The most beautiful actress in movie history could have been one of the first Hollywood stars to employ cosmetic surgery, had it not been for the advice of Archibald McIndoe.
This is revealed in a book by Emily Mayhew on McIndoe, a doctor in the British Royal Air Force (RAF), entitled "The Reconstruction of Warriors", and which has just been published in London.
In 1957 Ava Gardner fell from a horse during her stay in Spain, she hit her cheekbone and a bruise stained her cheek purple.
Her movie studio, MGM, thought she needed surgery and put her in the hands of plastic surgeons in Los Angeles.
Fearing that she would be marked with a scar, which could have meant the end of her film career, the beautiful actress decided to consult McIndoe, a plastic surgeon specializing in the reconstruction of the disfigured faces of RAF pilots during World War II. (1939-45).
"I needed Archie McIndoe, I knew that compared to the disfigured pilots he treated my little injury was hardly significant, but Archie was a man of great compassion and sensitivity," Gardner said, according to the book.
The doctor made Ava see that there was no need for any type of operation.
However, the beautiful actress did not regain her self-confidence until at a charity event, McIndoe summoned all the press and challenged the reporters to photograph her as close to her as they wanted, because they would not find her face a single scar "No scalpel has ever touched her magnificent face," said the surgeon.
