Greta Garbo (18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990), born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of her films were sensational hits, and all but three of her twenty-four Hollywood films were profitable. Garbo was nominated four times for an Academy Award and received an honorary one in 1954 for her "luminous and unforgettable screen performances". She also won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress for both Anna Karenina (1935) and Camille (1936). In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Garbo fifth on their list of greatest female stars of all time, after Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, and Ingrid Bergman.
Garbo launched her career with a leading role in the 1924 Swedish film The Saga of Gosta Berling. Her performance caught the attention of Louis B. Mayer, chief executive of Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), who brought her to Hollywood in 1925. She immediately stirred interest with her first silent film, Torrent, released in 1926; a year later, her performance in Flesh and the Devil, her third movie, made her an international star.
With her first talking film, Anna Christie (1930), she received an Academy Award nomination. MGM marketers enticed the public with the catch-phrase "Garbo talks!" That same year she won a second Oscar nomination for her performance in Romance. In 1932, her immense popularity allowed her to dictate the terms of her contract, and she became increasingly choosy about her roles. Many critics and film historians consider her performance as the doomed courtesan Marguerite Gautier in Camille to be her finest. The role gained her a third Academy Award nomination. After working exclusively in dramatic films, Garbo turned to comedy with Ninotchka (1939), which earned her a fourth Academy Award nomination, and Two-Faced Woman (1941).
In 1941, she retired after appearing in only twenty-seven films. Although she was offered many opportunities to return to the screen, she declined most of them. Instead, she lived a private life, shunning publicity.
Greta Lovisa Gustafsson was born in Stockholm, Sweden. She was the third and youngest child of Anna Lovisa (née Karlsson, 1872–1944)—a homemaker and later worked at a jam factory—and Karl Alfred Gustafsson (1871–1920), a laborer.[3][4] Garbo had an older brother, Sven Alfred (1898–1967), and an older sister, Alva Maria (1903–1926).[5]
Her parents met in Stockholm where her father visited from Frinnaryd. He moved to Stockholm to become independent, and worked in various odd jobs, such as street cleaner, grocer, factory worker and butcher's assistant. He married Anna, who had recently relocated from Högsby.[7] The Gustafssons were impoverished and lived in a three-bedroom cold-water flat at Blekingegatan No. 32. They raised their three children in a working-class district regarded as the city's slum.[9] Garbo would later recall:
It was eternally gray—those long winter's nights. My father would be sitting in a corner, scribbling figures on a newspaper. On the other side of the room my mother is repairing ragged old clothes, sighing. We children would be talking in very low voices, or just sitting silently. We were filled with anxiety, as if there were danger in the air. Such evenings are unforgettable for a sensitive girl. Where we lived, all the houses and apartments looked alike, their ugliness matched by everything surrounding us.
[10]
As a child, Garbo was a shy daydreamer.[11] She hated school[12][13] and preferred to play alone.[14] Yet she was an imaginative child and a natural leader who became interested in theatre at an early age.[16] She directed her friends in make-believe games and performances and dreamed of becoming an actress.[16][18] Later, she would participate in amateur theatre with her friends and frequent the Mosebacke Theater.[19] At the age of 13, Garbo graduated from school[20] and typical of a Swedish working-class girl at that time, she did not attend high school; she would later confess she had an inferiority complex about this.
In the winter of 1919, the Spanish flu spread throughout Stockholm, and Garbo's father, to whom she was very close, became ill. He began missing work and eventually lost his job.[22] Garbo stayed at home looking after him and taking him to the hospital for weekly treatments. In 1920, when she was 14 years old, he died.
She began her first job in 1920 as a soap-lather girl in a barbershop. Eventually, her friends advised her to look for a better job. She then applied for, and accepted, a position in the PUB department store running errands and working in the millinery department. Before long, she began modeling hats for the store's catalogs. Her success led to a more lucrative job as a fashion model for PUB. In late 1920, a director of film commercials for the store began casting Garbo in roles advertising women's clothing. The first film premiered 12 December 1920, and she appeared in several other commercials during the following year.[25] Thus began Garbo's cinematic career. In 1922, Garbo caught the attention of director Erik Arthur Petschler who gave her a part in his short comedy, Peter the Tramp.
From 1922 to 1924, she studied at The Royal Dramatic Theatre's Acting School in Stockholm. She was recruited in 1924 by the prominent Swedish director, Mauritz Stiller, to play a principal part in his classic film The Saga of Gosta Berling, a dramatization of the famous novel by Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlöf. She played opposite Lars Hanson, a well-known Swedish actor. Stiller became her mentor, training her as a film actress and managing all aspects of her nascent career. She followed her role in Gosta Berling with a starring role in the 1925 German film Die freudlose Gasse (The Joyless Street or The Street of Sorrow), directed by G. W. Pabst and co-starring Asta Nielsen.
Accounts differ on the circumstances of her first contract with Louis B. Mayer, at that time vice president and general manager of Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM). Victor Seastrom, a respected Swedish director at MGM, was good friends with Stiller and encouraged Mayer to meet him on a trip to Berlin. There are two versions of what happened next. In one, Mayer, always looking for new talent, had done his research and was interested in Stiller. He made an offer but Stiller demanded that Garbo be part of any contract, convinced that she would be an asset to his career. Mayer balked, but eventually agreed to a private viewing of Gosta Berling. He was immediately struck by Garbo's magnetism and became more interested in her than in Stiller. "It was her eyes", his daughter recalled him saying; "I can make a star out of her." In the second version, Mayer had already seen Gosta Berling before his Berlin trip and Garbo, not Stiller, was his primary interest. On the way to the screening, Mayer said to his daughter, "This director is wonderful but what we really ought to look at is the girl.... The girl, look at the girl!" After the screening, his daughter reported, he was unwavering: "I’ll take her without him. I’ll take her with him. "Number one is the girl". In any case, a contract was drafted that included both of them and after several months, the two set sail for America on the last day of June 1925.
Stiller and Garbo, who was then age twenty and unable to speak English, arrived in New York where they remained for three months without any word from MGM. She and Stiller then went to Los Angeles on their own but another three weeks passed with little contact from MGM. During this period, the studio arranged for a dentist to correct Garbo's right central incisor and made sure she lost weight. Although she expected to work with Stiller on her first film,[35] she was cast in Torrent (1926), an adaptation of a novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, with director Monta Bell. She displaced Aileen Pringle, ten years her senior, and played a vamp opposite Ricardo Cortez.[36][37] Torrent was a hit and despite its cool reception by the trade press,[38] Garbo's performance was acclaimed.[39][40]
The success led Irving Thalberg, head of production at MGM,[41] to cast her in a similar role in The Temptress (1926), based on another Ibáñez novel. After only one film, she was given top billing, playing opposite Antonio Moreno.[42] Her mentor Stiller, who had persuaded her to take the part, was assigned to direct.[43] For both Garbo (who did not want to play another vamp and did not like the script any more than she did the first one)[44] and Stiller, The Temptress was a harrowing experience. Garbo remembered it as a picture associated with doom: on the fourth day of production, she received a telegram from Stockholm informing her of the death of her sister Alva at the age of twenty-three. MGM did not permit Garbo to return to Sweden for the funeral. Shortly thereafter, Stiller, who spoke little English, had difficulty adapting to the studio system,[46] and did not get on with Moreno,[47] was replaced by Fred Niblo. Reshooting The Temptress was expensive. Even though it became one of the top-grossing films of the 1926–27 season, with nearly US$1 million in receipts,[48] it was, because of its cost, the only Garbo film of the period to lose money.[49] However, Garbo again got very good reviews,[50][51][52][53] and MGM had a new star.[48]
Garbo went on to make eight more silent films. With the exception of Torrent, all of her silent movies were profitable and most were hugely successful. She starred in three of them with popular leading man John Gilbert. Their on-screen erotic intensity soon translated into an off-camera romance and by the end of their first production, Flesh and the Devil (1927), they began living together. Despite Garbo's popularity as a silent movie star,[58] the studio feared that her Swedish accent might impair her work in sound and delayed the shift for as long as possible.[59][60] MGM itself made a slow changeover to sound.[61] Her last silent movie, The Kiss (1929), was also the studio's.
