Frank Sinatra Biography

Francis Albert Sinatra was born on December 12, 1915, in Hoboken, New Jersey. His father was a firefighter and amateur boxer named Martin Anthony Sinatra, while his mother, Natalie Sinatra, had political aspirations. Over the next eighty years Frank was a singer, actor, director, and producer, who entertained generation after generation all over the world.

Maybe it was due to the fact that his father was an amateur pugilist, but Sinatra wanted to become a sportswriter when he was young. His first job was as an office boy in the Hudson Observer. It was supposed to be his apprenticeship, where he was to pick up the tricks of the trade.

But once he heard the voice of Bing Crosby on radio, he changed his mind and decided that he would become a singer. Along with a few pals, he formed the Hoboken Four. Frank Sinatra was known as Ol' Blue Eyes to his fans. He was one of the first entertainment superstars the world knew. 

His songs have a timeless beauty to them. Sinatra's hit songs include 'Strangers in the Night', 'The Lady is a Tramp', 'New York, New York', and 'Chicago'.' He was the first ever star to have teenage girl fans scream at him in public. The word bobbysoxer was coined around this time.

Frank Sinatra, the actor, refused to be typecast or slotted into any particular category. He acted in serious movies, such as 'The Manchurian Candidate', 'From Here to Eternity', capers such as 'Ocean's Eleven', and outrageous musicals such as 'Guys and Dolls' and 'Pal Joey'. He went on to act in more than fifty films.

Frank Sinatra is a ten-time Grammy award winner, two-time Golden Globe winner, and he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for 'From Here to Eternity'. He also won an honorary Oscar for his work on 'The House I Live In', which was a short film advocating racial equality and secularism.

Apart from these, he also won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, and Cecil B DeMille Award. National achievements included Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Achievement Award, Congressional Gold Medal, and Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Another legacy of Frank Sinatra was the legendary Rat Pack. It comprised his close friends in the entertainment business. The Rat Pack included Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, Milton Berle, and Tony Curtis.

It will be an understatement to say that Sinatra had a busy love life. At various points in time, he was married to Ava Gardner, Mia Farrow, and Barbara Marx. When he married Mia Farrow, he was thirty years older than her. His lovers included Lauren Bacall, Juliet Prowse, and Dorothy Provine.

Sinatra was to be married to Bacall, but he called it off when he realized that the press had heard of their engagement. But it was not only milk and honey for Sinatra. The Frank Sinatra file in the FBI is in excess of two thousand pages. He was plagued with mob affiliations throughout his career.

It is rumored that the character of Johnny Fontane in the book 'Godfather' was inspired by Sinatra. He lost his gambling license in Nevada after he was seen in the company of Sam Giancana. Giancana was at the time accused of ordering the killing of more than two hundred people.

Another Sinatra fan was the infamous Lucky Luciano. Frank Sinatra, Jr. was kidnapped in 1963. It was only on the payment of ransom money by his father that he was released. For his part, he always steadfastly denied his alleged mob links throughout his life.

Frank Sinatra's children have all done work that keeps their illustrious father's legacy intact. His daughter Nancy Sinatra was an actress, and she wrote two books about Frank. His son, Frank Sinatra Jr, was the conductor in his father's orchestra. His youngest daughter, Christina Sinatra, produced a mini-series on the life of her father.

Though Sinatra announced his retirement in 1971, there was no way that his fans would let him stop. He appeared in numerous television serials and movies throughout the 1980s. In 1993 and 1994, he released two albums called Duets I and Duets II, which comprised his songs with other artists over the years.

These turned out to be his highest ever selling albums. He even went on to the win the Grammy for Duets II. Frank Sinatra died on May 14, 1998.