Frank Sinatra

Talented man, but also a huge homophobe and an asshole

Overrated. Nat King Cole was way better.

Also threatened to kick Sinead O'Connor's ass since she refused to stand for the pledge of allegiance. What an idiot.

I grew up with Frank Sinatra in my house my entire life at home. My mother and father, uncles, cousins were huge Sinatra fans. When the stereo was on, Frank was blasting away.

He hit me.

Overrated! I never understood his popularity. I like Dean Martin.

Apparently he was hung huge as well according to Ava Gardner

I didn't appreciate him until I was older and had lived a life, so to speak. But once I hit my late 40's I was hooked.

he & Ava remained close as they got older. She used to go visit his mother, and hang out in Jersey with her.

R7. Heard that too. Big intact Italian ring-ding-a-dong.

I can appreciate his musicality, but I have very little respect for him as a person. In fact, none at all.

Overrated trash personal!

Good or bad, there are very few who are as legendary as Sinatra. He was very talented.

I can't believe R4 grew up with Frank Sinatra! I've never even been to one of his concerts!

What's good about Sinatra is that, if you like one of his songs, you like all of his songs.

Mob lackey

Fly Me to the Moon

Strangers in the Night

Summer Wind...great song

Frank Sinatra- I've Got You Under My Skin

Love Nancy Sinatra...one of the coolest chicks ever. She turns 80 in June. Frank died when he was 82.

Oh, Thank You, r17.

"Summer Wind" is my fave Sinatra tune.

I love its mood and atmosphere.

What color are Ronan's eyes for real? Don't two blue eyed people have to produce a blue eyed child? Or no? I want him to be Sinatra's kid though.

I know someone who met him once in Vegas. He said Sinatra tried to pick up his wife while he was standing next to her.

R21, Ronan Farrow is not Frank Sinatra's son. Ronan's parents are Mia Farrow and Woody Allen.

In a 2015 CBS Sunday Morning interview, Sinatra's daughter Nancy dismissed the idea that her father is the biological father of Ronan Farrow, calling it "nonsense", and said her father had a vasectomy years before Ronan's birth.

R22. Frank may have been an entitled womanizer. It's not right, but could be the case is what you said is true.

Sinatra came up when Hollywood and Showbiz was more interesting.

Today, everything sucks.

It's a shame a lot of people just know Sinatra from "Strangers In The Night", "My Way" or "New York, New York". He was sublime in his prime. A fantastic singer, good actor (Von Ryan's Express, Manchurian Candidate, The Detective) and a pretty good dancer (could YOU keep up with Gene Kelly?).

If I had to pick my favorite Frank tunes, it would be tough, but I think it would be "Night and Day", "You and Me (We Wanted It All)" and of course, "The Way You Look Tonight".

I'm not really a fan of anyone living today. I was born in 1988, but love old Hollywood. Everything as far as the Movies and Music and Television, seem to be so much better back then. They had real Stars back then.

There's things I love today too, but I hate social media and influencer culture. It makes me sick. This is why I'm grateful for TCM and some of the classic television channels we have now.

Had a vasectomy in the 1970s. Sorry, Satchel.

My father shared his birthday with Sinatra. So we always knew when Old Blue Eyes was lying about his age ;-)

[quote]They had real Stars back then.

R27. That's because they had a studio system where they cultivated their talent, developed them and looked for projects where they would shine. The performers benefited, the studios benefited . It wasn't perfect, and sometimes the artist may have felt owned, but there was often guaranteed work and a paycheck. It would be like working for a big company, which for the most part doesn't exist any longer. The big company took care of its employees. You learned the business, and their was a sense of security and family to is. But the studio system with its five- and seven-year acting and recording contracts don't exist. So there is no one particular entity to promote the performers and groom them into stars. Now everything is freelance--an actor doesn't have a studio creating a Frank Sinatra any longer. Now it's special effects and blockbuster franchises if you like that sort of thing with no real singing and acting.

I'm with you; it's not my thing at all. Social media doesn't make people stars with years of endurance. It makes them click bait.

Memorie of you.... that big band sound; In the Wee Small Hours; Stardust. In fact, Stardust has gorgeous lyrics thanks to Hoagy Carmichael. I Have Dreamed, from the King & I. Beautiful love song. Sinatra could sing a love song. And he could sing those torch songs like One for My Baby.

What did Sinatra say that was homophobic?