During this period, Garbo began to require unusual conditions during the shooting of her scenes. She prohibited visitors—including the studio brass—from her sets and demanded that black flats or screens surround her to prevent extras and technicians from watching her. When asked about these eccentric requirements, she said, "If I am by myself, my face will do things I cannot do with it otherwise".
Publicized with the slogan "Garbo talks!", Anna Christie (1930), a film adaptation of the 1922 play by Eugene O'Neill, provided her first speaking role. In her first line, she famously utters, "Give me a whiskey, ginger ale on the side, and don't be stingy, baby." The movie was the highest-grossing film of the year and she received her first Academy Award nomination. She was nominated for an Academy Award again that year for her performance in Romance (1930). A German version of Anna Christie was also made in 1930. Garbo had successfully made the transition to talkies and after three less profitable films, Romance (1930), Inspiration (1931), and Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (1931), she performed two of her most famous roles. In 1931, she played the World War I spy in Mata Hari, opposite screen idol Ramón Novarro, and in 1932 she was part of an all-star cast in Grand Hotel in which she played a Russian ballerina.
Both films were big hits, with the latter winning the Academy Award for Best Picture, and the phenomenon of "Garbomania" reached its zenith. By this time she was earning $250,000 to $300,000 a film—an unprecedented salary for an actor—and had become a world-wide multimillion dollar industry. Although her domestic popularity was undiminished through the early 1930s, high profits from her films after Queen Christina in 1933 depended on the foreign market.
Following a contract dispute with MGM, Garbo signed a new contract with the studio in 1932 which gave her more control over her films and co-stars. She demonstrated loyalty to John Gilbert, whose career was faltering, and insisted, despite Mayer's objection, that he co-star in Queen Christina in which she played one of her most celebrated roles. (Laurence Olivier had originally been chosen to play the part.)
In 1935, David O. Selznick wanted to cast her as the dying heiress in Dark Victory, but Garbo chose Tolstoy's Anna Karenina (1935) in which she played another of her renowned roles. Her subsequent part as the doomed courtesan opposite Robert Taylor in George Cukor's Camille (1936) earned her a third Academy Award nomination. Many film critics regard it as her finest performance.
in
Queen Christina (1933)
After the disappointing Conquest (1937), Garbo was one of several major stars—including Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, and Katharine Hepburn—called "box office poison" in an open letter published by the National Theater Distributors of America.[74] She then made a comeback in her first comedy playing opposite Melvyn Douglas in Ernst Lubitsch's Ninotchka (1939). Ninotchka succeeded in lightening her somber and melancholy image, and she earned a fourth Academy Award nomination. The film was marketed with the tagline "Garbo laughs!", playing off the one for Anna Christie.
From the early days of her career, Garbo avoided the social functions in Hollywood, preferring to spend her time alone or with friends. She refused to sign autographs,[76] answered no fan mail,[78][79] and gave few interviews.[80][81] Her refusal to give interviews gave rise to press reporters' expressions, "pulling a Garbo" or "going Garbo".[82]
She is closely associated with a line from Grand Hotel, one which the American Film Institute in 2005 voted the 30th most memorable movie quote of all time,[83] "I want to be alone, I just want to be alone", a theme echoed in several of her other roles. For example, in Love (1927) a title card reads, "I like to be alone"; in The Single Standard (1929) her character says, "I am walking alone because I want to be alone"; in Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (1931) she says to a suitor, "This time I rise... and fall... alone"; in Inspiration (1931) she tells a fickle lover, "I just want to be alone for a little while"; in Mata Hari (1931) she says to her new amour, "I never look ahead. By next spring I shall probably be... quite alone"; and in Ninotchka (1939) emissaries from Russia ask her, "Do you want to be alone, comrade"? "No", she answers bluntly. By the early 1930s, the phrase had become indelibly linked to Garbo's public and private personae.[84][85]
With George Cukor's Two-Faced Woman (1941), MGM attempted to capitalize on Garbo's success as a comedienne by casting her in a romantic comedy which sought to portray her as an ordinary girl. She played a double role that featured her dancing the rumba, swimming, and skiing. The film was a critical, although not entirely a commercial, failure. Garbo referred to the film as "my grave". Two-Faced Woman was her last film; she was thirty-six and had made only twenty-seven films in sixteen years.
Although Garbo was humiliated by the negative reviews of Two-Faced Woman, she did not at first intend to retire. But her films depended on the European market and when it fell through with the war, finding a vehicle was problematic for MGM. She signed a one picture deal in 1942 to make The Girl from Leningrad but the project quickly dissolved. Still, she thought she would continue when the war was over. But she was herself ambivalent and indecisive about returning to the screen. Salka Viertel, Garbo’s close friend and collaborator, said in 1945, "Greta is impatient to work. But on the other side, she’s afraid of it". Although she was offered many roles in the 1940s and throughout her life, she rejected all but a few of them. In the few instances when she accepted, the slightest problem led her to drop out. She also worried about her age. "Time leaves traces on our small faces and bodies. It’s not the same anymore, being able to pull it off". George Cukor, director of Two-Faced Woman, and often blamed for its failure, said, "People often glibly say that the failure of Two-Faced Woman finished Garbo’s career. That’s a grotesque oversimplification. It certainly threw her, but I think that what really happened was that she just gave up. She didn’t want to go on". Although she refused to talk to friends throughout her life about her reasons for retiring, she told Swedish biographer Sven Broman four years before her death, "I was tired of Hollywood. I did not like my work. There were many days when I had to force myself to go to the studio.... I really wanted to live another life".
Still, Garbo signed a contract in 1948 for $200,000 with producer Walter Wanger, who had produced Queen Christina, to shoot a picture based on Balzac's La Duchesse de Langeais. Max Ophüls was slated to adapt and direct.[95][96][97] She made several screen tests, learned the script, and arrived in Rome in the summer of 1949 to shoot the picture. However, the financing failed to materialize and the project was abandoned. The screen tests—the last time Garbo stepped in front of a movie camera—were thought to have been lost for forty-one years until they were rediscovered in 1990 by film historians Leonard Maltin and Jeanine Basinger. Parts of the footage were included in the 2005 TCM documentary Garbo.[100]
In general, Garbo in retirement led a private life of simplicity and leisure. She made no public appearances and assiduously tried to avoid the publicity she loathed. As she had been during her Hollywood years, Garbo, with her innate need for solitude, was often reclusive. But contrary to myth, she always had many friends and acquaintances with whom she socialized, and later, traveled Occasionally, she jet-setted with well-known and wealthy personalities, striving to guard her privacy as she had during her career. She has been forever linked to her famous line in Grand Hotel: "I want to be alone." But she later remarked, "I never said, 'I want to be alone. I only said, I want to be let alone. There is a world of difference'".[84][85]
Garbo signing her US citizenship papers, in 1950
Still, she often floundered about what to do and how to spend her time, always struggling with her many eccentricities, and her life-long melancholy, or depression, and moodiness. "I suppose I suffer from very deep depression", she told a friend in 1971. It is also arguable, says one biographer, that she was bipolar. "I am very happy one moment, the next there is nothing left for me", she said in 1933.
