Sinatra Facts

Friday, May 15, 1998 | 9:34 a.m.

Some "fun facts" about Frank Sinatra as gathered from several sources. Although the items are believed to be accurate, some deal as much with the myth and legend of the man as they do with his actual life:

* VITAL STATISTICS: In his prime, Sinatra stood 5-foot-11, weighed 155 pounds and had dark brown hair.

* FAVORITE SPORT: Professional boxing. Sinatra felt late middleweight champion Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest of all time. His dad, Anthony Sinatra, a blue-eyed Sicilian, boxed for a while under the name Marty O'Brien because of the heavy Irish population in the area.

* MILITARY SERVICE: Although he wanted to serve in World War II, Sinatra was classified as 4-F because of a punctured eardrum. As a boy, he was hit in the ear by a bicycle chain during a street fight in Hoboken, N.J.

* NEAT BOW TIES: Many of the bow ties Sinatra wore on his album covers were knitted by his first wife, Nancy, who encouraged Frank to wear them because she felt his Adam's apple was too large.

* SONGS OF NOTE: Sinatra felt the Lennon-McCarthy song "Yesterday" was one of the best ever written. The "Frank Sinatra song" he disliked the most was "Strangers in the Night."

* FRANK'S LADIES: In addition to marrying actresses Ava Gardner and Mia Farrow, Sinatra had serious romances with actresses Lauren Bacall, after her husband Humphrey Bogart died, and Juliet Prowse. Sinatra did not like women who smoked or drank heavily or wore too much perfume.

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