Connie Francis Interview Part II: Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Hollywood

Meanwhile, let me honor Connie with Part Two of our incredible interview, in which she talks about her craft, her background, and her regrets.

Me: Hi, Connie. What would you say is your main gift as a performer -- your emotionality?

Connie: Yes. I wear my heart on my sleeve. And I guess it shows.

Me: Sure does! You're so Italian!

Connie: You can't get more Italian than I am.

Me: Even more than Sinatra was?

Connie: Absolutely. I said to him, "You gotta do an Italian album." He said, "Connie, I don't know Italian." I said, "I'll teach it to you, line by line. Imagine the legacy of an Italian-American singer doing an Italian album." He said, "I'd be too embarrassed."

Me: The only Italian I learned growing up were the curse words because that's what my parents would say in Italian.

Connie: That's what I learned! People would say, "Where did you learn those words?" I'd say, "My grandmother taught me!"

Me: Your father was extremely strict, right?

Connie: He wasn't just strict -- he was a vigilante with every boy I had a milkshake with. I was not allowed to date in high school or go to the prom, and even in college he had a problem.

Me: Is it true he broke up you and Bobby Darin?

Connie: With a gun. He learned Bobby and I were starting to elope one night. We were 18, 19. I was doing the Jackie Gleason show and Bobby and I were cuddling in a corner. He barged through the rehearsal room of the Sullivan Theater with a gun in his pocket and a fierce determination to obliterate Bobby once and for all. One of the biggest regrets of my life is I didn't marry Bobby.

Me: I loved you in Where the Boys Are, by the way.

Connie: You're the only one. That was my Gone With the Wind and then it was downhill. I never went to a premiere. I tried to keep my films a closely guarded secret. I never saw Boys until 1981. My son said, "Mommy, everyone talks about it," so I called the Gateway Theater in Fort Lauderdale, where it premiered, and arranged to see it. It was a little cute -- but the other ones, forget it.

Me: Who was your biggest competition as a singer back in the day?

Connie: When I heard Brenda Lee, I sent her a telegram and said, "Now I know who my competition is."

Me: She's terrific, but you're the best! Future projects?

Connie: I'm writing a second autobiography. The first was the worst -- I did it on the run. This time, I tell it all.