Nancy Sinatra

The subject of Frank Sinatra's mid '40s hit "Nancy With the Laughing Face," New Jersey-born entertainer Nancy Sinatra was the oldest of Frankie's three children. When she inaugurated her own career in 1960, casual observers assumed it was solely on the basis of her father's talent. In truth, Nancy had taken 11 years of piano, 8 years of dance, 5 years' dramatic training, and several seasons of voice lessons under the tutelage of Carlo Menotti. Nancy's first professional appearance was on the legendary Frank Sinatra/Elvis Presley TV special of May 12, 1960. Within the next twelve months, she had signed with Reprise records and married teen singing idol Tommy Sands. Neither her early recording career nor her marriage was much of a success; she was divorced from Sands by 1963, and though her discs sold well in England and Europe, she never made the charts in the US. Nancy's advisors suggested that she alter her image, thus she adopted a tough, pouty "biker chick" personna. With the help of composer Lee Hazlewood, the "new" Nancy Sinatra scored with her number one 1966 single "These Boots are Made for Walkin'" (she later revealed that she'd been told to sing the tune like a 16-year-old girl who'd just given the brush to a 40-year-old man). Around the same time, Sinatra began appearing with regularity in such films as The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966) Last of the Secret Agents? (1967) The Wild Angels (1967), and as a guest star on such TV weeklies as The Smothers Brothers Show, The Ed Sullivan Show and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Seldom did she wear anything floor-length: Her standard wardrobe at the time consisted of miniskirt, go-go boots and optional bare-midriff blouse. In 1970, Nancy remarried, to dancer/choreographer Hugh Lambert; she briefly left show business to devote her time to her husband and two daughters. Lambert died of cancer in 1985, after which Nancy wrote a dual biography of herself and her father and made occasional comeback bids; she cameoed as herself on an episode of the Vietnam-era dramatic TV series China Beach. In 1995, 54-year-old Nancy Sinatra conducted a full-scale campaign to recapture the limelight with a well-received concert tour (her curious decision to sing in a quasi-operatic contralto sometimes confused the SRO crowds), and even a nude layout in Playboy magazine.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide