Ava-va-voom!

Ava Gardner’s Last Photoshoot

©1984 Tom Zimberoff / All Rights Reserved • Not for Reproduction / May Not Be Copied

I have two first impressions of Ava Gardner arriving on the set of A.D., a thirty-million-dollar made-for-TV barn-burner with a biblical backstory filmed on location in Tunisia in 1983.

First, despite a film crew already jaded by an all-star cast, I witnessed this woman suck the air out of a soundstage when she walked on. It went from humming with activity to a…