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Friday, May 15, 1998 | 9:01 a.m.

PM-Obit-Sinatra, 1st Add,1391 LOS ANGELES: the crush.

"I think my appeal in those days was due to the fact that there hadn't been a troubadour around for 10 or 20 years, from the time Bing had broken in and went on to radio and movies," Sinatra said in Life. "And he, strangely enough, had appealed to older people ...

"I think the kids were looking for somebody to cheer for. Also, the war had just started. They were looking for somebody who represented those gone in their life."

Sinatra, classified 4-F because of a punctured ear drum, kept piling up the hits, including "All or Nothing at All" and "You'll Never Know." But before the '40s was over, Sinatra's career was spiraling downward.

His name became linked to mobsters when he visited Cuba at the same time organized crime leaders were gathering there and spent time with Lucky Luciano. He suffered a vocal cord hemorrhage, and was forced to remain absolutely silent for 40 days. His record sales declined. A romance with Ava Gardner led to the end of his marriage to longtime sweetheart Nancy Barbato, who married him in 1939 and bore three children - Nancy, Frank Jr. and Christina.

By the time he wed Miss Gardner in 1951, the singer who had earned some $1 million a year had been cut loose by his agents.

"From Here to Eternity," and the role of Pvt. Angelo Maggio, was his vehicle for a comeback. He fought for the part and took a screen test that impressed Columbia Pictures, but was paid only $8,000. He won the supporting actor Oscar, was back on top of the charts by the end of 1954 and, by 1957, ABC guaranteed him $7 million on a three-year contract.

"People often remark that I'm pretty lucky. I don't think luck as such has much to do with it," he told The New York Times Magazine in 1957. "You've got to have something more substantial. The competition is too fierce."

His tempestuous, on-again, off-again marriage to Miss Gardner ended in 1953. His name was linked with Lana Turner and Lauren Bacall, and he was engaged briefly to Juliet Prowse, but he did not marry again until 19-year-old Mia Farrow came into his life more than a decade later.

Sinatra was once again breaking box-office records by the end of the 1950s and was firmly established at the head of the Rat Pack or the Clan, a group including Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford.

Lawford's brother-in-law was John F. Kennedy, to whom Sinatra introduced Judith Campbell Exner in 1960. Ms. Exner said Sinatra also introduced her to Sam Giancana, then reputed head of the Chicago mob, and she allegedly dated both men at the same time. The scandal came to light long after Kennedy was dead.

In December 1963, Sinatra's son, 19-year-old Frank Jr., was abducted by two armed men from a motel in Stateline, Nev., where he was appearing as a singer. Sinatra, making the movie "Robin and the Seven Hoods," flew immediately to Nevada to take control of the investigation, and his son was freed two days later after the payment of $240,000 ransom.

In 1966, Sinatra wed Miss Farrow, a marriage that lasted just over two years, and in 1969 he underwent an operation to relieve muscle distortion in his right hand. In 1971, saying he wanted room for reflection, he gave his "farewell concert" in Los Angeles. The last line of his last song, "Angel Eyes," was, "Excuse me while I disappear."

His retirement ended two years later with an hour-long special, "Ol' Blue Eyes is Back." In 1976, Sinatra married for the last time, to Barbara Marx, former wife of Zeppo Marx. Reagan was among those attending.

Sinatra had organized Kennedy's inaugural gala, but later was frozen out of the Kennedy circle because of his reputed mob association. By 1966 and Reagan's California gubernatorial bid, he had switched his support to the Republican Party. He was friends with Spiro Agnew, forced from the vice presidency after pleading no contest to income tax evasion, loaning him $200,000 for payment of back taxes.

His strongest links, however, were with Reagan's White House. William French Smith, Reagan's first attorney general, had once attended a Sinatra party; the singer produced and starred in Reagan's 1981 inaugural gala and was honorary chairman of the 1985 bash. The associations drew a spate of stories and satire about Sinatra's friendships.

Sinatra, who lost a bid for a casino license in Nevada in 1963 because of alleged underworld connections, used Reagan's name as a character reference in another bid in 1981. Reagan's name was eventually withdrawn, and the Nevada Gaming Commission granted Sinatra status as a key employee, which allowed him a strategic position in a hotel-casino operation.

In 1984, the Golden Nugget Hotel Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., for which Sinatra did promotional ads, was fined $250,000 for infractions by dealers during a blackjack game played by Sinatra and Martin.

Casino employees said the two were abusive and threatened not to perform in the casino unless dealers dealt by hand from a single deck, in violation of state regulations. Both entertainers denied intimidating the workers, but New Jersey Casino Control Commissioner Joel Jacobsen called Sinatra "an obnoxious bully," prompting Sinatra to cancel all appearances in his home state.

The incident was featured the next year in a scathing series of "Doonesbury" comic strips that featured photos of Sinatra and alleged mob figures, including Carlo Gambino, the reputed boss of bosses. Some newspapers canceled the strips.

Jacobsen also criticized the strips, and Sinatra returned to Hoboken in May 1985 to accept an honorary engineering degree from the Stevens Institute of Technology, despite some opposition from students and teachers. When he rose to speak, cameras flashed for two minutes.

Sinatra, in testimony before the Nevada commission, said he knew some reputed mob figures, but not very well, and said they had no links to his business activities. The Los Angeles County sheriff said he was unable to substantiate reports of mob links; Sinatra's lawyer said the singer's FBI file weighed 14 pounds and was full of unsubstantiated complaints.

A Justice Department memo in 1962 said some of the nation's top hoods had Sinatra's unlisted phone number, according to Hamill. He quoted Sinatra as saying, "Sure, I knew some of those guys. I spent a lot of time working in saloons. And saloons are not run by the Christian Brothers. ... They said hello, you said hello. They came backstage. They thanked you. You offered them a drink. That was it. And it doesn't matter anymore, does it? Most of the guys I knew or met are dead."

Sinatra's bar fights and feuds with reporters also became part of his legend. He was criticized by foes of apartheid for performing at the Sun City resort in a South African "tribal homeland."

Friends, however, said Sinatra would do almost anything for them, and the singer won a special Oscar in 1945 for "The House I Live In," a short about religious and racial intolerance. He reportedly once slugged a waiter who refused to serve a black. Friends quoted in Time magazine said he walked out on the christening of his son when the priest refused to allow a Jewish friend to be godfather. His support of Israel got his movies and records banned in some Arab countries.

In addition to his music and film work, Sinatra oversaw a staff of 75, amassed collections of artworks, set up his own record label, Reprise, and had real estate and financial holdings that included a missile parts company.

"Frank is a tiger - afraid of nothing, ready for anything," Robert Mitchum once said. "He'll fight anything. Here's a frail, undersized little fellow with a scarred-up face who isn't afraid of the whole world."

Ernest Borgnine, who learned of Sinatra's death while filming in Texas, said the world had lost one of its most precious commodities.

"In all memories, from childhood to romance to the mature years, Frank has been with us in all times," he said. "He gave so much of himself and much more than people realized. It is a sad day today because Frank touched everyone in the world."

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