Exclusive: A documentary about the relationships between Frank Sinatra, JFK and the mafia has been snapped up by Channel 4.
The UK commercial broadcaster has pre-bought Sinatra, Kennedy and the Mob from Leaving Neverland seller Abacus Media Rights’, with more sales understood to be in the offing.
Produced by Peninsula Television in Ireland, the doc focuses on the man that the beloved singer really wanted to be friends with, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, whose brother-in-law was Sinatra’s friend, the actor Peter Lawford.
Both Sinatra and Kennedy had developed dubious relationships with the mafia and were hiding some dangerous secrets. The two had benefited from their contacts with organized crime figures – the mob had promoted Sinatra’s career and had also helped the Kennedys buy votes to win elections. Sinatra basked in Kennedy’s glory and used his associations with the glamorous president to promote himself in the...
The UK commercial broadcaster has pre-bought Sinatra, Kennedy and the Mob from Leaving Neverland seller Abacus Media Rights’, with more sales understood to be in the offing.
Produced by Peninsula Television in Ireland, the doc focuses on the man that the beloved singer really wanted to be friends with, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, whose brother-in-law was Sinatra’s friend, the actor Peter Lawford.
Both Sinatra and Kennedy had developed dubious relationships with the mafia and were hiding some dangerous secrets. The two had benefited from their contacts with organized crime figures – the mob had promoted Sinatra’s career and had also helped the Kennedys buy votes to win elections. Sinatra basked in Kennedy’s glory and used his associations with the glamorous president to promote himself in the...
- 8/31/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
I found myself having dinner with Frank Sinatra this week; at least it seemed that way. I was in Palm Springs where a dozen restaurants and clubs claim that Sinatra was once a “regular.” Photos of their idol adorn the walls, all showing Sinatra smiling, even though I never remembered a Sinatra smile during our real-life encounters.
The Sinatra mythology intrigues me because movie stars seem all but invisible these days. They’re absent from their once-favorite Hollywood haunts or even from magazine covers or late-night television. Or from movies, until perhaps next fall when big-budget movies are unveiled.
By contrast, Sinatra’s claim to a certain immortality was reinforced this week with publication of Sinatra and Me, a book augmenting the formidable library of Sinatra books (30 by my count). Its author, Tony Oppedisano, claims to have been a Sinatra intimate, thus joining a list of intimate writers that includes three wives,...
The Sinatra mythology intrigues me because movie stars seem all but invisible these days. They’re absent from their once-favorite Hollywood haunts or even from magazine covers or late-night television. Or from movies, until perhaps next fall when big-budget movies are unveiled.
By contrast, Sinatra’s claim to a certain immortality was reinforced this week with publication of Sinatra and Me, a book augmenting the formidable library of Sinatra books (30 by my count). Its author, Tony Oppedisano, claims to have been a Sinatra intimate, thus joining a list of intimate writers that includes three wives,...
- 6/24/2021
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
So, How Was Your Decade is a series in which the decade’s most innovative musicians answer our questionnaire about the music, culture, and memorable moments that shaped their decade. Check out all the artists who participated in the series.
Richard Marx began the 2010s with a major milestone: A song he co-wrote with Keith Urban, “Long Hot Summer,” reached Number One on the country music charts, meaning the acclaimed singer-songwriter had notched a chart-topper in each of the past four decades. The song would presage another busy period for Marx,...
Richard Marx began the 2010s with a major milestone: A song he co-wrote with Keith Urban, “Long Hot Summer,” reached Number One on the country music charts, meaning the acclaimed singer-songwriter had notched a chart-topper in each of the past four decades. The song would presage another busy period for Marx,...
- 12/31/2019
- by Rolling Stone
- Rollingstone.com
"Farley Granger, best known for the Alfred Hitchcock thrillers Rope (1948) and Strangers on a Train (1951), and for Luchino Visconti's period romantic drama Senso (1954), has died," reports Andre Soares at the Alt Film Guide. "Granger's big break came when the independent producer [Samuel Goldwyn] cast him in Nicholas Ray's film noir They Live by Night (1949), in which the 24-year-old played a rebellious young man opposite minor leading lady Cathy O'Donnell."
Duane Byrge in the Hollywood Reporter: "In 2007, Granger published a memoir, Include Me Out, in which he told of being bisexual, documenting affairs with Shelley Winters, Ava Gardner and Patricia Neal as well as playwright Arthur Laurents and a two-night fling with Leonard Bernstein. Since the 1960s, he lived with his longtime partner Robert Calhoun, a soap opera producer, who died three years ago."
Bilge Ebiri has "been reading James Kaplan's pretty great biography Sinatra: The Voice, and there is,...
Duane Byrge in the Hollywood Reporter: "In 2007, Granger published a memoir, Include Me Out, in which he told of being bisexual, documenting affairs with Shelley Winters, Ava Gardner and Patricia Neal as well as playwright Arthur Laurents and a two-night fling with Leonard Bernstein. Since the 1960s, he lived with his longtime partner Robert Calhoun, a soap opera producer, who died three years ago."
Bilge Ebiri has "been reading James Kaplan's pretty great biography Sinatra: The Voice, and there is,...
- 3/29/2011
- MUBI
Looking for a perfect book to give? From David Baldacci's new thriller to a history of the Atlantic, Janice Kaplan picks 10 perfect books that any reader would want to receive. Watch Janice Kaplan on Good Morning America discussing her choices.
