Great Lives

The writer Julie Burchill talks to Matthew Parris about the Hollywood star Ava Gardner. They're joined by Ava's biographer Lee Server. Often described as ‘the most beautiful woman in the world’, Ava Gardner made sixty-five movies, ranging from ‘Mogambo' (for which she won an Oscar nomination) to ‘Maisie Goes To Reno' (for which she didn't). She had three husbands - Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra - and many lovers including Howard Hughes, David Niven, Robert Mitchum and John F. Kennedy as well as numerous playboys, beach-boys and bullfighters. Ava Gardner was, says Matthew Parris, “a hard-drinking, wisecracking, libidinous vamp – a liberated woman before the phrase was invented.”Presented by Matthew Parris.Produced by Peter Everett.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2013.