Beginning in the 1940s, She became something of an art collector. Many of the paintings she purchased were of negligible value, but she did buy paintings by Renoir, Rouault, Kandinski, Bonnard, and Jawlensky. Her art collection was worth millions when she died in 1990.
On 9 February 1951, she became a naturalized citizen of the United States.[112] In 1953, she bought a seven-room apartment at 450 East 52nd Street in Manhattan, New York City,[113] where she lived for the rest of her life.[112]
In 1969, Italian motion picture director Luchino Visconti allegedly attempted to bring Garbo back to the screen with a small part, Maria Sophia, Queen of Naples, in his adaptation of Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. He exclaimed: "I am very pleased at the idea that this woman, with her severe and authoritarian presence, should figure in the decadent and rarefied climate of the world described by Proust". Claims that Garbo was interested in the part cannot be substantiated.
Although she became increasingly withdrawn in her final years, she had become close over time to her house-keeper and cook of thirty-one years, Claire Koger. “We were very close—like sisters", Koger said.
Throughout her life, Garbo was known for taking long, daily walks with companions or by herself. In retirement, she walked the streets of New York City dressed casually and wearing large sunglasses. "Garbo-watching" became a sport for photographers, the media, admirers, and curious New Yorkers, but she maintained her elusive mystique to the end.
Garbo never married, had no children, and as an adult, always lived alone. Her most famous romance was with her frequent co-star, John Gilbert, with whom she lived intermittently in 1926 and 1927. MGM capitalized on her relationship with Gilbert after their huge hit, Flesh and the Devil by costarring them again in two more hits, Love (1927) and A Woman of Affairs (1928). Gilbert allegedly proposed to her numerous times. Legend has it that when a double marriage was arranged in 1926 (with Eleanor Boardman and King Vidor), Garbo failed to appear at the ceremony. Her recent biographers, however, question the veracity of this story. Cecil Beaton described an affair with Garbo in 1947 and 1948 but some were sceptical because he was a self-described homosexual and was known for having taken liberties in his memoirs. Garbo claimed the affair never took place. In his diary, Erich Maria Remarque discusses a liaison with her in 1941. In 1937, she met conductor Leopold Stokowski, with whom she had a highly publicized friendship or romance while travelling throughout Europe in 1938. In 1940, Garbo met the Russian-born millionaire George Schlee who was married to fashion designer Valentina. Schlee, who split his time between the two, became Garbo's close companion and advisor until his death in 1964.
Recent biographers and others speculate that she was bisexual, or lesbian, and that she had intimate relationships with women as well as with men. Garbo was introduced to stage and screen actress Lilyan Tashman in 1927 and allegedly began an affair with her; silent film star Louise Brooks stated that she and Garbo had a brief liaison the following year.[134] In 1931, Garbo befriended the writer, socialite, and avowed lesbian Mercedes de Acosta,[135] introduced to her by her close friend, Salka Viertel, and the pair allegedly began a sporadic and volatile romance. [138] In any case, they remained friends—with ups and downs—for almost thirty years during which time Garbo wrote de Acosta 181 letters, cards, and telegrams which are kept at the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia. Garbo’s family, which controls her estate, has made 87 of them available to the public,[141] not enough to provide a sufficient representation of their possibly multifaceted relationship. In 2005, Swedish actress Mimi Pollak, a close friend in drama school, released sixty letters Garbo had written her in their long correspondence. Several letters suggest she may have had deep feelings for Pollak for many years. After learning of Pollak's pregnancy in 1930, for example, Garbo wrote, "We cannot help our nature, as God has created it. But I have always thought you and I belonged together".[142] In 1975, she wrote a poem about not being able to touch the hand of her friend with whom she might have been walking through life.
Gravestone of Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo died on 15 April 1990, aged 84, in New York Hospital as a result of pneumonia and renal failure. She had been successfully treated for breast cancer in 1984.[146] Garbo was cremated and her ashes were interred in 1999 at Skogskyrkogården Cemetery just south of her native Stockholm.[147]
She had invested wisely, primarily in stocks and bonds, and left her entire estate, $32,042,429, to her niece, Gray Reisfield.
Garbo was nominated four times for an Academy Award for Best Actress, including twice in 1930, for Anna Christie and Romance.[148][149] She lost out to Irving Thalberg's wife, Norma Shearer, who won for The Divorcee. In 1937, Garbo was nominated for Camille, but Luise Rainer won for The Good Earth. Finally, in 1939, Garbo was nominated for Ninotchka, but again came away empty-handed. Gone With the Wind swept the major awards, including Best Actress, which went to Vivien Leigh.[150][151] She was awarded an Academy Honorary Award "for her luminous and unforgettable screen performances" in 1954.[152] She did not show up at the ceremony, and the statuette was mailed to her home address.[150]
She twice received the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress for Anna Karenina, 1935, and Camille, 1936.
She won the National Board of Review Best Acting Award for Camille, 1936, Ninotchka, 1939, and Two-Faced Woman, 1941.
The Swedish royal medal, Litteris et Artibus, awarded to people who have made important contributions to culture, especially music, dramatic art or literature, was presented to Garbo in January 1937.[153]
A German postage stamp featuring Garbo
In a 1950 Daily Variety opinion poll, Garbo was voted Best Actress of the Half Century,[154]
In 1957, Garbo was awarded The George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film.[155]
In November 1983, Garbo was made a Commander of the Swedish Order of the Polar Star by order of King Carl XVI Gustaf, the King of Sweden.[156]
In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Garbo fifth on their list of greatest female stars of all time, after Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, and Ingrid Bergman.[157]
For her contributions to cinema, she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6901 Hollywood Boulevard.
She was once designated the most beautiful woman who ever lived by the Guinness Book of World Records.[158][159][160]
Garbo appears on a number of postage stamps, and in September 2005, the United States Postal Service and Swedish Posten jointly issued two commemorative stamps bearing her image.[161][162][163]
On 6 April 2011, Sveriges Riksbank announced that Garbo's portrait will be featured on the 100 krona banknote, beginning in 2014–15.[164]
Garbo was an international superstar during the late silent era and the "Golden-Age" of Hollywood and is widely regarded as a cinematic legend. Almost immediately, with the sudden popularity of her first pictures, she became a screen icon. For most of her career she was the highest paid actor or actress at MGM, making her for many years its biggest star. It has been said that at the peak of her popularity she had become a virtual cult figure.
