Ava Lavinia Gardner (Grabtown, December 24, 1922 – London, January 25, 1990) was an American actress. His first important role was in Robert Siodmak's film The Gangsters (1946), where he played alongside newcomer Burt Lancaster. The good performance in this film gave her the opportunity to appear alongside some of the major stars of the time, such as Clark Gable in The Traffickers (1947) by Jack Conway, Fred MacMurray in Singapore (1947) by John Brahm, Robert Taylor in Corruption (1949) by Robert Z. Leonard, Gregory Peck in The Great Sinner (1949) by Robert Siodmak, James Mason in The Sidewalks of New York (1949) by Mervyn LeRoy. In the 1950s she mainly played femme fatale roles, as in the films I Want to Be Yours (1951) by Robert Stevenson, with Robert Mitchum, Pandora (1951) by Albert Lewin again with James Mason, and Show Boat (1951) by George Sidney. In 1953 she moved to Italy, taking over from Rita Hayworth in the role of Maria Vargas in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's film The Barefoot Countess, in which she offered perhaps her best performance, alongside Humphrey Bogart, Rossano Brazzi and Valentina Cortese. The American Film Institute ranked Gardner twenty-fifth among the greatest stars in film history.