Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo (September 18, 1905 – April 15, 1990) was a Swedish-American actress.

Life in Hollywood

The most important of Garbo's silent movies were The Torrent (1926), Flesh and the Devil (1927) and Love (1927). The latter two she starred in with the popular leading man John Gilbert. Her name was linked with his in a much publicized romance, and she was said to have left him standing at the altar when she changed her mind about getting married. The actress reportedly had several lesbian lovers, including the actress Louise Brooks and the writer/socialite Mercedes de Acosta. She also had an on-and-off affair with the primarily homosexual British photographer Cecil Beaton, to whom she was briefly engaged.

Related Topics:
Silent movies - John Gilbert - Louise Brooks - Mercedes de Acosta - Cecil Beaton

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Having achieved enormous success as a silent movie star, she was one of the few who made the transition to talkies. Her low, husky voice with Swedish accent was heard on screen for the first time in Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie (1930), which was publicized with the slogan "Garbo Talks." The movie was a huge success, but Garbo personally hated her performance.

Related Topics:
Movie star - Talkies - Swedish - Eugene O'Neill - Anna Christie

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Unfortunately, her one-time fiancé, John Gilbert, whose popularity was waning, did not fare as well after the advent of sound and his career faltered.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When she was filmed, if something happened that she was not pleased with she would say, "I think I'll go back to Sweden!" This would frighten the movie studio heads, who gave in to her every wish. She was known for always having a closed set to all visitors. No one could watch as her scenes were shot. Garbo appeared very seductive as the World War I spy in the title role of Mata Hari (1932). The censors complained about her revealing outfit shown on the movie poster. She was next part of an all star cast in Grand Hotel (1932).

Related Topics:
Sweden - Movie studio - World War I - Mata Hari - Grand Hotel

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

She then had a contract dispute with MGM and did not appear on the screen for almost two years. They finally settled and she signed a new contract, which granted her almost total control over her movies. She exercised that control by getting her leading man on Queen Christina (1934), Laurence Olivier, replaced with Gilbert. David O. Selznick wanted her cast as the dying heiress in Dark Victory in 1935, but she insisted on being cast instead in another screen version of Tolstoy's classic Anna Karenina. She had made a silent version, Love, with John Gilbert in (1927).

Related Topics:
Contract - Queen Christina - 1934 - Laurence Olivier - David O. Selznick - Dark Victory - 1935 - Tolstoy's - Anna Karenina - 1927

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Her performance as the doomed courtesan in Camille (movie) (1937) was called the finest ever recorded on film. She then starred opposite Melvyn Douglas in the comedy Ninotchka (1939) by director Ernst Lubitsch.

Related Topics:
Camille (movie) - Melvyn Douglas - Ninotchka - Ernst Lubitsch

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Garbo was nominated for the Academy Award for Academy Award for Best Actress for Anna Christie (1930), Romance (1930 movie) (1930)), Camille (movie) (1937) and Ninotchka (1939).

Related Topics:
Academy Award - Academy Award for Best Actress - Anna Christie - Romance (1930 movie) - Camille (movie) - Ninotchka

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greta Garbo was considered one of the most glamorous movie stars of the 1920s and 1930s. She was also famous for shunning publicity, which became part of the Garbo mystique. Her famous byline was, "I want to be alone," spoken with a heavy accent which made the word 'want' sound like 'vont'. Garbo commented later, "I never said, 'I want to be alone.' I only said, 'I want to be left alone.' There is all the difference." Except at the very beginning of her career, she granted no interviews, signed no autographs, attended no premieres and answered no fan mail. According to private letters released in Sweden in 2005 to mark the centenary of the film star's birth, she was reclusive in part because she was self-obsessed, depressive, and ashamed of her latrine-cleaner father. They also show that Garbo remained single in the United States because of an unrequited love for her drama school sweetheart, the Swedish actress Mimi Pollak http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1567211,00.html.

Related Topics:
1920s - 1930s - Publicity - Mimi Pollak

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ninotchka was a successful attempt at lightening Garbo's image and making her less exotic, complete with the insertion of a scene in which her character breaks into joyful laughter which subsequently provided the film with its famous tagline, "Garbo laughs!"

Related Topics:
Ninotchka - Tagline

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A follow-up film, Two-Faced Woman (1941), attempted to capitalize by casting Garbo in a romantic comedy, where she would play a double role that also featured her dancing. The film, directed by George Cukor, was a failure. It was Garbo's last screen appearance.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It is often reported that Garbo chose to retire from cinema after this film's failure, but already by 1935 she was becoming more choosy about her roles, and eventually years passed without her agreeing to do another film. By her own admission, Garbo felt that after World War II the world changed, perhaps forever.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1949, Garbo filmed a screen test as she considered reentering the movie business, but otherwise never stepped in front of a movie camera again. There were suggestions that she might appear as the "Duchess de Guermantes" in a film adaptation of "Remembrance of Things Past," but this never came to fruition. She withdrew from the entertainment world completely and moved to a secluded life in New York City, refusing to make any public appearances. Up until her death, Garbo sightings were considered sport for paparazzi photographers.

Related Topics:
Screen test - Remembrance of Things Past - New York City - Paparazzi

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~