During the silent period, Garbo developed an acting technique that is thought to have been ahead of its time, one that set her apart from other actors and actresses of the period.[169] Noted film historian Jeffrey Vance said that Garbo communicated her characters’ innermost feelings through her movement, gestures, and most importantly, her eyes. With the slightest movement of them, he argues, she subtlety conveyed complex attitudes and feelings toward other characters and the truth of the situation. This approach demonstrated a deep bond with the character, with actions seemingly made on the basis of internal motivation—now referred to as working "from the inside-out".[169] Director Clarence Brown, who made seven of Garbo's pictures, once said. "You could see thought. If she had to look at one person with jealousy, and another with love, she didn't have to change her expression. You could see it in her eyes as she looked from one to the other."[170]
Critics have argued that few of Garbo's twenty-four Hollywood films are artistically exceptional, and that many are simply bad. It has been said, however, that her commanding and magnetic performances usually overcome the weaknesses of plot and dialogue.
Because Garbo was suspicious and mistrustful of the media, and often at odds with MGM executives, she spurned Hollywood’s publicity rules. Except at the start of her career, Garbo conducted few interviews (she gave only fourteen in her life), signed no autographs, attended few industry social functions, and turned down all but a few requests for public appearances. She was routinely referred to by the press as the “Swedish Sphinx”. Her reticence and fear of strangers perpetuated the mystery and mystique that she projected both on screen and in real life. In spite of her strenuous efforts to avoid publicity, Garbo paradoxically became one of the twentieth-century's most publicized women in the world.
Garbo is the subject of several documentaries, including four made in the United States between 1990 and 2005:
She has been praised in the media and by personalities in cinema and culture, including:
Ephraim Katz (The Film Encyclopedia: The Complete Guide to Film and the Film Industry):[178] Of all the stars who have ever fired the imaginations of audiences, none has quite projected a magnetism and a mystique equal to Garbo's. "The Divine", the "dream princess of eternity", the "Sarah Bernhardt of films", are only a few of the superlatives writers used in describing her over the years. ... She played heroines that were at once sensual and pure, superficial and profound, suffering and hopeful, world-weary and life-inspiring.
Bette Davis:[179] Her instinct, her mastery over the machine, was pure witchcraft. I cannot analyze this woman's acting. I only know that no one else so effectively worked in front of a camera.
George Cukor[180] She had a talent that few actresses or actors possess. In close-ups she gave the impression, the illusion of great movement. She would move her head just a little bit and the whole screen would come alive, like a strong breeze that made itself felt.
Film credits
| Year |
Title |
Role |
Director |
Co-star |
Notes |
| 1920 |
Mr. and Mrs. Stockholm Go Shopping |
Elder sister |
|
|
Swedish: Herrskapet Stockholm ute på inköp;
An advertisement. Garbo's segment[181] is often known as How Not to Dress. The commercial premiered 12 December 1920.[25][182][25] |
| 1921 |
The Gay Cavalier |
Garbo played an extra. |
|
|
Swedish: En lyckoriddare;
Uncredited. The film is lost. |
| 1921 |
Our Daily Bread |
Companion |
|
|
Swedish: Konsum Stockholm Promo;[182] An advertisement |
| 1922 |
Peter the Tramp |
Greta |
|
|
Swedish: Luffar-Petter;[182] A two-reel comedy; Garbo's first part in a commercial film |
| 1924 |
Saga of Gosta Berling, TheThe Saga of Gosta Berling |
Elizabeth Dohna |
Stiller, MauritzMauritz Stiller |
Hanson, LarsLars Hanson |
Swedish: Gösta Berling's Saga; Garbo’s first leading part in a feature-length film, directed by her mentor, the celebrated Mauritz Stiller. |
| 1925 |
Joyless Street, TheThe Joyless Street |
Greta Rumfort |
Pabst, G. W.G. W. Pabst |
Nielsen, AstaAsta Nielsen |
German: Die freudlose Gasse; Garbo plays the principal role in this German film made by renowned director Pabst |
| 1926 |
Torrent |
Leonora Moreno
aka La Brunna |
Bell, MontaMonta Bell |
Cortez, RicardoRicardo Cortez |
First American movie. All of Garbo's subsequent movies were made in Hollywood and produced by MGM. |
| 1926 |
Temptress, TheThe Temptress |
Elena |
Niblo, FredFred Niblo |
Moreno, AntonioAntonio Moreno |
Stiller was originally assigned to direct; his directing methods and personality led to conflicts with MGM producer Irving Thalberg who fired him. |
| 1926 |
Flesh and the Devil |
Felicitas |
Brown, ClarenceClarence Brown |
Gilbert, JohnJohn Gilbert |
First of seven Garbo movies directed by Clarence Brown and first of four with co-star John Gilbert |
| 1927 |
Love |
Anna Karenina |
Goulding, EdmundEdmund Goulding |
Gilbert, JohnJohn Gilbert |
Adapted from the novel Anna Karenina by Tolstoy |
| 1928 |
Divine Woman, TheThe Divine Woman |
Marianne |
Seastrom, VictorVictor Seastrom |
Hanson, LarsLars Hanson |
The film is lost; only a 9 minute reel exists. |
| 1928 |
Mysterious Lady, TheThe Mysterious Lady |
Tania Fedorova |
Niblo, FredFred Niblo |
Nagel, ConradConrad Nagel |
|
| 1928 |
Woman of Affairs, AA Woman of Affairs |
Diana Merrick Furness |
Brown, ClarenceClarence Brown |
Gilbert, JohnJohn Gilbert |
The first of seven Garbo films with actor Lewis Stone who, with the exception of Wild Orchids, played secondary roles. |
| 1929 |
Wild Orchids |
Lillie Sterling |
Franklin, SidneySidney Franklin |
Asther, NilsNils Asther |
|
| 1929 |
Single Standard, TheThe Single Standard |
Arden Stuart Hewlett |
Robertson, John S.John S. Robertson |
Asther, NilsNils Asther,
Brown, John MackJohn Mack Brown |
|
| 1929 |
Kiss, TheThe Kiss |
Irene Guarry |
Feyder, JacquesJacques Feyder |
Nagel, ConradConrad Nagel |
Garbo's, and MGM's, last silent picture |
| 1930 |
Anna Christie |
Anna Christie |
Brown, ClarenceClarence Brown |
Bickford, CharlesCharles Bickford,
Dressler, MarieMarie Dressler |
Garbo's first talkie and first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress |
| 1930 |
Romance |
Madame Rita Cavallini |
Brown, ClarenceClarence Brown |
Gordon, GavinGavin Gordon |
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress |
| 1930 |
Anna Christie |
Anna Christie |
Feyder, JacquesJacques Feyder |
Junkermann, HansHans Junkermann,
Viertel, SalkaSalka Viertel |
MGM's German version of Anna Christie was also released in 1930; Salka Viertel, Garbo's close friend, later co-wrote several of her screenplays. |
| 1931 |
Inspiration |
Yvonne Valbret |
Brown, ClarenceClarence Brown |
Montgomery, RobertRobert Montgomery |
|
| 1931 |
Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) |
Susan Lenox |
Leonard, Robert Z.Robert Z. Leonard |
Gable, ClarkClark Gable |
|
| 1931 |
Mata Hari |
Mata Hari |
Fitzmaurice, GeorgeGeorge Fitzmaurice |
Novarro, RamonRamon Novarro |
After the multi-star Grand Hotel, Garbo's highest grossing film |
| 1932 |
Grand Hotel |
Grusinskaya |
Goulding, EdmundEdmund Goulding |
Barrymore, JohnJohn Barrymore,
Barrymore, LionelLionel Barrymore,
Crawford, JoanJoan Crawford,
Beery, WallaceWallace Beery |
Academy Award for Best Picture |
| 1932 |
As You Desire Me |
Zara aka Marie |
Fitzmaurice, GeorgeGeorge Fitzmaurice |
Douglas, MelvynMelvyn Douglas,
Stroheim, Erich vonErich von Stroheim |
First of three movies with Douglas |
| 1933 |
Queen Christina |
Queen Christina |
