Barbara Ann Blakeley was born on March 10, 1927, in Bosworth, Missouri, the elder of two daughters of Charles Willis Blakeley (June 29, 1895 – October 5, 1989) and Irene Prunty (née Toppass) Blakeley (June 22, 1907 – December 15, 1993). At age 10, she moved with her parents and younger sister, Patricia, to Wichita, Kansas, where she was raised, and graduated from Wichita North High School in 1945. At age 18, she moved to Long Beach, California.
Blakeley married Robert Oliver in September 1948 and had a son, Bobby on 10 October 1950. She divorced Oliver in 1952 and married Zeppo Marx on 18 September 1959. That union ended in divorce in 1973. Then she became the fourth and final wife of Frank Sinatra from 1976 until his death in 1998.
Barbara Marx married Sinatra on July 11, 1976, and they remained married until his death on May 14, 1998. It was his fourth and final marriage, and her third and final marriage. It was also the longest-lasting marriage for both. She converted to Catholicism. According to her book, Lady Blue Eyes: My Life With Frank, "He [Frank] never asked me to change faith for him, but I could tell he was pleased that I'd consider it."
The Sinatras founded the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center in Rancho Mirage, California, in 1986. The center is adjacent to the Betty Ford Center on the campus of the Eisenhower Medical Center. The non-profit facility provides individual and group therapy for young victims of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. In 1998, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.
Barbara died on July 25, 2017, in Rancho Mirage, California of natural causes.
