ex-wife Nancy/Mia Farrow) Variety, May 21, 1998; (gardenias)LAT, May 21, 1998, int. Peggy Connelly; (five hundred people/photographers/plane) NYT, LAT, May 21, New Yorker, Jun. 1, 1998.

  389 burial: (ceremony/flag) Sinatra with Coplon, 298–, 292; (others buried/epitaph)authors’ visit to cemetery, “Interments of Interest” fact sheet by Kathleen Jurasky, Palm Springs Cemetery District, Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 20, 1998; (“Babe, it’s gonna”) Sinatra in Japan, Dec. 19–20, 1994, videotape of broadcast for Japanese TV in authors’ collection.

  389 “because I’m not proud”: int. Marilyn Beck, Marilyn Beck, Marilyn Beck’s Hollywood,New York: Hawthorn, 1973, 124, New Yorker, Nov. 3, 1997, (“Westside,” Los Angeles ) Rave, May 22, 1998.

  389 “to have succeeded”: int. of FS by William B. Williams, WNEW (NY) radio, Dec. 6, 1983, audiotape in authors’ collection.

  389 “Whatever else”: Playboy, Feb. 1963.

  Selected Bibliography

  This list includes some three hundred books that are cited in the Notes and Sources. It does not include the many other books used for general reference and background only. Nor does it include newspaper and magazine articles or official documents, which are cited in full in the Notes and Sources.

  Adler, Bill. Sinatra: The Man and the Myth. New York: NAL Penguin, 1987.

  Andersen, Christopher. Jack and Jackie. New York: William Morrow, 1996.

  Anslinger, Harry J., and Will Oursler. The Murderers. New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1962.

  Anson, Robert Sam. Exile. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984.

  Bacall, Lauren. Lauren Bacall: By Myself. London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1979.

  ———. Now. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994.

  Bacon, James. Hollywood Is a Four-Letter Town. New York: Avon, 1976.

  Bartok, Eva. Worth Living For. London: Putnam, 1959.

  Barzini, Luigi. From Caesar to the Mafia. New York: Library Press, 1971.

  ———. The Italians. New York: Atheneum, 1964.

  Basten, Fred, and Charles Phoenix. Fabulous Las Vegas in the Fifties. Santa Monica, CA: Angel City Press, 1999.

  Beschloss, Michael R. The Crisis Years: Kennedy and Khruschev, 1960–1963. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.

  Bishop, George. Frank Sinatra: A Photobiography. Houston: Epps-Praxis, 1976.

  Blair, Joan, and Clay Blair. The Search for JFK. New York: Berkley Publishing, 1976.

  Blakey, G. Robert, and Richard N. Billings. The Plot to Kill the President: Organized Crime Assassinated JFK. New York: Times Books, 1981.

  Block, Max, with Ron Kenner. Max the Butcher. Secaucus, NJ: Lyle Stuart, 1982.

  Bonanno, Bill. Bound by Honor: A Mafioso’s Story. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1
999.

  Bosworth, Patricia. Montgomery Clift: A Biography. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978.

  Bradford, Sarah. America’s Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. London: Penguin Books, 2001.

  Bragg, Melvyn. Rich: The Life of Richard Burton. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1988.

  Branch, Taylor. Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954–63. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988.

  Brashler, William. The Don. New York: Ballantine, 1977.

  Britt, Stan. Frank Sinatra: A Celebration. New York: Carlton Books, 1995.

  Brownstein, Ronald. The Power and the Glitter: The Hollywood-Washington Connection. New York: Pantheon Books, 1990.

  Brynner, Rock. Yul: The Man Who Would Be King. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989.

  Buhle, Paul, and Dave Wagner. Radical Hollywood: The Untold Story Behind America’s Favorite Movies! New York: New Press, 2002.

  Burleigh, Nina. A Very Private Woman: The Life and Unsolved Murder of Presidential Mistress Mary Meyer. New York: Bantam Books, 1998.

  Cahn, Sammy. I Should Care. New York: Arbor House, 1974.

  Callow, Simon. Orson Welles: The Road to Xanadu. London: Vintage, 1996.

  Campbell, Rodney. The Luciano Project. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1977.

  Cannon, Doris Rollins. Grabtown Girl: Ava Gardner’s North Carolina Childhood and Her Enduring Ties to Home. Asheboro, NC: Down Home Press, 2001.

  Carpozi, George, Jr. Frank Sinatra: Is This Man Mafia? New York: Manor Books, 1979.

  ———. Poison Pen: The Unauthorized Biography of Kitty Kelley. Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade Books, 1991.

  Case, Marianna. Another Side of Blue. Running Springs, CA: Cyberwoman, 1997.

  Caute, David. The Great Fear. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978.

  Cheshire, Maxine. Maxine Cheshire: Reporter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978.