Ava Gardner Museum

In downtown Smithfield, North Carolina, the Ava Gardner Museum preserves the life and career of actress Ava Gardner through an extensive collection from her screen work and private life, drawing about 7,000 visitors annually. Its origins trace to Thomas “Tom” Banks, who met Gardner as a child in 1941 and later began collecting memorabilia with his wife, Lorraine, after learning she had signed with MGM. In the early 1980s, Banks bought the house where Gardner had lived from ages 2 to 13 and created a small display there. After his death in 1989, Lorraine Banks donated the collection to Smithfield, and it moved to its present renovated town-center building in 1999.

Smithfield, North Carolina · United States