FLAMINI, ROLAND — Ava

UK, Robert Hale. 1984. Hardcover with dust jacket, 23cm. Book, 269pp, centre photo section, more than 500g to post, small (smaller than a 1 cent piece) piece AWOL from dj rear. Here's a taster >>> In N.Y. for a visit, North Carolina girl Ava had her picture taken by an admiring friend; the photo caught the eye of an MGM talent scout; a screen-test followed. So, despite her lack of experience or talent, Ava's "stunning beauty" won her a Hollywood-starlet contract, though for years her fame came from off-screen activities: brief marriage to ardent, insecure Mickey Rooney; an oppressive affair with Howard Hughes; living-in-sin (then marriage) with Artie Shaw, who tried to do a Pygmalion job on unlettered Ava. Then, after her career took off (from The Killers to One Touch of Venus, etc.), Ava stepped up her drinking ("you name it, she guzzled it") and her love-life--reaching her high point when alternating between a series of Spanish matadors and hard-won husband Frank Sinatra. Very Good/Very Good.