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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Saturday 30 September 2017

Legendary singer Connie

Francis auctions life’s treasures

By KELLI KENNEDY ring with diamonds. She’s who’ve had the moments
Associated Press also auctioning several of exhilaration that I have,”
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. letters from her famous she says.
(AP) — Connie Francis’ friends, including Frankie The auction catalog also
decades-long career was Avalon, Dick Clark and includes fur coats and se-
marked by all the glittering Frank Sinatra. quin gowns, including the
things of Hollywood roy- “There was a girl once who purple Halston she wore on
alty. There were No. 1 hit told me she had saved a her comeback show with
songs, iconic movies, Hol- Styrofoam cup with my lip- Dick Clark, plus with several
In this Nov. 27, 1978 file photo, singer Connie Francis poses for lywood boyfriends, glamor- stick on it from 1958 ... so I gold records, including her
a portrait in Los Angeles. ous gowns and TV appear- said to myself I want to give song “Mama.”
Associated Press ances on “American Band- something to my fans while “When Elvis Presley heard
stand” and “The Ed Sullivan I’m still alive, not when I’ve me sing this song in Las Ve-
Show.” Despite it all, she passed,” Francis told The gas in 1958, he became so
considers her personal life Associated Press. emotional that he had to
a bust. Francis gained fame in the leave the show. The next
“For as much success as I 1950s, earning more than day, he sent me two dozen
had professionally, person- $6 million by the end of yellow roses with a note
ally I’m a failure,” said Fran- 1958 after singing “Who’s explaining that he had just
cis. Sorry Now” on “American lost his mother and hearing
When pressed if that’s what Bandstand” earlier that me sing ‘Mama’ was more
she really believes during a year. In 1960, her recording that he could bear,” said
telephone interview, the of “Where the Boys Are” Francis, who now lives in
79-year-old singer says, became the top song in Boca Raton.
“yeah I do. My choice of the United States and 15 Her hit movie “Where the
husbands, my lack of judg- other countries. But her life Boys Are” put Fort Lauder-
ment in choosing the right has also been marred by dale on the map, bringing
husbands ... my impulsive- tragedies, four failed mar- throngs of teenagers to
ness, my not looking before riages, an estranged son, what would become the
I leapt. So many mistakes her brother’s murder and a Spring Break capital of the
that I would have avoid- brutal rape after someone country. Despite the mov-
ed.” broke into the motel where ie’s success, Francis never
Francis is auctioning some she was sleeping following went to the premiere. It
of her favorite trinkets at a performance. was years before she even
Heritage Auctions in Bev- But the consummate en- watched it and even then
erly Hills on Sunday, includ- tertainer says that with the it was only because her son
ing the bomber jacket she exception of her brother’s was curious.
wore performing in Viet- death, she would do it all “I hated my movies,” she
nam, a love letter from again. “I wouldn’t have said, recalling how her fa-
singer Bobby Darin where given up the fame for any- ther told her “you still stink”
he laments he’s “unhappy thing. as an actress even though
& miserable without you” I don’t’ think there are too she had a lucrative deal
and a 13-carat emerald many people on earth with MGM.q

Stanley Tucci to read audio

for Paolo Coelho-inspired story

The audio producer and
seller Audible Inc. told The
Associated Press on Friday
that Tucci will be joined by
Toby Jones for
“The Man On the Moun-
taintop,” vignettes and
words of wisdom that are
a “contemporary equiva-
lent” to Coelho’s million
selling novel.
Tucci has appeared in
In this Feb. 11, 2017 file photo, Stanley Tucci poses for the “The Hunger Games,”
photographers during a photo call for the film ‘Final Portrait’ at ‘’The Devil Wears Prada”
the 2017 Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin, Germany. and numerous other films.
Associated Press He received an Academy
NEW YORK (AP) — Oscar- production inspired in part Award nomination for best
nominated actor Stanley by Paulo Coelho’s “The Al- supporting actor for
Tucci is leading an audio chemist.” “The Lovely Bones.” q