Ava Gardner and Tossa de Mar, Spain
At the beginning of this month my sister and I had a lovely and well-deserved holiday in Spain, the country I've been calling my home since 2017. I live in Barcelona and that's a wonderful place on its own, but Catalunya has so much more to offer than its famous capital and the coast is full of wonderful towns. One of these towns is Tossa de Mar and many claim this to be the most beautiful one on the Costa Brava coast. We wanted to go somewhere nearby for our holiday destination and there were numerous other places we could have chosen but Tossa has something very special to offer to Classic Hollywood fans. It has a historical connection to one of Hollywood's most famous legends, Ava Gardner.
At the start of the 1950s the fisherman's village of Tossa de Mar was still an unknown spot on the Costa Brava until a Hollywood film crew came down to shoot a film. Among the crew was actress Ava Gardner, the year was 1950 and the film was Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, based on the legend of the Flying Dutchman, a ghost ship doomed to sail the oceans forever.
Ava Gardner arrived in Spain on 14 April 1950, on Barajas airport, Madrid. She first stayed at the Ritz Hotel in Madrid and then went to Tossa de Mar to begin the film's shooting. There she stayed in Hotel Áncora until moving to the chalet of entrepeneur Francesc Draper. The press was speculating about her relationship with one of her co-stars, the Spanish actor and bullfighter Mario Cabré, while her fiancé and famous crooner Frank Sinatra was in the process of divorcing his first wife Nancy Barbato. Film critic Cecilia Ager, sent to the Costa Brava by magazine Variety, brought the rumour of the affair into the world. In just a couple of days the filmset of Pandora (Tossa, Platja d’Aro, Girona, S’Agaró) was flooded with journalists and became the focus of attention of the press. The Costa Brava discovered the phenomenon of the paparazzi.
The alleged affair between Ava and Mario was based on photos and poems of Mario written to Ava. Sinatra had been on a break prescribed by his doctor, and upon hearing the rumours he boarded a plane and landed on Barcelona airport on 14 May 1950, accompanied by best friend and songwriter Jimmy van Heusen, while bringing an emerald necklace and various cases of Coca-Cola (I think I read somewhere that he thought he was going to an underdeveloped country, haha).
There was not much happening in Tossa at the time, not being discovered by tourists yet. Having a Hollywood film crew on location was already enough to cover the front pages but the news of a love affair between Ava and Cabré, and on top of that her jealous and famous fiancé rushing to Spain, was more than the gossip journalists could ever have hoped for. Obviously they were having a field day. In the end Sinatra only stayed 4 days at the Costa Brava. Whatever happened between Ava and Frank right after the filming of Pandora, I don't know (but I guess if you research online, you will find the answer) but it's common knowledge that they eventually tied the knot (after Nancy finally granted Sinatra the divorce) and their tumultuous marriage lasted from 1951 till 1957.
While my sister and I were in Tossa, we watched the film Pandora and the Flying Dutchman on my tablet in our hotel room and it was kind of special to go to the beach the next day, the same beach where Ava and her fellow crew members had stood decades ago. Tossa is really a lovely town, and walking its streets you come across Ava's picture more than once. There are shoe shops bearing names like Pandora Shoes and Ava Shoes with photos of Ava on display. The local pastelería J. Tomás sells Los Besos de Ava Gardner, Tossa's traditional sweets (meringues). We tried the small ones and they were too sweet to our taste but it was a lovely venue and a photo of Ava holding a basket of meringues adorns the facade of the shop.
While my sister and I were in Tossa, we watched the film Pandora and the Flying Dutchman on my tablet in our hotel room and it was kind of special to go to the beach the next day, the same beach where Ava and her fellow crew members had stood decades ago. Tossa is really a lovely town, and walking its streets you come across Ava's picture more than once. There are shoe shops bearing names like Pandora Shoes and Ava Shoes with photos of Ava on display. The local pastelería J. Tomás sells Los Besos de Ava Gardner, Tossa's traditional sweets (meringues). We tried the small ones and they were too sweet to our taste but it was a lovely venue and a photo of Ava holding a basket of meringues adorns the facade of the shop.
