wife Ava Gardner (qv), who  was shooting a film for Columbia head Harry Cohn (I) (qv) and  suggested to him that he use Sinatra. Although initially reluctant,  Cohn eventually saw this as being a good idea, as Sinatras stock  was so low at the time that he would sign for a very low salary.  Sinatra had been lobbying hard for the role,even suggesting he would  do it for nothing, but he was eventually hired for the token amount  of $8,000.