Frank Sinatra Biography

Fast Facts

• Was named the Humanitarian of the Year by the Variety Clubs of America in 1980
• Recorded his first big hit, "All or Nothing at All," with Columbia Records in 1939
• Got his start in 1935 with a local trio called the Three Flashes, with whom he auditioned for "Major Bowes and His Original Amateur Hour" and formed the Hoboken Four
• Quote: "Being an 18-karat manic-depressive and having lived a life of violent emotional contradictions, I have an overacute capacity for sadness as well as elation․ I know what the cat who wrote the song is trying to say․ I've been there - and back․"
• Quote: "Fear is the enemy of logic․ There is no more debilitating, crushing, self-defeating, sickening thing in the world - to an individual or to a nation․"
• Quote: "I think we can make it if we live and let live․ And love one another - I mean really love․ If you don't know the guy on the other side of the world, love him anyway because he's just like you ․․․ It's one world, pal․ We're all neighbors․"
• Widely recognized for his fedora hats, three-piece suits and blue eyes
• Was the inspiration for the creation of the character Johnny Fontaine in "The Godfather․"
• After learning that his son was kidnapped from his hotel room, a kidnapping scene he filmed for "Robin and the 7 Hoods" was taken out of the film
• Was exempt from service in World War II due to a ruptured eardrum