Some books are the literary equivalent of fine Champagne-delicious, much-desired, and appropriate for practically everyone. The choices on this list make great gifts, no matter what the recipient's interests. They'll broaden horizons, bring a smile-and last longer than that bottle of Cristal.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Reindogs: Holiday Dogs in Costume!
Frank: The VoiceBy James Kaplan
Even those who've never downloaded a Sinatra song will be enthralled by this story of the smooth singer in the early years of his career. Sinatra seems more like the hero of a novel than a real-life star, but stories about his romances with stars from Lana Turner to Ava Gardner will keep fans humming along.
Some books are the literary equivalent of fine Champagne-delicious, much-desired, and appropriate for practically everyone. The choices on this list make great gifts, no matter what the recipient's interests. They'll broaden horizons, bring a smile-and last longer than that bottle of Cristal.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Reindogs: Holiday Dogs in Costume!
Frank: The VoiceBy James Kaplan
Even those who've never downloaded a Sinatra song will be enthralled by this story of the smooth singer in the early years of his career. Sinatra seems more like the hero of a novel than a real-life star, but stories about his romances with stars from Lana Turner to Ava Gardner will keep fans humming along.
- 12/20/2010
- by Janice Kaplan
- The Daily Beast
Paramount Pictures CEO Brad Grey has purchased the former Holmby Hills home of Frank Sinatra for $18.5 million, according to real estate industry sources.
The deal for the seven-bedroom residence at 320 N. Carolwood Drive closed in mid-November. It is one of the larger Los Angeles home sales of the year.
The house, situated on 2.3-acres, is located in a prestigious Los Angeles neighborhood that’s long been home to Hollywood luminaries. Neighbors include Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, philanthropist Suzanne Saperstein, and television producer Bradley Bell, son of The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful creator William Bell.
The property was listed Sept. 8; the identity of the seller is unknown. A spokesman for Grey declined to comment.
According to sources, Grey is a longtime fan of the late singer and spoke with Sinatra’s family, who had not owned the property for years, before buying the house.
The deal for the seven-bedroom residence at 320 N. Carolwood Drive closed in mid-November. It is one of the larger Los Angeles home sales of the year.
The house, situated on 2.3-acres, is located in a prestigious Los Angeles neighborhood that’s long been home to Hollywood luminaries. Neighbors include Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, philanthropist Suzanne Saperstein, and television producer Bradley Bell, son of The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful creator William Bell.
The property was listed Sept. 8; the identity of the seller is unknown. A spokesman for Grey declined to comment.
According to sources, Grey is a longtime fan of the late singer and spoke with Sinatra’s family, who had not owned the property for years, before buying the house.
- 12/2/2010
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sinatra was in a slump when he met the beautiful Ava Gardner at a party. Soon they were driving through the night guns blazing, says James Kaplan in an excerpt from his new biography, Frank.
In January 1949, MGM celebrated its Silver Jubilee by gathering 57 of its biggest stars, including Lassie, for a historic group photograph. There they sat (except for Lassie, who stood in front), in chairs arranged on bleachers on a soundstage, row on row of them, Tracy and Hepburn and Gable and Astaire and Garland and Durante and Errol Flynn, living proof that the great studio had, if not quite more stars than in the heavens, then at least more than anyone else. Wearing an unflattering light-gray suit and looking oddly pallid (and distinctly balding), Sinatra sat at the far right in the second-to-last row, in between Ginger Rogers and Red Skelton (who had broken everyone up when he walked in,...
In January 1949, MGM celebrated its Silver Jubilee by gathering 57 of its biggest stars, including Lassie, for a historic group photograph. There they sat (except for Lassie, who stood in front), in chairs arranged on bleachers on a soundstage, row on row of them, Tracy and Hepburn and Gable and Astaire and Garland and Durante and Errol Flynn, living proof that the great studio had, if not quite more stars than in the heavens, then at least more than anyone else. Wearing an unflattering light-gray suit and looking oddly pallid (and distinctly balding), Sinatra sat at the far right in the second-to-last row, in between Ginger Rogers and Red Skelton (who had broken everyone up when he walked in,...
- 11/13/2010
- by James Kaplan
- The Daily Beast
Frank Sinatra attempted to cover up the fact he was well hung - because he thought the size of his manhood was one of many negatives about his body, according to the late star's new biographer James Kaplan. The journalist spent five years researching his acclaimed new tome, "Frank - The Voice", and reveals Sinatra wasn't like most men, who reveled in the fact he had a big penis.
Recalling a quote from Sinatra's lover Ava Gardner, in which she stated the singer was "only 110 pounds, but 10 pounds of it is c**k!", Kaplan insists Sinatra wasn't proud of his manhood. The writer tells WENN, "I think we can take it as fact that Frank Sinatra was very well-endowed."
"George Jacobs, Sinatra's valet in latter years wrote a wonderful book, called 'Mr. S', and he speaks in the book about the size of Sinatra's manhood and actually having special underwear...
Recalling a quote from Sinatra's lover Ava Gardner, in which she stated the singer was "only 110 pounds, but 10 pounds of it is c**k!", Kaplan insists Sinatra wasn't proud of his manhood. The writer tells WENN, "I think we can take it as fact that Frank Sinatra was very well-endowed."
"George Jacobs, Sinatra's valet in latter years wrote a wonderful book, called 'Mr. S', and he speaks in the book about the size of Sinatra's manhood and actually having special underwear...
- 11/9/2010
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
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