Ava Gardner, the centennial Venus

My name is Ava Lavinia Gardner and I was born on Christmas Eve 1922 in Grabtown, North Carolina. Not in Brogden, nor in Smithfield, as many books say, but in Grabtown, a boring little town just called town. And worse, I should have been born under the sign of Capricorn. Many times I thought mine was the worst of all the signs of the zodiac. (…) Look, I have to spend my entire childhood celebrating my birthday and Christmas almost simultaneously! This meant that I usually only got one gift, rather than two gifts that I was absolutely convinced I deserved. And things went from bad to worse. I learned that there was another person named Jesus Christ, whose birthday many people tend to confuse with my birthday. I’m outraged. It took me a long time to forgive God.” This is how Ava Gardner begins her autobiography, Ava, with her own voice (Grijalbo, 1991).