Mamoulian, RoubenRouben Mamoulian |
Gilbert, JohnJohn Gilbert |
|
| 1934 |
Painted Veil, TheThe Painted Veil |
Katrin Koerber Fane |
Boleslavski, RichardRichard Boleslavski |
Brent, GeorgeGeorge Brent |
|
| 1935 |
Anna Karenina |
Anna Karenina |
Brown, ClarenceClarence Brown |
March, FredricFredric March |
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress |
| 1936 |
Camille |
Marguerite Gautier |
Cukor, GeorgeGeorge Cukor |
Taylor, RobertRobert Taylor |
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Best Acting Award
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress |
| 1937 |
Conquest |
Countess Marie Walewska |
Brown, ClarenceClarence Brown |
Boyer, CharlesCharles Boyer |
Because the final cost for this extravagant production vastly exceeded its budget, coupled with its poor box office receipts, the film lost $1,397,000. |
| 1939 |
Ninotchka |
Nina Ivanovna "Ninotchka" Yakushova |
Lubitsch, ErnstErnst Lubitsch |
Douglas, MelvynMelvyn Douglas |
National Board of Review Best Acting Award
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress |
| 1941 |
Two-Faced Woman |
Karin Borg Blake |
Cukor, GeorgeGeorge Cukor |
Douglas, MelvynMelvyn Douglas |
National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Best Acting Award |
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The Joyless Street (1925) publicity still
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Wild Orchids (1929) publicity still
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Mata Hari (1931) publicity still
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Anna Karenina (1935) publicity still
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Camille (1936) with Robert Taylor
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Ninotchka (1939) with Melvyn Douglas
- ^ a b Ware, Susan; Braukman, Stacy Lorraine; Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (2004). Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary: Completing the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 227–228. ISBN 978-0-674-01488-6. http://books.google.com/?id=WSaMu4F06AQC&pg=PA227. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ a b Sjölander, Ture (1971). Garbo. New York: Harper & Row. pp. 12–13. ISBN 978-0-06-013926-1. http://books.google.com/?id=YksqAQAAIAAJ. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ a b Furhammar, Leif; Svenska filminstitutet (1991) (in Swedish). Filmen i Sverige: en historia i tio kapitel. Höganäs: Wiken. p. 129. ISBN 978-91-7119-517-3. http://books.google.com/?id=0l5ZAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ "Karl Alfred Gustafsson". Retrieved 7 December 2010.
- ^ a b D'Amico, Silvio (1962) (in Italian). Enciclopedia dello spettacolo. Rome: Casa editrice Le Maschere. p. 901. http://books.google.com/?id=PfiEKHZLfRMC. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- ^ a b (in Swedish)Lektyr 9 (3). 17.
- ^ Liberty. Liberty Library Corporation. 1974. pp. 27–31 & 54–57. http://books.google.com/books?id=vQYAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA57. Retrieved 4 August 2010. [dead link]
- ^ a b Biery 1928a. I hated school. I hated the bonds they put on me. There were so many things outside. I liked history best but I was afraid of the map—geography you call it. But I had to go to go to school like other children. The public school, just as you have in this country.
- ^ "After Twelve Years Greta Garbo Wants to Go Home to Sweden". Life: p. 81. 8 November 1937. http://books.google.com/books?id=kD8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA81. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
- ^ a b Biery 1928a. I didn't play much. Except skating and skiing and throwing snowballs. I did most of my playing by thinking. I played a little with my brother and sister, pretending we were in shows. Like other children. But usually I did my own pretending. I was up and down. Very happy one moment, the next moment – there was nothing left for me.
- ^ a b c Biery 1928a. Then I found a theater. I must have been six or seven. Two theaters, really. One was a cabaret; one a regular theater, – across from one another. And there was a back porch to both of them. A long plank on which the actors and actresses walked to get in the back door. I used to go there at seven o'clock in the evening, when they would be coming in, and wait until eight-thirty. Watch them come in; listen to them getting ready. The big back door was always open even in the coldest weather. Listen to their voices doing their parts in the productions. Smell the grease paint! There is no smell in the world like the smell of the backyard of a theater. No smell that will mean as much to me – ever. Night after night, I sat there dreaming. Dreaming when I would be inside – getting ready.
- ^ a b Biery 1928a. When I wasn't thinking, wasn't wondering what it was all about, this living; I was dreaming. Dreaming how I could become a player.
- ^ Jean Lacouture (1999) (in French). Greta Garbo: La Dame aux Caméras. Paris: Liana Levi. p. 22. ISBN 978-2-86746-214-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=09EaAQAAIAAJ. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
- ^ Robert Payne (November 1976). The Great Garbo. London: W. H. Allen. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-491-01538-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=_cxZAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 4 August 2010. "In June 1919 she left school, and never returned."
- ^ Parish, James Robert (4 August 2007). The Hollywood Book of Extravagance: The Totally Infamous, Mostly Disastrous, and Always Compelling Excesses of America's Film and TV Idols. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-470-05205-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=CJS5RL7eqdsC&pg=PA76. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
- ^ a b c "Herrskapet Stockholm ute på inköp (1920)" The Swedish Film Database, Swedish Film Institute. Retrieved 2012-04-03. (Swedish)
- ^ a b Wollstein, Hans J. (1994). Strangers in Hollywood: The History of Scandinavian Actors in American Films from 1910 to World War II. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-8108-2938-1. http://books.google.com/?id=EPkqAQAAIAAJ. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- ^ a b Katchmer, George A. (1991). Eighty Silent Film Stars: Biographies and Filmographies of the Obscure to the Well Known. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-89950-494-0. http://books.google.com/?id=xWlZAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- ^ a b Walker, Alexander; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (October 1980). Garbo: A Portrait. New York: Macmillan. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-02-622950-0. http://books.google.com/?id=nmZZAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- ^ a b Jacobs, Lea (2 April 2008). The Decline of Sentiment: American Film in the 1920s. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 258–9. ISBN 978-0-520-25457-2. http://books.google.com/?id=liWiBnpjpOsC&pg=PA258. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- ^ a b "The Torrent Review". Variety. 1 January 1926. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117795813.html?categoryid=31&cs=1. Retrieved 20 July 2010. "Greta Garbo, making her American debut as a screen star, has everything with looks, acting ability and personality. When one is a Scandinavian and can put over a Latin characterization with sufficient power to make it most convincing, need there be any more said regarding her ability? She makes The Torrent worthwhile."