He wasn’t perfect, but I enjoy his music and certain aspects of his personal life and politics I find fascinating. He was a stickler against racism. He would not work at venues that didn’t allow his black colleagues to enter through the front door, or treated them as less than the white entertainers. He also didn’t like Donald Trump and told him to “go fuck yourself”. He nursed Sammy Davis Jr back to health after his near fatal car accident, which claimed his eye. He also rescued Judy Garland from an ass kicking at hotel when the Luft children called his room scared.

^^ He loved Richard Nixon, campaigned for his election in 1968 and re-election in 1972.

And Sinatra wasn’t homophobic. Sammy Davis Jr was known to experiment sexually with men and Frank never stopped being close friends with him.

R35, it seems that Bobby Kennedy turned him into a Republican after having been a lifelong Dem, who was a big backer of his brother's candidacy. And he died the night of the Seinfeld finale. Truly, the end of the 20th century.

Always been a big fan of his music, after reading R34's comments I like him even more

His politics were also somewhat complicated, according to Mia Farrow and others who knew him. He was known to be very conservative on some issues, yet quite liberal on others.

Sinatra was exciting for his time and he epitomized that macho bad ass...again for his time. But if you look at the drug addled beasties we have today, guys who trash hotel suites or beat up their girlfriends or WTF ever, but the guys today don't have his talent. Sinatra was a brand.

He did help a lot of people R34, but I can't get past what he did to Marilyn Monroe. She was despondent, and had a breakdown after the Arthur Miller divorce. She had suffered a miscarriage while she was with Miller and just could not get it together. Giancana and Sinatra were partners in the Cal-Neva Lodge Giancana always wanted to fuck MArilyn Monroe. For years. It was his fantasy, his ambition.

Sinatra and Marilyn were friends. Sinatra invited Marilyn to Cal- Neva to relax and recover after her miscarriage and then her divorce left her distraught. She trusted Frank. But Frank and his Mafia pal got her drunk, they drugged her and they raped her. It was ugly. She was literally a prisoner in her hotel room. She attempted suicide. There are photos of her being wheeled out on a gurney. He was a rotten POS son of a bitch. But his pal Momo Giancana finally fulfilled his fantasy. it was a sordid ugly thing to do.

R40, that's bullshit.

If you really want to understand him and get a feel for that era, you *must* watch the documentary Sinatra: All or Nothing at All. It’s absolutely incredible.

Sinatra was contemptuous of effeminate men, he particularly hated Peter Lawford. He tolerated him because he wanted to get close to the POTUS, and he had a crush on Jackie, but he was abusive to Peter, and made him beg for every favor.. Peter was married to JFK's sister Pat. But when Peter failed to deliver JFK to Sinatra's home after Sinatra built a special guest suite for him, He threw Peter out and never looked back. Peter was the Bi guy, not Sammy.

No R41 it is not bullshit. The incident has been covered in books about Giancana, and Sinatra, and Monroe.

R40 that’s not the story I’ve read. MM went to the CalNeva in a combative mood. According to witnesses she was belligerent and Frank told her to get her shit together because she was embarrassing him and herself. Eventually they took her to her room because she was out of control. She overdosed on her room and was unresponsive. They had to helicopter her back to LA. That was the weekend before her suicide. I doubt slimy Giancana had to rape her. Poor Marilyn was attracted to powerful men. I’m sure she put out for that creep of her own free will.

Cut off my what?

R43 Marilyn didn’t like Peter Lawford either. She wrote about him in her diaries. She said he creeped her out and she thought he was jealous of her. She even accused him of wanting to BE her.

Sammy was indeed bisexual. It was an open secret among his friends.

Some Came Running!

Seeing Ava and Frank together I always thought of Frank as the woman in the relationship I don't know why, but Ava seemed like the man to me. Ava always looked more butch than him... and so did Nancy lol.

R50 Ava was the alpha in that marriage. Frank stuck his head in the oven over Miss Ava.

Keely Smith made him meatball sandwiches, and turned down a marriage proposal. Wise gal.

Sammy, Liza & Frank

Now that entertainment!

Shirley MacLaine looks back on Rat Pack days

Gracie Allen: YOU think you can sing better than George?

Frank: Well I've never heard your husband sing but yes.

Sinatra's nickname for Laurence Harvey, his "Manchurian Candidate" co-star, was "Ladyboy." Ladyboy would frequently make passes at Sinatra's valet George Jacobs, so well aware of this inclination, Sinatra supposedly said of Harvey, "He has the handicaps of being a homo, a Jew, and a Polock, so people should go easy on him."

