Barbara Ann Sinatra (formerly Oliver & Marx, Blakeley; October 16, 1926 – July 25, 2017) was an American model, showgirl, and socialite and the fourth and last wife of Frank Sinatra.

Early life

Sinatra was born as Barbara Ann Blakeley on October 16, 1926, in Bosworth, Missouri, to Irene Prunty (née Toppass) and Charles Willis Blakeley. The family moved to Wichita, Kansas when she was 10. After graduating from Wichita North High School in 1944, Sinatra moved to Long Beach, California.

Personal life

She married Robert Oliver in September 1948 and had a son, Robert Blake "Bobby" Oliver on October 10, 1950. She divorced Oliver in 1952. She married Zeppo Marx on September 18, 1959. They divorced in 1973. She married Frank Sinatra on July 11, 1976. It was his fourth and final marriage, and her third and final marriage. It was also the longest-lasting marriage for both. She converted to Catholicism. According to her book, Lady Blue Eyes: My Life With Frank, "He [Frank] never asked me to change faith for him, but I could tell he was pleased that I'd consider it." Upon his death in 1998, Frank Sinatra left her $3.5 million in assets, along with mansions in Beverly Hills, Malibu, and Palm Springs. She also inherited the rights to Sinatra's Trilogy recordings, most of his material possessions and control over his name and likeness.

Death

Barbara Marx Sinatra died on July 25, 2017, in Rancho Mirage, California, of natural causes at the age of 90. She died a year before Frank's first wife, Nancy Barbato, who died on July 13, 2018, at the age of 101. She is buried at the Desert Memorial Park next to husband Frank.

Legacy

The Sinatras founded the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center in Rancho Mirage in 1986, which is close to the Betty Ford Center on the campus of the Eisenhower Medical Center. The nonprofit facility provides individual and group therapy for young victims of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. In 1998, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.