10 Strange Stories About Frank Sinatra

In an era of dime-a-dozen singers, Frank Sinatra stood out from the rest with his soulful voice and tough guy persona. During his 60-year career, this kid from New Jersey went from bobby-soxer idol to successful actor to Chairman of the Board. He dated movie stars, hung out with a president, and knew how to rock a fedora. As a man famous for doing things his way, Sinatra lived quite the exciting life, full of crazy facts and strange stories.

10 Arrested For Seduction And Adultery

[amazon asin=B00178T122&template=*lrc ad (left)]Frank Sinatra’s brief stint in lockup was thanks to his womanizing ways. On November 25, 1938, the crooner was dragged into jail on the charge of seduction, evidently a serious deal back in the ’30s. Sinatra was caught sleeping with an upstanding single woman, a pillar in the community until she was corrupted by Frankie’s wicked ways.

The charge was eventually dismissed, and Sinatra was let go until December 22 when he was hauled back to the slammer. After doing a little detective work, authorities discovered Sinatra’s lady friend was married, and Frank was charged with adultery. Eventually, officials dropped the case, and after a combined total of 16 hours in jail, Sinatra was back on the prowl.

9 He Could’ve Been King Of The Action Genre

When Frank Sinatra wasn’t cutting records, he was busy acting in dramas likeFrom Here to Eternity and The Man with the Golden Arm. But if things had worked out differently, we might be mentioning Ol’ Blue Eyes alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.[amazon asin=B0071U3MRA&template=*lrc ad (right)]

Frank’s potential action career started with The Manchurian Candidate, a thriller featuring an all-out martial arts battle between Sinatra and actor Henry Silva. The scene is significant because it’s the first karate fight in American cinema. (Spencer Tracy used karate in Bad Day at Black Rock, but his opponent didn’t know martial arts, so it wasn’t technically a karate fight.)

However, The Manchurian Candidate also kept Sinatra from becoming one of the biggest heroes of all time. During the fight scene, his character throws a karate chop and strikes his hand on a wooden table. Sinatra hit the table [amazon asin=B000002NFI&template=*lrc ad (left)]so hard that he broke his little finger. The injury bothered him for the rest of his life, and it even kept him from starring in Dirty Harry. Warner Brothers originally wanted Swoonatra to play Clint Eastwood’s iconic role, but his injured hand prevented him from wielding Harry Callahan’s .44 Magnum.

Still, Sinatra had one last chance at action movie greatness. The 1988 hit Die Hardwas based on the novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp. The book focused on older cop named Joe Leland, and Sinatra had actually played Leland in a 1966 movie called The Detective. When 20th Century Fox decided to make Die Hard, they first had to ask Sinatra if he wanted to play the wisecracking John McClane. Fortunately for movie fans and Bruce Willis, Sinatra said no.[amazon asin=B0045QKMJO&template=*lrc ad (right)]

8 The Man Behind Scooby-Doo

After making his grand appearance in 1969, Scooby-Doo quickly became one of the most popular cartoon characters of all time, spawning numerous TV shows, films, and merchandise galore. And it’s all thanks to Frank Sinatra.

[amazon asin=B005S28ZES&template=*lrc ad (left)]The Great Dane was almost a mere supporting character in a show titled Mysteries Five. The premise involved five teenage rockers who traveled around playing music and solving mysteries. As for the Scooby character, his name was “Too Much,” he played the bongos, and he never went anywhere without his cap and sunglasses. However, the folks at CBS weren’t too thrilled. After looking over the artwork, they decided the show was just too scary for kids. Things were looking grim for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, and that’s when Sinatra saved the day.

While flying to Los Angeles, CBS children’s programming head Fred Silverman was listening to a recording of Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night.” Near the end of the song, Sinatra starts improvising, singing nonsense phrases like “dooby-dooby-doo.” And that’s when everything clicked. Silverman suddenly realized the dog’s name was Scooby-Doo, and he was going to be the star of the show. Silverman then hustled back to CBS headquarters and sold the studio his new idea.

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