Sinatra May have been many things, but a homophobe is not one of them. His supposed dislike of femme men is simply not true. Excerpt of a letter he wrote to George Michael..... “Come on, George,” Sinatra wrote in an open letter that has recirculated since Michael’s death on Christmas day. “Loosen up. Swing, man. Dust off those gossamer wings and fly yourself to the moon of your choice and be grateful to carry the baggage we’ve all had to carry since those lean nights of sleeping on buses and helping the driver unload the instruments.” Perhaps he did not know George was gay at that time, but let’s face it, he was anything but butch even before he was out of the closet.

R53 I saw that show when it toured. Originally Dean MArtin was the third person with Sammy and Frank, but he dropped out and Liza replaced him. She was fabulous!

[quote]In fact, Stardust has gorgeous lyrics thanks to Hoagy Carmichael.

In fact, Stardust has gorgeous lyrics thanks to Mitchell Parish.

I heard he has one of those baby apples holding an arm.

R58. I saw the show too. Sammy, Liza and Frank! They were sensational. Liza gave the show so much pizzazz. It was show business at its best. I love them all, but I really wish Frank had never stolen Liza's song "New York, New York." It was written for her, and no one does it better. Frank is great, but he butchers NY, NY.

Yes, Dean Martin was supposed to be the third person in the trio, but he dropped out and gave up performing after his son Dean Paul Martin was killed in the plane crash. He just couldn't go on any longer. Liza stepped in, and blew the roof off the house. She was something else. They don't make 'em like her anymore.

[quote]Talented man, but also a huge homophobe

Are you sure? He was good friends with Laurence Harvey and Frank knew Laurence was gay.

He was ugly.

^^He was not ugly. Please.

R30 was your father born the same date AND year?

And if Frank was lying what year would that have been?

I had no idea he died the same day as the Seinfeld finale — that’s a great piece of trivia.

R65. A little something for you:

May 14, 1998: Frank Sinatra died and "The Finale" of Seinfeld aired:

"The Finale" is the two-part series finale and the final episode of the American sitcom Seinfeld. They are the 179th and 180th episodes of the show and the 23rd and 24th episodes of the ninth season. It aired on NBC May 14, 1998 to an audience of 76 million viewers. Its initial running time was 1 hour and 15 minutes.

He referred to Elizabeth Taylor's fundraising to fight the AIDS disease as one of her "lame-dog causes." When she asked for his support he said he didn't want to be associated with a "fag-disease." Just because he was okay with a few talented gay people doesn't mean he was accepting of all of them. The way he turned on Monty Clift (who helped him tremendously with the role of Maggio in 'From Here to Eternity') for hitting on a guy at one of his parties makes me think he was probably unaware of Sammy, Noel Coward's sexuality and other gay men he had worked and collaborated with. Maybe they weren't as obvious as Clift, but had they been, I doubt he would've been fine with it.

He seems like a lot of racists I know. They know someone personally and they "allow" for that, but in general they hate blacks, or "spics" or Fags. See it all the time. I've know "straight" guys who will let a "fag" blow them, but they hate Gay people.

For Frank and his generation Gay men were objects of ridicule. They affectations , effeminate Gays, etc. Someone who projected masculinity and remained mostly closeted was someone they might tolerate...up to a point. And Sammy Davis, Jr. Had a wife and kids...so he'd get a pass. In Frank's eyes, Sammy would never be anything but 100% straight.

R69 here. To guys like Sinatra, being Gay was freaky. So if you were in the closet, or very very discreet, it proved to them you knew it was wrong and you were careful not to bring it around them. They also believed that being Gay was a choice. Gay people were perverts.

His nickname for Johnny Mathis was the African Queen. Not sure if that’s homophobic racism or affectionate ribbing.

Watch Frank Sinatra in ‘The Detective’. It’s about business man whose gay son is murdered. It is definitely a product of its time, however I find that Sinatra is good in his role and is somehow the only character who isn’t a complete asshole. I’m of the opinion, that like the film, Sinatra was a product of his generation. I don’t believe he was homophobic. Fun fact about this film, it was based on the same series of novels that “Die Hard” came from. Bruce Willis is technically playing the same character that Sinatra played in “The Detective”.

Wonder how he would have treated his rumored son...

R64 I’m very serious. He was very ugly for an Italian man (who are usually good looking before they hit 30).

Showbiz was definitely different back then. Things have certainly gone down hill since.