The most noteworthy of the Pandora and Ava remnants in town is the bronze statue of Ava Gardner, the work of Spanish sculptress Ció Abellí, erected in 1998. It stands proudly in the walled old quarter Vila Vella, looking out over the beautiful Mediterranean. The spot is a tourist attraction and you might have to wait in line to get a picture of the statue. I don't think the statue really resembles Ava's face but it is beautiful and she couldn't have wished for a better location in Tossa.
Making Pandora was Ava's first acquaintance with Spain and Tossa de Mar benefited greatly from the film. Pandora had put the fisherman's village on the map from there on and was the main instigator behind Tossa's booming tourist industry. For Ava Pandora meant something else. It started a love affair with Spain, a country she would make her home for almost a decade, living in Madrid from 1954 until 1963.
I want to finish this post with the following quote from Ava found on a Tumblr blog (no source was mentioned):
"Of all the damn films I made, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman would probably rank as one of the most obscure. Yet almost nothing I've done before or since had as much of an effect on me. In fact, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say making it changed my life forever. Because Pandora got me outside these United States for the first time and introduced me to the two countries, England*) and Spain, where I was to spend much of the rest of my life. One trip abroad, honey, and I almost never looked back."
*) Prior coming to Spain, Ava had gone to London for wardrobe and camera tests and fell in love with the city instantly. (Later she would become even more enthralled with Spain.) Also some interior scenes of Pandora were shot at London Film Studios, Shepperton, England.
PHOTOS IN THIS POST FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:
*Ava Gardner with Jimmy Van Heusen, Doreen Grant (wife of Frank Grant, MGM's representative in Spain), Frank Sinatra and Frank Grant during the shooting of Pandora and the Flying Dutchman in Tossa de Mar;
*Ava Gardner with Doreen Grant, Frank Sinatra and Frank Grant;
*Ava Gardner with Doreen Grant and Frank Sinatra;
*Ava Gardner in Tossa de Mar;
*Ava Gardner on the beach of Tossa de Mar;
*Ava Gardner and Mario Cabré relax on the hotel's patio where Ava is staying in Tossa de Mar;
*Ava Gardner and Mario Cabré during the shooting of Pandora and the Flying Dutchman;
*Ava Gardner and Mario Cabré;
*Frank Sinatra arriving on El Prat airport, Barcelona, 1950;
*Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Van Heusen walking the streets of Tossa de Mar, 1950;
*Window display of shoe shop Ava Shoes in Tossa de Mar; (location photo by me)
*Pastelería J. Tomás selling Los Besos de Ava Gardner; (location photo by me)
*Bronze statue of Ava Gardner, Vila Vella, Tossa de Mar; (location photo by me)
*Ava Gardner, lover of Spain.
*Ava Gardner with Jimmy Van Heusen, Doreen Grant (wife of Frank Grant, MGM's representative in Spain), Frank Sinatra and Frank Grant during the shooting of Pandora and the Flying Dutchman in Tossa de Mar;
*Ava Gardner with Doreen Grant, Frank Sinatra and Frank Grant;
*Ava Gardner with Doreen Grant and Frank Sinatra;
*Ava Gardner in Tossa de Mar;
*Ava Gardner on the beach of Tossa de Mar;
*Ava Gardner and Mario Cabré relax on the hotel's patio where Ava is staying in Tossa de Mar;
*Ava Gardner and Mario Cabré during the shooting of Pandora and the Flying Dutchman;
*Ava Gardner and Mario Cabré;
*Frank Sinatra arriving on El Prat airport, Barcelona, 1950;
*Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Van Heusen walking the streets of Tossa de Mar, 1950;
*Window display of shoe shop Ava Shoes in Tossa de Mar; (location photo by me)
*Pastelería J. Tomás selling Los Besos de Ava Gardner; (location photo by me)
*Bronze statue of Ava Gardner, Vila Vella, Tossa de Mar; (location photo by me)
*Ava Gardner, lover of Spain.