Frank Sinatra’s Death and the True Story of What Caused It

After legendary singer Frank Sinatra died of a heart attack on May 14, 1998, his tragic disappearance forced an ugly family feud into the spotlight.

Joan Adlen/Getty ImagesFrank Sinatra performing in Los Angeles in 1980.

Frank Sinatra had one of the most iconic voices the world has ever heard. During his prolific career, he released 59 studio albums and hundreds of singles, cementing his place in music history. Although he lived a full life when he suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 82, Frank Sinatra’s death was still a blow felt around the world.

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Sinatra died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California on May 14, 1998. His fourth and final wife, Barbara Blakely Marx, was by his side.

While initial reports indicated that his children were also there, Sinatra’s daughters later revealed that they didn’t even know he was in the hospital until a doctor called them and informed them that he was dead – because Barbara didn’t tell them. The ugly family feud was thrust into the spotlight in the months following Sinatra’s death.

The singer’s funeral was attended by some of America’s biggest Hollywood stars and musicians, and his tombstone was engraved with the lyrics to one of his best-known songs: “The Best Is Yet to Come.” This is the tragic story of the death of “Ol’ Blue Eyes”.

The legendary career of Frank Sinatra

Bettmann/Contributor via Getty ImagesFrank Sinatra fans swoon as he performs at the Paramount Theater in 1944.

Frank Sinatra began trying to break into the music scene as a teenager, and by the age of 27 in 1942, “Sinatramania” was in full swing. His enthusiastic teenage fans, known as “bobby soxers”, shouted and swarmed around him at concerts, and their obsession with him even sparked riots.

According The New York Times, 30,000 of his young fans filled the streets of Times Square outside the Paramount Theater, where Sinatra was scheduled to perform, in what became known as Columbus Day Riot. His popularity only grew from there.

With hits such as “That’s Life” and “Fly Me to the Moon”, Sinatra quickly became a superstar. During his music career, he has won 11 Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.

Along with establishing himself as a successful singer, Sinatra also began acting in films. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in 1953 From here to eternityand he appeared in musicals such as guys and dolls and Friend Joeyfor which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.

John Kobal Foundation/Getty ImagesFrank Sinatra stars as Clarence Doolittle in The anchors weigh alongside Gene Kelly. 1944.

Sinatra was also known for his turbulent personal life. He was married four times, fathering three children with his first wife, Nancy Barbato, before marrying actresses Ava Gardner and Mia Farrow. In 1976 he married Barbara Blakely Marx, a former Las Vegas showgirl and the ex-wife of the younger Marx Brother Zeppo.

In February 1995, Frank Sinatra gave his final performance at the closing of the Frank Sinatra Desert Classic golf tournament in the Palm Desert Marriott Ballroom. He performed just six songs before calling it a night, closing with “The best is yet to come.”

Three years later, Sinatra’s illustrious life came to an end.

In May 1998, Frank Sinatra asked his daughter Tina how far was the new millennium. According to the biography Sinatra: life, when Tina told him it would happen in about 18 months, he replied, “Oh, I can do it. Nothing to do.

A few days later he was dead.

Bettmann/Contributor via Getty ImagesFrank Sinatra’s cause of death was a fatal heart attack.

Frank Sinatra’s health had been declining for several years. PBS reports that he suffered from respiratory problems, high blood pressure, pneumonia, bladder cancer and dementia in his later years.

He had not appeared in public since his first heart attack in January 1997, but just a month before his death, his wife Barbara told the Las Vegas Sun that he was doing very well.

“The rumors are just crazy,” she said. “You can’t believe it. He is doing very well… He is strong and walks around. We take advantage of friends.

But on May 14, 1998, Sinatra was rushed to hospital after suffering another heart attack. The ambulance transporting him got to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in record time because the final of Seinfeld was airing on television, and millions of people were at home watching it.

Although Barbara did not call her husband’s children to let them know they were going to the hospital, she informed her manager, Tony Oppedisano, who was with Sinatra when he died.

Far Out Magazine reports that Oppedisano later told the Mirror, “His two doctors and a number of technicians surrounded him when I entered. I sat next to him and held his hand, trying to keep him calm. Then his wife Barbara came and told him to fight. He had difficulty speaking because of his breathing.

According to Oppedisano, Sinatra responded to Barbara with her last words: “I lose.”

Bettmann/Contributor via Getty ImagesFrank Sinatra and his children (from left) Tina, Nancy and Frank Jr., at the singer’s 53rd birthday party in Las Vegas.

“He wasn’t freaked out,” Oppedisano continued. “He was just resigned to the fact that he had done his best, but he wasn’t going to make it. I told him I loved him, but those were the last words I heard him say before he died.

Frank Sinatra was pronounced dead at 10:50 p.m. At 11:10 p.m., doctors called his daughter Tina to inform her that he had died, sparking a family feud that apparently persists to this day.

The controversial aftermath of ‘Ol’ Blue Eyes’ death

Although initial reports of Sinatra’s death indicated that his children were also by his side when he breathed his last, they were proven to be untrue. Over the next few years, Sinatra’s daughters, Tina and Nancy, made the truth of what happened that night very clear.

According to Telegraph, Nancy would later say of her stepmother Barbara: “She was cruel, absolutely cruel. She didn’t tell us he was dying, we only found out after he died and we were five minutes from the hospital.

Nancy continued: “I said to myself that night, ‘I will never talk to him again. And I didn’t. Not a word.”

Despite the ongoing feud, Sinatra’s family worked hard to make the legendary singer’s funeral an affair worthy of his celebrated life. According Express, family members placed all of Sinatra’s favorite things in his casket: Tootsie Rolls, Camel cigarettes, a Zippo lighter and a bottle of Jack Daniels. Tina slipped 10 cents into her pocket, apparently because the singer was always carrying change in case he needed to make a phone call.

Frank Sinatra Jr. and actors Kirk Douglas, Gregory Peck and Robert Wagner delivered eulogies, and Sinatra’s song “Put Your Dreams Away” was played at the end of the emotional service.

Sinatra was buried in Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, Calif., and his headstone read “The best is yet to come” and “Beloved husband and father.”

However, according to Life in Palm Springs, someone vandalized the stone in 2020, chipping the word “Husband”. It appears the assailant was never caught, but the headstone has been replaced – and now simply reads, “Sleep Warm, Poppa”.

Robert Alexandre/Getty ImagesFrank Sinatra’s original headstone, pictured here, was vandalized in 2020 and replaced with one that reads, ‘Sleep warm, Dad’.

Despite the controversy surrounding Frank Sinatra’s death, his legacy is that of one of the most famous singers in American history. While his later years were filled with health issues and family struggles, he lived the life he could only have imagined when he started chasing his dreams as a teenager.

Bono, lead singer of U2, said of the legendary singer after his death: “Frank Sinatra was 20th century, he was modern, he was complex, he had swing and he had attitude. He was the boss, but he was always Frank Sinatra. We will never see his equal again.

After reading about the death of legendary singer Frank Sinatra, learn about the strange abduction of his son, Frank Sinatra Jr. Next, learn about the death of “punk funk” singer Rick James.