Frank Sinatra was a scrawny little guy with a dopey grin, which is why he was frequently cast as a counterpoint to handsome, muscular, and equally short Gene Kelly. But Sinatra had sparkling blue eyes that set hearts aflutter, and when he crooned "All Or Nothing At All" in that intimate style that revolutionized popular music, women young and old soiled their panties. He was so popular with the bobbysoxer generation that last year's news Bing Crosby commented, "Frank is a singer who comes along once in a lifetime, but why did he have to come in mine?"

It's Frankie!

R23 Ronan is Frank’s son. I don’t care what his daughter claims. How does she know so much about her dad’s reproductive health? Bullshit. Mia said she and Frank hooked up while she was with Woody. Just look at Ronan!! That is a better looking version of Sinatra. He looks more like him than his legitimate kids do! The deniers are full of crap.

R78, you know that Ronan wears blue contacts & has had lots of cosmetic surgery, don't you?! He looks nothing like Frank. And everything like one of Mia's brothers.

Ronan looks like his grandpa John.

DLers, it simplicity itself to trash a dead legend.

R79 he looks like Frank. I doubt he went to the plastic surgeon and asked to look like Sinatra. It’s his kid. Stop being so naive.

He's the spitting image of Woody Allen.

He's the spitting image of Woody Allen.

R78. Ronan looks like his mother, Mia...and other members of the Farrow family. As for Frank Sinatra's biological kids, Frank Jr was the spitting image of his father. Nancy and Tina are a bit of mix of both their mother and father, but lean much more toward looking like the mother, Nancy Sr. Frank Sinatra is not Ronan's father. As far as Frank Sinatra having a vasectomy and Nancy Sinatra knowing about the operation, yes, it's quite possible. It may be odd to you, but people know lots of unusual medical information about family members.

Nancy Sinatra looks more like Frank than either of the other two.

I think Delon was european Sinatra.

Ronan Farrow would certainly know if Frank Sinatra was his biological father or not. All he would have to do is get a DNA ancestry test. If it came back that his father was of Italian ancestry, that's would certainly be Frank and not Woody.

Nancy and Frank Jr. looked like their Sinatra grandpa, Frank 's father. Tina took after Nancy's side of the family. Nancy Sinatra, Frank's first wife was a pretty girl.

OP is an absolute idiot. He said Frank Sinatra died 22 years ago today, but today is February 3, 2021 and Blue Eyes died on May 14, 1998. Such a dombass!

R90

You resurrected a thread created on *14 May 2020* for God and the world to see you're an idiot.

Didn't like Sinatra growing up very much. He was a character who was famous for being a character who sang on the side. It wasn't until I got older that I was totally floored by his artistry during his Capitol/ Reprise years. He's like the pop Callas but had a better voice. His phrasing and musicality are astounding.

My mother though younger grew up in a similar Italian neighborhood in Hoboken. Older Hobokenites said he was mocked and bullied in high school. A total loser. He never forgot it and loathed the town for the rest of his life. It is also why he went through life with a nasty side and a huge chip on his shoulder(kind of like Callas and Streisand.) My mother always called him a gavone which is dialect for cafone. A real wop jerk. Very low class. My grandmother knew Dolly his mother. She was a midwife and abortionist(Kelley got that right) for the Italian immigrant women of the era in that community. She knew how to deliver a healthy baby and kill one where the impoverished women could not add another child to their family. At that time another child could be a calamity.

I always thought it was skanky of Frank to serve Mia with divorce papers on the set of Rosemary's Baby even if MIA IS BITCH.

Frank knew that people that he very much admired like Noel Coward and Cole Porter were gay. It was not a secret with anyone. But he did say if they had a woman like Ava Gardner in their life they'd be straight. Men like him and my father truly believed a man could not really be attracted to another man. It would like being able to live without oxygen. Not possible.

r94 that was a very common way of thinking for straight people of that era.

Wasn't Ava Gardner surrounded by gay men throughout her life? I assumed she was a fag hag?

I had just moved to LA when Sinatra died. One day I my friend and I decided to drive to the beach from West Hollywood. We decided to take Santa Monica Blvd. BIG MISTAKE! We did not know that it was his funeral that day. There were helicopters everywhere and tons of traffic. I think the church they held the service for him was on Santa Monica Blvd in Beverly Hills. We got stuck for about two hours and then we just ended up driving back home.

Has anyone mentioned that Sinatra hated Lena Horne because he believe she was shtupping his beloved Ava Gardner when they met?