Sinatra, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday this December, voiced countless classic songs and won an Oscar for From Here To Eternity, yet was tormented by his demons, says the author.

“Frank described himself as ‘an 18-carat manic depressive’. He was a bipolar, moody, difficult man who drank heavily, with a sense of entitlement twisted by celebrity.”

An inveterate womanizer, Sinatra’s conquests included Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall, Lana Turner and Jacqueline Kennedy but Taraborrelli insists: “He was never happy. He always thought there was something better just around the corner.”

Yet only Gardner, the Hollywood vixen who starred in The Snows Of Kilimanjaro and Mogambo, could drive Sinatra to the brink.

“She pitied him more than she loved him,” said Sinatra’s friend and Rat Pack buddy Sammy Davis Jr.

“She thought he was weak and troubled, and so he acted that way. He kept thinking things would change.”