Sinatra obituary almost
had a Kauai dateline

He was swept out to sea there
by a strong current 34 years ago

By Harold Morse
Star-Bulletin

The obituary for Frank Sinatra almost had a Kauai dateline 34 years ago.

He was swept 200 yards out to sea by a strong undertow while swimming and nearly drowned on May 10, 1964.

On Kauai to make the movie "None but the Brave," Sinatra eventually was brought to shore on a surfboard after rescuers managed to reach him in choppy waters near the Coco Palms Hotel. He was exhausted but conscious. After resting, he was back on the movie set the next day.

Sinatra said if help had not come, he probably wouldn't have made it. "Another couple of minutes out there and I would have had it," he said.

Sinatra and another swimmer were in the water near Sinatra's rented cottage on the north shore of Wailua Bay when the two were swept seaward -- Sinatra the farthest. Although good swimmers, they could not return to shore, and both had to be rescued.

Sinatra's most recent visit to Hawaii was in March 1989, part of a worldwide tour with singers Liza Minnelli and Sammy Davis Jr. They packed the Blaisdell Center arena two nights. Sinatra overcame a bad cold to give his usual flawless performance.

On July 26, 1986, Sinatra charmed nearly 25,000 devotees at Aloha Stadium. Clad in a black tuxedo accented by a pikake lei, he was again his cool and savvy self.

His first stop in Hawaii was April 1952, at the nadir of his career.

His records weren't moving, and not much was shaking in television or movies.

Just one year later, he was back in Hawaii, filming "From Here to Eternity," playing Maggio, the hot-tempered Italian from Brooklyn. Less than a year later, he sprinted on stage to get his Oscar for it -- and his career was never in doubt after that.

By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Liza Minelli, Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra on
stage in Honolulu. They played Blaisdell Arena in 1989.

He made a Hawaii stop in 1959, just to relax.

While here he recalled another stop he made as part of an Australian trip in 1955, with daughter Nancy, then 15, along.

He agreed to pose with a 49-star flag for pre-statehood publicity. He dismissed claims at the time that communists had power in Hawaii, saying communists can only work where there's intolerance and dissatisfied minorities.