“Life would be so wonderful if we only knew what to do with it.”
TRQ: Greta Garbo, Born September 18, 1905
Legendary actress Greta Garbo, an enigma known as the “Swedish Sphinx” for her melancholic performances and her elusive retreat from the public eye, was born in Stockholm, Sweden on September 18, 1905. She was born into poverty and finished school at age 13. She began working at 14, after her father died of tuberculosis.
As a child, Garbo dreamed of being an actor. First working in a barber shop, she soon started modeling hats for PUB department store catalogues and advertisements. In 1922, gay Swedish filmmaker Mauritz Stiller discovered Garbo and took control of her career. He changed her last name from Gustafsson to Garbo and cast her in her first leading role, in The Saga of Gosta Berling (1924). When he went to work for Louis Mayer at Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer, Stiller insisted that Garbo have roles in his projects.
“I don’t want to be a silly temptress. I cannot see any sense in getting dressed up and doing nothing but tempting men in pictures.” – Greta Garbo
It was Garbo, not Stiller, who succeeded in Hollywood. She starred in fourteen silent films, including Torment (1926) and Flesh and the Devil (1927). Though Garbo quickly tired of playing the vamp, male and female audiences responded to her electric and erotic performances from the start. By 1928, she replaced Lillian Gish as Metro’s top star.
As studios transitioned from silent films to sound, where other actors faltered, Garbo used her husky voice to to create complex characters. With Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie (1930), she earned an Academy Award for Best Actress nomination for her first speaking role. MGM marketed the film with the catchphrase “Garbo talks!” This role was first of many in which she would play tragic heroines.
She played one of her most memorable roles in Mata Hari in 1931. In 1932, she played a leading role alongside John Barrymore and Joan Crawford in Grand Hotel, which won the Oscar for Best Picture. In 1933, Garbo courted controversy in Queen Christina, who kisses a female costar. She developed the project with Salka Viertel, just one of many people involved with the production rumored to have personal relationships with Garbo. The movie was the highest-grossing of the year.
For Anna Karenina (1935) and Camille (1936), Garbo won the New York Film Critics Award. In the comedy Ninotchka (1939), she successfully expands her acting range by mocking the dark sensuality familiar to audiences. MGM marketed the movie by announcing that “Garbo laughs!” It was Garbo’s last successful film.
Her next film, Two-Faced Woman (1941), another comedy, was a flop Garbo considered her “grave.” Garbo took a break from acting, but never returned. She turned down the roles in Hamlet and The Portrait of Dorian Gray, and refused to play Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.
With Garbo’s retirement from acting came her absolute withdrawal from the public eye. She had never sought publicity, and MGM had to strategize turning her want for privacy into alluring mystery.
“Every one of us lives this life just once. If we are honest, to live once is enough.” – Greta Garbo
Her private letters were released in Sweden in 2005. They describe the difficult life of a girl who goes from poverty in Sweden to Hollywood stardom. She had relationships with actor John Gilbert, photographer Cecil Beaton, actor Louise Brooks, and writer Mercedes de Acosta. Rumors circulated of her affair with Marlene Dietrich.
“I’ve always wanted two lives – one for the movies, one for myself.” – Greta Garbo
Garbo had powerful feelings for actress and director Mimi Pollak, who was married, and the two exchanged letters for over 60 years. In 1928, Garbo wrote, “I dream of seeing you and discovering whether you still care as much about your old bachelor. I love you, little Mimosa.”
When Pollack gave birth to her son, Garbo wrote that she was “incredibly proud to be a father.”
Garbo received an honorary Oscar in 1954. She neglected to attend the ceremony to collect the statuette which was sent to her home on East 52nd Street in Manhattan. She lived in New York in for nearly fifty years, where she appeared strolling and shopping. She died on April 15th, 1990, at age 84. She was cremated in Manhattan, and her ashes were placed near Stockholm.
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