Barbara Sinatra
| Barbara Sinatra | |
|---|---|
| Born | Barbara Blakeley 1926[1][2] Bosworth, Missouri, U.S. |
| Other names | Barbara Marx |
| Occupation | Former Las Vegas showgirl and model |
| Spouse | Frank Sinatra (m. 1976–1998) Zeppo Marx (m. 1959–1973) Robert Harrison Oliver (divorced, 1950s) |
| Children | Robert "Bobby" Marx (né Oliver) |
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Barbara Sinatra (born 1926) was a model and showgirl who became the fourth and final wife of Frank Sinatra (from 1976 until his death in 1998).
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[edit] Early years
Barbara Blakeley was born in Bosworth, Missouri, in 1926 to Charles W. Blakeley and the former Irene Prunty Toppass (died 1993, California); she was raised in Wichita, Kansas.
[edit] Marriages
She first married Robert Harrison Oliver, an executive with the Miss Universe pageant, in the mid- to late-1940s, a marriage which produced a son, Robert "Bobby" Oliver, but ended in divorce. Blakeley became a Las Vegas showgirl in the 1950s, also modeling clothing for Mr. Blackwell, fashion designer. She met Zeppo Marx in Las Vegas, and the two eventually married.[citation needed]
Her son Bobby assumed the family name of his stepfather when Zeppo and Barbara married on September 18, 1959. It had been assumed that Bobby Marx had been legally adopted by Marx. Tina Sinatra has claimed that, according to Robert Harrison Oliver, no such adoption took place. Barbara and Zeppo divorced in 1973. Later, after marrying Frank Sinatra, Barbara would try to get Frank to legally adopt Bobby Marx when Marx was a grown man; Sinatra's children intervened to prevent it.[citation needed] In her book, "Lady Blue Eyes", she disputes this, claiming that Frank offered but Bobby did not want the adoption despite their close relationship.
In the early 1970s she started seeing Frank Sinatra, as a friend at first and later as a lover. The two were married from July 11, 1976 until his death on May 14, 1998. It was Sinatra's fourth and final marriage, and the longest-lasting one, despite Barbara's cool relations with the children from his first marriage. She reportedly converted to Roman Catholicism at Sinatra's request.[citation needed]
[edit] Legacy
Frank and Barbara Sinatra founded the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center in Rancho Mirage, California in 1986. The center is next door to the Betty Ford Center on the campus of the Eisenhower Medical Center. The non-profit facility provides individual and group therapy for young victims of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.[3]
[edit] Miscellaneous
Author of Lady Blue Eyes: My Life With Frank (Crown Archetype), which was released on May 31, 2011.
Melanie Griffith played Barbara in The Night We Called It a Day, a film about Frank Sinatra.
[edit] References
- ^ Born in 1926 as per the 1930 United States census. According to the 1930 United States census, Barbara Blakeley, daughter of Irene and Charles W. Blakeley, was 3 years 9 months old in April 1930, which shows she was born in 1926, but discredits the commonly accepted birthdate of October 16, indicating rather that she was born around July 1926.
- ^ Intelius gives her date of birth as March 10, 1927, although this date of birth is extremely unlikely.
- ^ IMDb profile
[edit] External links
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