The public perception of performers is rarely close to the real person behind the makeup. Case in point; in my career I had the opportunity to get "up close and personal" with many show business greats, this included home visits with
Bob Hope and
Rosemary Clooney, and in the case of
Frank Sinatra via his close friends, including songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen.
Jimmy said that he loved three things, not in order, "Booze, Broads and Sinatra."
Rosemary Clooney was the very nice, down to earth, lovely lady you would expect. Now,
Bob Hope, this great American
hero, to many, proved to be a very ungenerous person, (besides a world class womanizer). But,
Frank Sinatra, world class singer, actor, tough guy and well documented womanizer , was the opposite,
a soft touch. Frank literally gave millions away. It was not uncommon for him to read a newspaper story of someone in need, and deeply touched by the situation, call his longtime secretary Dorothy Ullman... directing a check to be sent anonymously.
Cary Grant said that "
Frank Sinatra is the most generous person to people in need I know."
Bob Hope, for example, was not big on tipping. Frank, however, was a tipper to the extreme. One story concerns Frank exiting a restaurant and asking the valet parking attendant "what was the biggest tip you ever received? The answer was "one hundred dollars." Frank handed the young man
two hundred dollars. As he entered his car, he turned and asked "who gave the one hundred to you? "You did, Mr. Sinatra, last year."
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