Frank Sinatra Made You Feel Like a Friend

When the news came, in the late evening of May 14th, that Frank Sinatra had died at age eighty-two of a massive heart attack, it did not come as a shock though it immediately hit as an immense loss. Sinatra had been known to be in seriously failing health for more than two years. What’s more, he was a man who had lived a long life and had lived it hard: He drank too much, smoked too long, and raged and wept far too many times as if he could afford all these hazards without risking his grasp on his talent. Apparently, he could. He became a huge pop star in the early 1940s – he was, in fact, American music’s first titanic sex sensation – and despite setbacks and his own precarious temperament, he kept both his passion and his prodigy intact for several decades. As the years went along, he became an intense and moving actor, playing complex, tortured characters. He became a friend to presidents, as well as a companion to gangsters. He became an idol to the rich and to the common man alike. And at times he behaved like a vile-tempered thug though one with a reputation for matchless generosity.