Frank Sinatra’s Life in Photos

LIFE’s coverage of Frank Sinatra over the course of his illustrious career was, to put it mildly, ample. But of all the magazine’s photo essays and reviews and bits of gossip, perhaps nothing captured his hold over the American public—young women, in particular—better than letters sent to the editors in response to an article that deigned to compare Sinatra to one of his contemporaries, the actor Van Johnson: