Why Sinatra's legacy still shines a decade
by: Tom Murray
Archived Articles:
Was it the way he wore his hat? The way his smile just beamed?
It certainly wasn't that he sang off key. Even at his most ragged, he could sell a lyric like nobody else. But there's something else about Frank Sinatra, the Turner Classic Movies featured artist for May, that has kept the self-described "saloon singer" an iconic figure ten years past his death in 1998.
Personal charm, style and talent count for much of the continuing reverence, as well as a scrappy anti-authoritarian streak that endeared him to many, but what really seems to have kept the legend alive is the man's undoubted authenticity.
Hailing from an era of characters-from Bogart to Mitchum, Brando to Bacall-Sinatra could still hold his own in the room. He was an instinctive performer as an actor as well as singer-Sinatra inhabited every song at the moment he sang it, just as he identified with his roles, whether as a junkie musician (Man With the Golden Arm), cold blooded assassin (Suddenly) or sardonic ex novelist
(Some Came Running). He sold a performance in the same way that he turned a lyric-through sheer strength of will.
"My dad had no training, no Chekhov, no Actor's Studio to fall back on, so he needed to become one with the part that he played," agrees youngest daughter Tina. "He didn't know how to tap in to emotions the way a trained actor would, so he let his soul carry him."
Sinatra's progeny hold their father in the same regard as the rest of us-with a certain amount of awe and respect.
Ask Tina why it is that Frank holds a fascination for so many of us that never saw him at his peak and she'll reflect
on his astonishing ability to connect with an audience, his sensitive, empathic nature, the amazing rise and fall
through multiple decades-but when it comes down to it, even his children likely can't account for his enduring popularity.
"He just had that basic, fundamental thing," she notes. "It can't be taught."
It's true, it can't-which is why we're currently celebrating Sinatra's appearance on a stamp, and not Frankie Laine. He's had his ups and downs, the bad press often overwhelming the good, and commentators still wrangle with his legacy, but what Sinatra's accomplished as an artist? No, they can't take that away from him.