Editing Frank Sinatra (section)

=== 1941–1952: Debut, musical films, and career slump ===
Sinatra attempted to pursue an acting career in Hollywood in the early 1940s. While films appealed to him,{{Sfn|Young|Young|2010|p=635}} being exceptionally self-confident,{{sfn|Santopietro|2008|p=6}} he was rarely enthusiastic about his own acting, once remarking that "pictures stink".{{sfn|Santopietro|2008|p=57}} Sinatra made his film debut performing in an uncredited sequence in ''[[Las Vegas Nights]]'' (1941), singing "I'll Never Smile Again" with Tommy Dorsey's Pied Pipers.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Billboard|title=Jazzmen Have Always Favored FS|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA44|date=November 24, 1973|page=44|first=Leonard|last=Feather|issn=0006-2510|access-date=October 20, 2015|archive-date=April 29, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429073015/https://books.google.com/books?id=EwkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA44|url-status=live}}</ref> He had a cameo role along with Duke Ellington and Count Basie in [[Charles Barton (director)|Charles Barton]]'s ''[[Reveille with Beverly]]'' (1943), making a brief appearance singing "[[Night and Day (song)|Night and Day]]".{{sfn|Knight|2010|p=80}} Next, he was given leading roles in ''[[Higher and Higher (film)|Higher and Higher]]'' and ''[[Step Lively (1944 film)|Step Lively]]'' (both 1944) for [[RKO Pictures|RKO]].{{sfn|Knight|2010|p=16, 20}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9900E6DC1030E53BBC4A51DFB766838F659EDE|title=Lower and Lower|work=The New York Times|first=Bosley|last=Crowther|date=January 22, 1944|access-date=August 31, 2015|archive-date=September 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926065808/http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9900E6DC1030E53BBC4A51DFB766838F659EDE|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Anchors Aweigh promo still (Sinatra and Kelly dancing).jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Black-and-white photograph of two dancing men in sailor suits|Sinatra and [[Gene Kelly]] in ''[[Anchors Aweigh (film)|Anchors Aweigh]]'' (1945)]]
[[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] cast Sinatra opposite [[Gene Kelly]] and [[Kathryn Grayson]] in the [[Technicolor]] musical ''[[Anchors Aweigh (film)|Anchors Aweigh]]'' (1945), in which he played a sailor on leave in Hollywood.{{sfn|Knight|2010|p=29}}<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F0DE3DC103BEE3BBC4851DFB166838E659EDE | title='Anchors Aweigh', Gay Musical Film, With Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Miss Grayson, Opens at the Capitol Theatre | work=The New York Times | date=July 20, 1945 | author=Crowther, Bosley | access-date=October 5, 2015 | archive-date=January 29, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160129180054/http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F0DE3DC103BEE3BBC4851DFB166838E659EDE | url-status=live }}</ref> A major success,{{sfn|Knight|2010|p=32}} it garnered several Academy Award wins and nominations, and the song "[[I Fall in Love Too Easily]]", sung by Sinatra in the film, was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Original Song]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1946 | title=The 18th Academy Awards | publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences | access-date=October 5, 2015 | archive-date=December 15, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215135117/https://oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1946 | url-status=live }}</ref> He briefly appeared at the end of [[Richard Whorf]]'s commercially successful ''[[Till the Clouds Roll By]]'' (1946), a Technicolor musical biopic of [[Jerome Kern]], in which he sang "[[Ol' Man River]]".{{sfnm|1a1=Green|1y=1999|1p=141|2a1=Santopietro|2y=2008|2p=81}}

Sinatra co-starred again with Gene Kelly in the Technicolor musical ''[[Take Me Out to the Ball Game (film)|Take Me Out to the Ball Game]]'' (1949), in which they play baseball players who are part-time vaudevillians.{{sfn|McGuiggan|2009|p=86}} He teamed up with Kelly for a third time in ''[[On the Town (film)|On the Town]]'' (1949), playing a sailor on leave in New York City. The film remains rated very highly by critics, and in 2006, it ranked No. 19 on the [[American Film Institute]]'s [[AFI's 100 Years of Musicals|list of best musicals]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/100years/musicals.aspx|title=AFI's 25 Greatest Movie Musicals of All Time|publisher=American Film Institute|access-date=August 31, 2015|archive-date=January 14, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114195037/http://www.afi.com/100Years/musicals.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> Both ''[[Double Dynamite]]'' (1951), an RKO [[Irving Cummings]] comedy produced by [[Howard Hughes]],{{sfn|Hernandez|2010|pp=287–288}} and [[Joseph Pevney]]'s ''[[Meet Danny Wilson (film)|Meet Danny Wilson]]'' (1952) failed to make an impression.{{sfnm|1a1=Santopietro|1y=2008|1pp=128–129|2a1=Knight|2y=2010|2p=77}}