His Way_ The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra - Kitty Kelley [138]
Frank’s psychiatrist analyzed his generosity as the need to dominate people as his mother did. “His generosity means that he himself is the ever-bountiful, giving person,” said Dr. Ralph Greenson.
“He was real good to his girls,” said his makeup man, Beans Ponedel. “He gave them all parts in his movies. He did it for Gloria Vanderbilt in Johnny Concho, but she walked out; he did it for Shirley MacLaine (Some Came Running), he did it for Joi Lansing (A Hole in the Head); he did it for Natalie Wood (Kings Go Forth).”
Some people saw Frank’s generosity as a means of making amends for past wrongs. “I remember Frank reaming out his manager, Bobby Burns, in front of everyone one night—screaming and yelling and cursing him up one side and down the other,” said Mitch Miller. “He never apologized because Frank cannot say Tm sorry,’ but the next day Burns found a brand new Cadillac in the driveway from Frank. Is that generosity, or simply extravagant reparation? I don’t know.”
At one movie location, Frank used generosity to make amends for an outburst. “That prop boy I yelled at a few minutes ago—I understand his wife is sick,” he said to Beans Ponedel. “Send her flowers and make sure that we pay all the medical bills.”
Some thought Frank’s generosity stemmed from his need to be respected by people he. respects, like an old Italian padrone, but one old friend dismissed it as nothing more than showing off.
“He’s just like Lucky Luciano—always having to play bigshot,” said the friend. “When Lucky was in prison, he had all the money in the world to buy favors, and no inmate ever had to want for a few dollars as long as word of his need reached Luciano. You can imagine all the fawning and kowtowing that went on over those donations. It’s the same thing with Frank.”
“There are times when Frank behaves despicably,” said former reporter Kendis Rochlen. “He’ll be nasty, rude, inconsiderate, uncooperative, and ungrateful. Then he’ll turn right around and quietly do something generous and considerate for someone without even expecting thanks. … In fact, he seldom makes known some of the nice, generous things he does for people he happens to admire. I guess he’s too busy alienating reporters, hating cops, and sneering his way onto the cover of Time magazine.”
Frank’s spontaneous acts of kindness laid the foundation for his reputation as a generous, giving man and provided his press agents with what they needed at other times to cover his atrocious behavior.
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Frank wanted the role of Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront so that he could return to Hoboken as a conquering hero. The producer, Sam Spiegel, wanted Marlon Brando to play the part. “I wanted Frank to play the priest, but he wanted to play the Marlon Brando role,” said Spiegel.
Smarting over losing the lead to Brando, an actor he despised—Sinatra called Brando “Mumbles” and “the most overrated actor in the world”—Frank sued Sam Spiegel for $500,000, claiming breach of contract. He and Spiegel later settled the lawsuit amicably, without any exchange of money.
In 1954 and 1955 Frank made more movies than any other star in Hollywood. He played a psychopathic assassin in Suddenly; a saloon pianist in Young at Heart; a physician in Notas a Stranger; a theatrical agent in The Tender Trap; the proprietor of “the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York” in Guys and Dolls; and a drug-addicted card dealer, Frankie Machine, in The Man with the Golden Arm, which was his favorite movie and the one that earned him an Oscar nomination for best actor.
“I’m in demand—fortunately, yes,” he said in 1955. “All these wonderful roles came together—Guys and Dolls, The Tender Trap, Golden Arm—and I have got five (Johnny Concho, High Society, The Pride and the Passion, The Joker Is Wild, and Pal Joey) planned ahead, including two for my own company—a pretty even split between straight parts and musicals, but I don’t call it a comeback. I wasn’t away anywhere.”
Frank resented the press for writing