- ^ a b Hall, Hadaunt (22 February 1926). "A New Swedish Actress". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=990CE3D91231EE3ABC4A51DFB466838D639EDE. Retrieved 20 July 2010. "In this current effort Greta Garbo, a Swedish actress, who is fairly well known in Germany, makes her screen bow to American audiences. As a result of her ability, her undeniable prepossessing appearance and her expensive taste in fur coats, she steals most of the thunder in this vehicle"
- ^ a b Billquist, Fritiof (1960). Garbo: A Biography. New York: Putnam. p. 106. OCLC 277166. http://books.google.com/?id=b8xZAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- ^ a b Rivera-Viruet, Rafael J.; Resto, Max (2008). Hollywood... Se Habla Español: Hispanics in Hollywood Films ... Yesterday, today and tomorrow. New York: Terramax Entertainment. pp. 31–37. ISBN 978-0-9816650-0-9. http://books.google.com/?id=hk52WGdUmbEC&pg=PA37. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- ^ a b Thomsen, Bodil Marie (1997) (in Danish). Filmdivaer: Stjernens figur i Hollywoods melodrama 1920–40. [Anmeldelse]. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press. p. 129. ISBN 978-87-7289-397-6. http://books.google.com/?id=MQ1kx9DiVOoC&pg=PA129. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- ^ a b Flamini, Roland (22 February 1994). Thalberg: The Last Tycoon and the World of M-G-M. New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 978-0-517-58640-2. http://books.google.com/?id=A3pZAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- ^ a b Biery 1928c. Mr. Stiller is an artist. He does not understand about the American factories. He has always made his own pictures in Europe, where he is the master. In our country it is always the small studio. He does not understand the American Business. He could speak no English. So he was taken off the picture. It was given to Mr. Niblo. How I was broken to pieces, nobody knows. I was so unhappy I did not think I could go on.
- ^ a b Golden, Eve (2001). Golden images: 41 essays on silent film stars. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-7864-0834-4. http://books.google.com/?id=gzycn1tYydAC&pg=PA106. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- ^ a b c Vieira, Mark A. (15 November 2009). Irving Thalberg: Boy Wonder to Producer Prince. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-520-26048-1. http://books.google.com/?id=qU52u5-ObHUC&lpg=PA67&pg=PA67. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
- ^ a b Koszarski, Richard (4 May 1994). An Evening's Entertainment: The Age of the Silent Feature Picture, 1915–1928. History of the American Cinema. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 253. ISBN 978-0-520-08535-0. http://books.google.com/?id=PLUbxH1_PREC&pg=PA253. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- ^ a b Brown, John Mason (1965). The worlds of Robert E. Sherwood: Mirror to His Times, 1896–1939. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-313-20937-6. http://books.google.com/?id=G46wAAAAIAAJ. Retrieved 20 July 2010. "I want to go on record as saying that Greta Garbo in The Temptress knocked me for a loop. I had seen Miss Garbo once before, in The Torrent. I had been mildly impressed by her visualeffectiveness. In The Temptress, however, this effectiveness proves positively devastating. She may not be the best actress on the screen. I am powerless to formulate an opinion on her dramatic technique. But there is no room for argument as to the efficacy of her allure... [She] qualifies herewith as the official Dream Princess of the Silent Drama Department of Life."
- ^ a b Conway, Michael; McGregor, Dion; Ricci, Mark (1968). The Films of Greta Garbo. Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-86369-552-0. http://books.google.com/?id=WOZkAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 20 July 2010. "Harriette Underhill in the New York Herald Tribune: 'This is the first time we have seen Miss Garbo and she is a delight to the eyes! We may also add that she is a magnetic woman and a finished actress. In fact, she leaves nothing to be desired. Such a profile, such grace, such poise, and most of all, such eyelashes. They swish the air at least a half-inch beyond her languid orbs. Miss Garbo is not a conventional beauty, yet she makes all other beauties seem a little obvious.'"
- ^ a b Zierold, Norman J. (1969). Garbo. New York: Stein and Day. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-8128-1212-1. http://books.google.com/?id=1dEaAQAAIAAJ. Retrieved 20 July 2010. "'Greta Garbo vitalizes the name part of this picture. She is the Temptress. Her tall, swaying figure moves Cleopatra-ishly from delirious Paris to the virile Argentine. Her alluring mouth and volcanic, slumbrous eyes enfire men to such passion that friendships collapse.' Dorothy Herzog, New York Mirror (1926):"
- ^ a b Hall, Morduant (11 October 1926). "The Temptress Another Ibanez Story". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A07E2D9173CEE3ABC4952DFB667838D639EDE. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- ^ a b Crafton, Donald (22 November 1999). The Talkies: American Cinema's Transition to Sound, 1926–1931. History of the American Cinema. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 494–5. ISBN 978-0-520-22128-4. http://books.google.com/?id=KFB_oT-jupQC&pg=PA495. Retrieved 17 July 2010. "In December 1929, according to the volume of Photoplay fan mail (...) Garbo remained the leading female star."
- ^ a b Crafton, Donald (22 November 1999). The Talkies: American Cinema's Transition to Sound, 1926–1931. History of the American Cinema. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 295. ISBN 978-0-520-22128-4. http://books.google.com/?id=KFB_oT-jupQC&pg=PA295. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
- ^ a b Limbacher, James L. (1968). Four Aspects of the Film. Aspects of film. New York: Brussel & Brussel. p. 219. ISBN 978-0-405-11138-9. http://books.google.com/?id=MaYfAQAAIAAJ. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
- ^ a b Crafton, Donald (22 November 1999). The Talkies: American Cinema's Transition to Sound, 1926–1931. History of the American Cinema. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 206–7. ISBN 978-0-520-22128-4. http://books.google.com/?id=KFB_oT-jupQC&pg=PA206. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
- ^ Chandler 2010, p. 119.
- ^ a b NYTimes 1936. (Garbo) refused to write her name for autograph hunters or to pose for newsreels.
- ^ a b NYTimes 1936. A woman held out a letter of introduction she said was written by a mutual friend, and Garbo said coldly: "I never accept letters."
- ^ a b NYTimes 1990. Her penchant for privacy broke all of Hollywood's rules, said her biographer, John Bainbridge. Except at the start of her career, he wrote in Garbo, she "granted no interviews, signed no autographs, attended no premieres, answered no fan mail."
- ^ a b NYTimes 1936. For the first time since she achieved international eminence in the motion-picture world, Miss Garbo granted an interview to the press and received the reporters en masse in the smoking lounge while the ship was at Quarantine.
- ^ a b NYTimes 1990. In a rare statement to reporters she acknowledged, "I feel able to express myself only through my roles, not in words, and that is why I try to avoid talking to the press."
- ^ a b Gever, Martha (8 September 2003). Entertaining Lesbians: Celebrity, Sexuality, and Self-Invention. Cambridge: New York. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-415-94480-9. http://books.google.com/?id=YPGNJMWz2DIC&pg=PA144. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes". http://www.afi.com/100years/quotes.aspx. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ a b c NYTimes 1990. A declaration often attributed to her was, "I want to be alone." Actually she said, "I want to be let alone."
