Another relaxing but time-wasting YouTube session led me to these clips from the Fifties movie “Show Boat,” not a favorite of mine at all. Ava Gardner, who played Julie, has quite a few songs to sing, and they were all dubbed by someone named Annette Warren.

You be the judge of who’s better; I know what I think. Here are visuals by Ava and voice by Annette, in a famous torch song from the movie:

And here’s Ava, voice and body together at last:

Ava got the last laugh on the studios, however:

Gardner’s vocals were included on the soundtrack album for the movie, and in an autobiography written not long before her death, Gardner reported she was still receiving royalties from the release.

Ava Gardner was widely thought to be one of the most beautiful Hollywood actresses of her time. She lived large and partied with vigor. She was said to be the love of third husband Frank Sinatra’s life, as he was of hers, although their marriage only lasted six years (a record for her; her other two legal unions only lasted a year each).

And speaking of torch songs, she apparently had a lasting effect on Frank:

Gardner was not only the love of his life but also the inspiration for one of his most personal songs, “I’m a Fool to Want You“, which Sinatra (who received a co-writing credit for the song) recorded twice, toward the end of his contract with Columbia Records and during his years on Capitol Records. (“It was Ava who taught him how to sing a torch song”, Sinatra arranger Nelson Riddle was once quoted as saying.)

Riddle doesn’t seem to have indicated whether said “teaching” was in the heartache Gardner caused Sinatra, or whether there was some vocal coaching involved as well. But the clips show that Ava was no slouch at torch songs herself.