The bay at Tossa de Mar in Spain

Amid much fanfare in the Spanish press and a large crowd of villagers and guests, a magnificient statue of Ava Gardner as "Pandora" was dedicated in Tossa de Mar on the Mediterranean coast. The statue is the work of acclaimed sculptress, Ció Abellí, of Spain.

The roots of the Gardner sculpture reach back to 1950, when the film star was at the pinnacle of both her career and a passionate and turbulent romance with singer Frank Sinatra. It was in the spring of that year that she came to Tossa de Mar to film the story of "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman".

In the movie, Gardner played Pandora Reynolds, a 1930's playgirl, and James Mason played a good-looking but ghostly yachtsman known as "The Flying Dutchman".

The Dutchman lived in the 16th century and was a jealous fellow who suspected his wife had been having a fling with another man. And the Dutchman killed his poor spouse without giving her a chance to plead her innocence. For this horrid act, he was doomed to sail around the world until he found a woman who would love him enough to lay down her own life for him. Only when that happened would he be allowed to end his tortured quest and die in peace.

Gardner, of course, was the gal who loved not wisely, but well enough to get the job done.

Another of her "Pandora" co-stars was the drop-dead handsome matador/actor Mario Cabre, who fell as much in love with Gardner as her Pandora fell for The Flying Dutchman. And when Cabre let the world know about his feelings for the actress, she tried to tell the world that she loved only Sinatra, but her pleadings of innocence didn't keep the dark storm clouds from swirling around Ol' Blue Eyes. It was just one of the many thunder-and-lightning episodes in the lives of the star-crossed couple.

(Mario Cabre was the loser in this tug-of-love, but he did win a special showcase in the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield, NC, which he shares with other matadors who tried to win the heart of the world's most beautiful woman.)

While Gardner was filming "Pandora and The Flying Dutchman", she won the hearts of the Tossa de Mar residents with her down-to-earth charm, and she also fell in love with the entire country of Spain - so much so that she moved to Madrid a few years after filming "Pandora", and remained there for around eight years.

When "Pandora" was released in 1951, the quaint and lovely Tossa de Mar became a tourist attraction.  

Now fast-forward nearly half a century to a day when another dark-haired beauty arrived in the village. Sculptress Ció Abellí came with an idea, and she presented it to the Tossa de Mar board of commissioners. Would they consider commissioning her to create a statue of Ava Gardner, as "Pandora", for a permanent display in the village?

Abellí's proposition was met with great enthusiasm, and in barefoot weather of 1998 her magnificent sculpture of the once-upon-a-time Carolina country girl was unveiled and dedicated.

At first glance, the statue of Gardner, whose Pandora first encountered The Flying Dutchman during a midnight skinny-dip in the Tossa de Mar bay, appears to be partially nude. But closer inspection reveals a filmy garment clinging to her celebrated curves.

The sculpture stands on a high balcony near the ancient castle, Vila Vella, and looks toward the bay, forever watching and longing for the sight of sails bringing a true love home to stay.

Thus captured for eternity in bronze is the story of the fictional Pandora Reynolds' personal life - and the real Ava Gardner's.