- ^ a b Shapiro, Fred R., ed. (2006). The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 299. ISBN 978-0-300-10798-2. http://books.google.com/?id=ck6bXqt5shkC&pg=PA299. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ a b Reid, John Howard (January 2006). Cinemascope 3: Hollywood Takes the Plunge. Morrisville, NC: Lulu Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-4116-7188-1. http://books.google.com/?id=lmc4m9FNUAsC&pg=PA44. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- ^ a b Kellow, Brian (November 2004). The Bennetts: An Acting Family. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. p. 338. ISBN 978-0-8131-2329-5. http://books.google.com/?id=QNjXg9x3A4MC&pg=PA338. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- ^ a b Forrest, Jennifer; Koos, Leonard R. (2002). Dead Ringers: The Remake in Theory and Practice. SUNY Series, Cultural Studies in Cinema/Video. Abany: State University of New York Press. pp. 151–152. ISBN 978-0-7914-5169-4. http://books.google.com/?id=R1CRyD4Bs44C&pg=PA151. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- ^ a b "Garbo: A TCM Original Documentary". TurnerClassicMovies.com. Turner Classic Movies. 12 November 2009. http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/633367/Garbo/articles.html. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ a b Who's Who of American Women, 1983–1984. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Marquis Who's Who. December 1983. p. 279. ISBN 978-0-8379-0413-9. http://books.google.com/?id=Cz2ppa_YfZ8C. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ Kalins Wise, Dorothy (20 May 1968). "Appraising the Most Expensive Apartment Houses in the City". New York (New York Media) 1 (7): 18. ISSN 0028-7369. http://books.google.com/?id=meECAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA18. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ Brooks, Louise; Jaccard, Roland (1976) (in French). Louise Brooks: Portrait d'une anti star [Louise Brooks: Portrait of an Anti-star]. Paris: Phébus. ISBN 978-2-85940-012-5.
- ^ Schanke, Robert (2003). The Story of Mercedes de Acosta. Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0-8093-2511-X.
- ^ Schanke, Robert (2003). The Story of Mercedes de Acosta. Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0-8093-2511-X.
- ^ Smith, Dinitia (April 18, 2000). "Letters Push Garbo Slightly Into View". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/18/arts/letters-push-garbo-slightly-into-view.html?src=pm. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
- ^ Smith, Alex Duval (10 September 2005). "Lonely Garbo's love secret is exposed". The Observer (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/sep/11/film.filmnews. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
- ^ Greg Gibson (3 January 2009). It Takes a Genome: How a Clash Between Our Genes and Modern Life Is Making Us Sick. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-13-713746-6. http://books.google.com/?id=QsKnJf6PBFsC&pg=PA20. Retrieved 24 July 2010. "The list of famous women who have had breast cancer..."
- ^ Becky Ohlsen (2004). Stockholm. Melbourne: Lonely Planet. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-74104-172-9. http://books.google.com/?id=skJHrgPELxUC&pg=PA86. Retrieved 24 July 2010. "The Unesco World Heritage-listed graveyard Skogskyrkogården ... is also known as the final resting place of Hollywood actress Greta Garbo"
- ^ Kennedy, Matthew (1999). Marie Dressler: A Biography, With a Listing of Major Stage Performances, a Filmography and a Discography. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-7864-0520-6. http://books.google.com/?id=ahLtE77jYjYC&pg=PA154. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- ^ "1929–30 Academy Awards Winners and History". http://www.filmsite.org/aa29.html. Retrieved 23 July 2010. "For the first and only time in Academy history, multiple nominations were permitted for individual categories (notice that George Arliss defeated himself in the Best Actor category). [With a change of rules, this would be the last year in which performers could be nominated for roles in more than one film.]"
- ^ a b Levy, Emanuel (14 January 2003). All about Oscar: The History and Politics of the Academy Awards. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 329. ISBN 978-0-8264-1452-6. http://books.google.com/?id=dH2Lb_YhIhAC&pg=PA328. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- ^ Parish, James Robert; Stanke, Don E. (1975). The Debonairs. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-87000-293-9. http://books.google.com/?id=9XtZAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- ^ "The Official Academy Awards Database". http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/BasicSearchInput.jsp. Retrieved 13 July 2010.
- ^ "People, Jan. 11, 1937". Time. 11 January 1937. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,757280,00.html. Retrieved 24 July 2010. "In Council of State King Gustaf of Sweden decorated Cinemactress Greta Garbo with the nation's gold medal litteris et artibus, highest Swedish award for artistic achievement."
- ^ "Cinema: Best of the Half-Century". Time. 6 March 1950. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,858696,00.html. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
- ^ "Awards granted by George Eastman House International Museum of Photography & Film". George Eastman House. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
- ^ a b "Greta Garbo Honored". The New York Times: p. 17. 3 November 1983. http://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/03/arts/greta-garbo-honored.html. Retrieved 25 July 2010. "Greta Garbo was made a Commander of the Swedish Order of the North Star yesterday by order of King Carl XVI Gustaf, the King of Sweden. The private ceremony in the New York home of Mrs. Jane Gunther was also attended by Mr. and Mrs. Sydney Gruson. The honor, extended only to foreigners, was presented to Miss Garbo by Count Wilhelm Wachtmeister, the Swedish Ambassador to the United States, in recognition of the actress's distinguished service to Sweden. Miss Garbo, born in Stockholm, is now an American citizen."
- ^ "AFI's 100 Years, 100 Stars, Greatest Film Star Legends". American Film Institute. 16 June 1999. Archived from the original on 22 August 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080822055357/http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/stars.aspx. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
- ^ Petrucelli, Alan W. (9 September 2007). "Garbo's lonely legacy: Seeking the actress's final resting place". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.postgazette.com/pg/07252/815281-37.stm. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- ^ Reynolds, Elisabeth (2 November 2005). "Greta Garbo Returns". The Epoch Times. http://en.epochtimes.com/news/5-11-2/34045.html. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- ^ Callahan, Dan (7 September 2005). "DVD Review: Garbo – The Signature Collection". Slant Magazine. http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review/garbo-the-signature-collection/746. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- ^ Healey, Matthew (17 September 2005). "Arts, Briefly; Another Garbo Role". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E5DD1F31F934A2575AC0A9639C8B63&scp=3&st=nyt#. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
- ^ "Greta Garbo Has Starring Role on U.S. Postal Stamp" (Press release). United States Postal Service. 25 September 2005. http://www.usps.com/communications/news/stamps/2005/sr05_045.htm. Retrieved 9 September 2008. "...the U.S. Postal Service and Sweden Post jointly issued two commemorative postage stamps bearing her likeness. Both stamps, issued near what would have been her 100th birthday, are engravings based on a 1932 photograph..."
- ^ ed. William J. Gicker (2006). "Greta Garbo 37¢" (print). USA Philatelic 11 (3): 12.
- ^ "Sweden's new banknotes and coins". Stockholm: Sveriges Riksbank. 6 April 2011. http://www.riksbank.com/templates/Page.aspx?id=46685. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
- ^ a b Vance, Jeffrey (2005). The Mysterious Lady, The Garbo Silents Collection: Audio commentary, DVD; Disk 1/3. (TCM Archives).
- ^ Stevenson, Swanson (27 October 2005). "A Century After Her Birth, Greta Garbo’s Allure Lives On.". Chicago Tribune. }}
- ^ O'Connor, John J. (3 December 1990). "Reviews/Television; A Life of Garbo, Mostly Through Films". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/03/arts/reviews-television-a-life-of-garbo-mostly-through-films.html. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
- ^ "'Biography' Greta Garbo: The Mysterious Lady". IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0411067/combined. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
- ^ Linan, Steven (4 September 2011). "'Garbo' Paints a Full Portrait of Star". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2001/sep/04/entertainment/ca-41799. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
- ^ "TCM offers close-up of silent star Garbo". Associated Press. 6 September 2005. http://articles.boston.com/2005-09-06/ae/29221217_1_kevin-brownlow-greta-garbo-mysterious-star. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
- ^ Katz, Ephraim (1979). The Film Encyclopedia: The Complete Guide to Film and the Film Industry (1st ed.). New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co.. p. 465. ISBN 978-0-690-01204-0.
