In October 1944, Frank Sinatra inadvertently started a riot at New York’s Paramount Theatre just by showing up on stage. He sang to thousands of teenage fans who rushed into the venue.
Meanwhile, the list of women he supposedly had romances with included Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, and Mia Farrow. But one woman was completely unmoved by Sinatra’s charms: his co-star in the 1952 flop, “Meet Danny Wilson.”
Sinatra played the nightclub singer of the title — not too much of a stretch — who ends up in a love triangle, vying for the affections of another singer, Joy (Shelley Winters), opposite his piano player, Mike (Alex Nicol). Joy ultimately chooses Mike, an ending Winters described scathingly as “very tough for Frank.”
The Oscar-winning Winters was no shrinking violet. Her own list of lovers rivaled Sinatra’s in length and celebrity: It included Errol Flynn, Marlon Brando, Sean Connery, and Burt Lancaster.
It is not surprising that the actors clashed frequently onset due to their similar temperaments. After a long shoot, they got into a fight.
Sinatra called Winters a “bowlegged b***h of a Brooklyn blonde,” and she responded with “Skinny, no-talent stupid Hoboken b***ard” — and punched him. “I thought his make-up man was gonna shoot me … but he got in his limousine and went away,” Winters was able to recall.