'Frank Sinatra, Miami Beach, 1968'
Signed Terry O'Neill and numbered 13/50. Printed in 2015. A signed certificate from Iconic Images accompanies the work. Platinum palladium print, image 34 x 50 cm.
The Photo Gallery, Halmstad.
Terry O'Neill, 'Terry O'Neill: The A-Z of Fame', 2013, illustrated on spread p. 284-285.
'Frank Sinatra, Miami Beach, 1968' does not depict Sinatra in the company of Mafia friends as one would like to think, but Sinatra on his way to the recording of 'Lady in Cement' with Raquel Welch who was 28 years old at the time. Terry O'Neill was at the time friends with Frank Sinatra's ex-wife Ava Gardner and it was his friendship with Gardner that generated a first meeting between O'Neill and Sinatra in 1968. O'Neill describes the sequence of events as follows: 'I told her (Gardner) that I would like to photograph Frank. She wrote a letter for me to deliver when I saw Frank in Miami, which she said would open all the doors to Frank's life.' O'Neill handed over the letter in Miami Beach and after a while Sinatra replied, 'You're with me now kid'. The two became close friends and O'Neill followed Sinatra through his career, both public and private. What did the letter say? Unfortunately, the story doesn't tell.