- ^ Davis, Bette (1990) [1962]. The Lonely Life. New York: Berkley Books. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-425-12350-8.
- ^ Long, Robert Emmet (2001). George Cukor: Interviews. Conversations with Filmmakers. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-57806-387-1.
- ^ "Greta Garbo's first performance: a commercial." YouTube, 27 December 2010. Retrieved 2012-04-03. This clip also features other "Garbo commercials" from 1920/1921.
- ^ a b c The Saga of Gosta Berling (DVD). New York: Kino International. 2006. UPC 738329046927. http://www.kino.com/video/item.php?product_id=943.
- ^ Bacon, Henry (1998). Visconti: Explorations of Beauty and Decay. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 208 ff. ISBN 978-0-521-59960-3. http://books.google.com/?id=LDnVJpwFNVoC. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
- ^ Beugnet, Martine; Schmid, Marion (2004). Proust at the Movies. Studies in European Cultural Transition. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing. pp. 50 ff. ISBN 978-0-7546-3541-3. http://books.google.com/?id=jEtoof432j4C. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
- ^ Mariani, John (29 December 1975). "The Greatest Movie Set Ever". New York Magazine (New York Media, LLC) 9 (1): 54. ISSN 0028-7369. http://books.google.com/?id=bOMCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA54. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
- ^ Parish, James Robert; Bowers, Ronald L. (1973). The MGM Stock Company: The Golden Era. London: Allan. p. 241. ISBN 978-0-7110-0501-3. http://books.google.com/?id=GLRZAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
- ^ "People, Mar. 1, 1971". Time. 1 March 1971. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878913,00.html. Retrieved 26 July 2010. "Hardly since General Douglas MacArthur's 'I shall return' has so momentous a comeback loomed. According to Italian Cinema Director Luchino Visconti, fabled Film Star Greta Garbo, 65, who has been dodging cameras for 30 years, has actually asked to play in his forthcoming movie version of Marcel Proust's seven-volume Remembrance of Things Past. The role that caught her fancy: Maria Sophia, the sixtyish Queen of Naples, who will have only one scene. Nothing has been signed as yet, but Visconti sounded as if Garbo's reappearance was already a fait accompli. Said he: 'I am very pleased at the idea that this woman, with her severe and authoritarian presence, should figure in the decadent and rarefied climate of the world described by Proust.'"
- Bainbridge, John (1955). Garbo (1st ed.). Garden City, NY: Doubleday. 256 pages. OCLC 1215789. http://books.google.com/?id=HsxZAAAAMAAJ&dq=isbn%3A9780030850455. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
- Bainbridge, John (10 January 1955). "The Great Garbo". Life. http://books.google.com/?id=NVQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA84. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
- Bainbridge, John (17 January 1955). "The Great Garbo: Part Two: Greta's Haunted Path to Stardom". Life. http://books.google.com/?id=HlQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA76. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
- Bainbridge, John (24 January 1955). "The Great Garbo: Part Three: The Braveness to Be Herself". Life. http://books.google.com/?id=61MEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA112. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
- Barnes, Bart (16 April 1990). "Glory That Was Garbo; An Unparalleled Career and a Permanent Place in the Screen Pantheon". The Washington Post.
- Biery, Ruth (April 1928). "The Story of Greta Garbo As Told By her to Ruth Biery, Chapter I". Photoplay. http://www.greta-garbo.de/interview-with-greta-garbo-photoplay-1928-ruth-biery/. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
- Biery, Ruth (May 1928). 1928-garbo-story.html "The Story of Greta Garbo As Told By her to Ruth Biery, Chapter II". Photoplay. http://www.greta-garbo.de/interview-with-greta-garbo-photoplay-1928-ruth-biery/photoplay-may 1928-garbo-story.html. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
- Biery, Ruth (June 1928). "The Story of Greta Garbo As Told By her to Ruth Biery, Chapter III". Photoplay. http://www.greta-garbo.de/interview-with-greta-garbo-photoplay-1928-ruth-biery/photoplay-june-1928-garbo-story.html. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
- Borg, Sven Hugo (1933). The Only True Story of Greta Garbo's Private Life. London: Amalgamated Press. http://www.greta-garbo.de/private-life-of-greta-garbo-by-sven-hugo-borg. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
- Broman, Sven (1990). Conversations with Greta Garbo. New York: Viking Press, Penguin Group. ISBN isbn 06708277X.
- Carr, Larry (1970). Four Fabulous Faces: The Evolution and Metamorphosis of Swanson, Garbo, Crawford and Dietrich. Doubleday and Company. ISBN 0-87000-108-6.
- Chandler, Charlotte (2010). I Know Where I'm Going: Katharine Hepburn, A Personal Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 119. ISBN 978-1-4391-4928-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=gwc3FYlODrcC&pg=PA119. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
- LaSalle, Mick (6 July 2005). "Interview with John Gilbert's daughter, Leatrice Gilbert Fountain". San Francisco Chronicle. http://articles.sfgate.com/2005-07-06/entertainment/17382145_1_film-history-leatrice-joy-gilbert-fountain-cecil-b-demille.
- "Greta Garbo Back – A Bit Less Aloof: Film Star, Still Showing the Effects of Illness, Consents to 10-Minute interview". The New York Times. 4 May 1936. http://www.greta-garbo.de/com/greta-garbo-back.html. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
- New York Times, The (16 April 1990). "Greta Garbo, 84, Screen Icon Who Fled Her Stardom, Dies". http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0918.html. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
- Palmborg, Rilla Page (1931). The Private Life of Greta Garbo. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-90-00-00721-9. http://www.greta-garbo.de/the-private-life-of-greta-garbo. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
- Paris, Barry (1994). Garbo. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-8166-4182-6.
- Ricci, Stefania, ed. (2010). Greta Garbo: The Mystery of Style. Milan: Skira Editore. ISBN 978-88-572-0580-9.
- Schanke, Robert A. (2003). "That Furious Lesbian": The Story of Mercedes de Acosta. Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0-8093-2511-X.
- Souhami, Diana (1994). Greta and Cecil. San Francisco: Harper. ISBN 978-0-06-250829-4. http://books.google.com/?id=1NEaAQAAIAAJ. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- Swenson, Karen (1997). Greta Garbo: A life Apart. New York: Scribner. ISBN 978-0-684-80725-6. http://books.google.com/?id=K2JZAAAAMAAJ.
- Vickers, Hugo (1994). Loving Garbo: The Story of Greta Garbo, Cecil Beaton, and Mercedes de Acosta. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-679-41301-1.
- Vieira, Mark A. (2005). Greta Garbo: A Cinematic Legacy. New York: Harry A. Abrams. ISBN 978-0-8109-5897-5.
- "Greta Garbo Back – A Bit Less Aloof: Film Star, Still Showing the Effects of Illness, Consents to 10-Minute interview". The New York Times. 4 May 1936. http://www.greta-garbo.de/com/greta-garbo-back.html. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
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| Male Legends |
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| Female Legends |
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| Persondata |
| Name |
Garbo, Greta |
| Alternative names |
Gustafsson, Greta Lovisa (real name) |
| Short description |
actress |
| Date of birth |
18 September 1905 |
| Place of birth |
Stockholm, Sweden |
| Date of death |
15 April 1990 |
| Place of death |
New York City, United States |
![Greta Garbo lesbian kisses [1933]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130118190733im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/uPZIqw9RcOU/default.jpg "in Queen Christina")
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