Frank Sinatra

Who Was Frank Sinatra?

Frank Sinatra, an iconic singer and actor, rose to prominence with his captivating performances of big band music. In the 1940s and 1950s, he garnered immense acclaim, producing a remarkable array of hit songs and albums. Sinatra’s film career flourished as well, culminating in an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in From Here to Eternity. His legacy includes a vast catalog of timeless classics such as “Love and Marriage,” “Strangers in the Night,” “My Way,” and “New York, New York.” Sinatra passed away on May 14, 1998, in Los Angeles, California.

Early Life and Career

Born Francis Albert Sinatra on December 12, 1915, in Hoboken, New Jersey, he was the only child of Sicilian immigrants. Inspired by a Bing Crosby performance in the mid-1930s, Sinatra aspired to become a singer. He had already participated in his high school glee club and began showcasing his talent at local nightclubs. His growing exposure on the radio caught the attention of bandleader Harry James, with whom he recorded his first tracks, including the notable “All or Nothing at All.” In 1940, Sinatra joined Tommy Dorsey’s band, where he enjoyed two years of chart-topping success before embarking on a solo career.

Solo Artist

Between 1943 and 1946, Frank Sinatra’s solo career flourished as he released a series of hit singles. His smooth baritone voice captivated a generation of fans, affectionately known as “bobby-soxers,” earning him the monikers “The Voice” and “The Sultan of Swoon.”

Reflecting on the era, Sinatra noted, “It was the war years, and there was a great loneliness. I was the boy in every corner drugstore who’d gone off, drafted to the war. That was all.” Despite being unfit for military service due to a punctured eardrum, Sinatra made his film debut in 1943 with Reveille With Beverly and Higher and Higher. In 1945, he received a special Academy Award for his short film The House I Live In, which aimed to promote racial and religious tolerance during a challenging time.

However, Sinatra’s popularity began to wane in the postwar years, resulting in the loss of recording and film contracts by the early 1950s. Yet, in 1953, he achieved a remarkable resurgence, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Italian American soldier Maggio in From Here to Eternity. This marked Sinatra’s first non-singing role, but he soon found a new creative outlet when he signed a recording contract with Capitol Records that same year. The Sinatra of the 1950s showcased a more sophisticated sound, incorporating jazz influences into his music.

With his stardom firmly reestablished, Sinatra enjoyed ongoing success in both film and music. He received another Academy Award nomination for his performance in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) and garnered critical acclaim for his role in the original version of The Manchurian Candidate (1962). Throughout this period, he remained a dominant presence on the charts. As record sales began to decline by the end of the 1950s, Sinatra left Capitol to found his own label, Reprise Records. In partnership with Warner Bros., which later acquired Reprise, he also established an independent film production company, Artanis, further cementing his legacy in the entertainment industry.

Rat Pack and No. 1 Tunes

By the mid-1960s, Frank Sinatra had reclaimed his position at the forefront of the music industry. He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and headlined the prestigious 1965 Newport Jazz Festival, performing alongside Count Basie’s Orchestra. This era also marked Sinatra’s debut in Las Vegas, where he became the main attraction at Caesars Palace for many years. As a founding member of the “Rat Pack,” which included notable figures such as Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop, Sinatra embodied the archetype of the hard-drinking, womanizing, gambling lifestyle—an image continually reinforced by the media and his own recordings. His modern edge and timeless sophistication garnered respect even from the era’s radical youth; as Jim Morrison of the Doors famously stated, “No one can touch him.”

During their peak, the Rat Pack starred in several films, including the iconic Ocean’s Eleven (1960), Sergeants Three (1962), Four for Texas (1963), and Robin and the Seven Hoods (1964). In the music realm, Sinatra achieved a significant milestone in 1966 with the Billboard No. 1 hit “Strangers in the Night,” which earned a Grammy for Record of the Year. Additionally, he collaborated with his daughter Nancy on the duet “Something Stupid,” which also reached No. 1, dominating the charts for four weeks in spring 1967. By the end of the decade, Sinatra had further solidified his legacy with the signature song “My Way,” adapted from a French melody with new lyrics by Paul Anka.

After a brief retirement in the early 1970s, Sinatra made a triumphant return with the album Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back (1973) and became increasingly involved in political matters. He had first visited the White House in 1944 while campaigning for Franklin D. Roosevelt’s bid for a fourth term and actively supported John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign in 1960, even overseeing JFK’s inaugural gala. However, their relationship soured when the president canceled a planned visit to Sinatra’s home due to the singer’s ties to Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana. By the 1970s, Sinatra had shifted his political allegiance from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, supporting Richard Nixon and later his close friend Ronald Reagan. In 1985, Reagan honored Sinatra with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.

Personal Life

Frank Sinatra married his childhood sweetheart, Nancy Barbato, in 1939. Together, they had three children: Nancy (born 1940), Frank Sinatra Jr. (born 1944), and Tina (born 1948). However, their marriage began to unravel in the late 1940s.

In 1951, Sinatra wed actress Ava Gardner, but their union was short-lived. He married a third time in 1966 to Mia Farrow; this marriage also ended in divorce in 1968. Sinatra’s fourth and final marriage was to Barbara Blakely Marx in 1976, the ex-wife of comedian Zeppo Marx. They remained together until Sinatra’s death over two decades later.

In October 2013, Farrow made headlines with an interview in Vanity Fair, where she suggested that Sinatra might be the biological father of her son Ronan, her only official biological child with director Woody Allen. She described Sinatra as the great love of her life, stating, “We never really split up.” In light of these comments, Ronan humorously tweeted, “Listen, we’re all possibly Frank Sinatra’s son.”

Death and Legacy

In 1987, author Kitty Kelley published an unauthorized biography of Sinatra, alleging that he had relied on mob connections to advance his career. Despite these claims, Sinatra’s popularity remained largely unaffected. In 1993, at the age of 77, he attracted a new generation of fans with the release of Duets, an album featuring re-recordings of 13 Sinatra standards alongside artists like Barbra Streisand, Bono, Tony Bennett, and Aretha Franklin. While the album was commercially successful, some critics questioned its quality, noting that Sinatra had recorded his vocals prior to his collaborators’ contributions.

Sinatra’s final concert performance took place in 1995 at the Palm Desert Marriott Ballroom in California. He passed away from a heart attack on May 14, 1998, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, at the age of 82, having faced his final curtain call. His enduring appeal, which spanned over 50 years in show business, can be encapsulated in his own words: “When I sing, I believe. I’m honest.” In 2010, James Kaplan published Frank: The Voice, a well-received biography, followed by a sequel in 2015 titled Sinatra: The Chairman, commemorating the centennial year of the musical icon.