Source:
Above: Greta Garbo, photographed by Alexander Binder.
Above: Greta with Mimi Pollak.
(image courtesy of Kotte Autographs)
The 600th post on this blog!
Greta Garbo, born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson (born September 18, 1905, died April 15, 1990), was a Swedish-American actress. Generally regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses of all time, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona due to her many portrayals of tragic characters in her films and for her subtle and understated performances. In 1999 the American Film Institute ranked Greta Garbo fifth on its list of the greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema.
Greta launched her career with a secondary role in the 1924 Swedish film The Saga of Gösta 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 stirred interest with her first American silent film, Torrent (1926). Greta's performance in Flesh and the Devil (1927), her third movie, made her an international star. In 1928, Greta starred in A Woman of Affairs, which catapulted her into becoming MGM's highest box-office grossing star, usurping the long-reigning Lillian Gish. Greta's other well-known films from the silent era are The Mysterious Lady (1928), The Single Standard (1929) and The Kiss (1929).
Greta's first sound film was Anna Christie (1930). MGM marketers enticed the public with the tagline "Garbo talks!" That same year, she starred in Romance. For her performances in these films, she received her first of the three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1932, her success allowed her to dictate the terms of her contract, and she became increasingly selective about her roles. She continued in films such as Mata Hari (1931), Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (1931), Grand Hotel (1932), Queen Christina (1933), and Anna Karenina (1935).
Many critics and film historians consider her performance as the doomed courtesan Marguerite Gautier in Camille (1936) to be Greta's finest. The role gained her a second Academy Award nomination. However, her career soon declined and she was one of the many stars labelled as box office poison in 1938. Her career revived upon her turn to comedy in Ninotchka (1939), which earned her a third Academy Award nomination, but after the failure of Two-Faced Woman (1941), Greta retired from acting at the age of 35, after having appeared in 28 films.
After retiring, Greta declined all opportunities to return to the screen. Shunning publicity, she led an intensely private life. She was an avid art collector whose collection contained many works that were of negligible monetary value, but also included works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pierre Bonnard and Kees van Dongen, which were worth millions of dollars when she died.
Ever since the early days of her career, Greta avoided industry social functions, preferring to spend time alone or with her friends. When acting on set, she insisted on no one looking at her so that she could focus and give the best performance, and she was deeply critical of them and never liked watching herself in films. She never signed autographs or replied to fan mail, and rarely gave interviews. She never appeared at awards ceremonies even when she was nominated. Her aversion to publicity and the press was undeniably genuine — and exasperating to the studio at first. In an interview in 1928, Greta explained that her strong desire for privacy had been with her even as a young child, saying: "As early as I can remember, I have wanted to be alone. I detest crowds, don't like many people."
Because Greta was so suspicious and distrustful of the media, and often in conflict with MGM executives, she ignored Hollywood's publicity rules. 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. MGM eventually capitalised on this, as it bolstered the image of the silent and reclusive woman of mystery. In spite of her strenuous efforts to avoid publicity, Greta paradoxically became one of the twentieth century's most publicised women in the world. She is closely associated with one of her lines from Grand Hotel, one which the American Film Institute in 2005 voted the 30th most memorable movie quote of all time: "I want to be alone; I just want to be alone." The theme was a running gag that began during the period of her silent movies.
In her retirement, Greta generally lead a private life of simplicity and leisure. She made no public appearances and assiduously avoided the publicity which she loathed. As she had been during her Hollywood years, Greta, with her innate need for solitude, was often reclusive. But, contrary to popular myth, from the beginning she had many precious friends and acquaintances with whom she socialised and later traveled. Occasionally she jet-setted with well-known and wealthy personalities, striving to guard her privacy just as she had during her career.
Still, she was often fickle about what to do and how to spend her time ("drifting" was the word she used for this), always struggling with her many eccentricities and her lifelong melancholy and loneliness. In 1971, she said to a friend, "I suppose I suffer from very deep depression." Based partly on a 1933 statement that "I am very happy one moment, the next there is nothing left for me", one of her biographers claims that Greta might have been bipolar, and still others believe from this and the following evidence that she might likely have been autistic. It is not uncommon for autistic people to have co-morbid depression, bipolar disorder and/or social anxiety, which are especially common in autistic women and girls. It's also been found that autistic people are more likely to identify as one or more of the LGBTQ+ identities and/or orientations than do most neurotypical people, and Greta was very likely bisexual or perhaps biromantic and asexual. She never married or had any children and lived alone, although she was very close with her cook and housekeeper Claire Koger, who worked for Greta for 31 years and described their bond as "almost like sisters."
Greta's most famous lover was her fellow actor and co-star John Gilbert, who was her live-in partner on and off in 1926 and 1927. Soon after their relationship began, he began helping her with acting on the set, teaching her how to behave like a star, how to socialise at parties (which she undoubtedly found an absolute nightmare), and how to deal with studio bosses. John proposed to Greta numerous times, and she always agreed at first and then backed out at the last minute. She said of this: "I was in love with him. But I froze. I was afraid he would tell me what to do and boss me. I always wanted to be the boss."
Greta also had relationships, liaisons and love affairs with Leopold Stokowski, Erich Maria Remarque, Cecil Beaton, George Schlee, Lilyan Tashman, Louise Brooks, and, most famously, Mercedes de Acosta. According to biographer Moon Laramie, Greta's relationship with Mercedes sparked her interest in the occult and theosophy. The two women remained friends — with ups and downs — for 30 years, during which time Greta wrote 181 letters, cards and telegrams to Mercedes, although her family, who controls her estate, has only made 87 of these publicly available.
Throughout her life, Greta was known for taking long, daily walks, either with companions or alone. In retirement, she walked the streets of New York City, dressed casually and wearing large sunglasses to make sure no one would recognise her. "Garbo-watching" became a sport for photographers, the media, admirers and curious New Yorkers, but she maintained her elusive mystique to the very end. As an old woman she kept a small collection of Troll dolls, which she kept under a couch cushion and would often arrange and rearrange in a specific order...
Greta Garbo's letter to fellow actress, theatre director and friend, Mimi Pollak in Helsingborg. A farewell letter as she is about to leave Sweden for America, mentioning her friend, Moje (Mauritz Stiller), has been out of the picture for so long. ...
Greta and Mimi attended the Royal Dramatic Theatre school in Stockholm from 1922 to 1924. Mimi married in 1927 and had children, although she and Greta kept in touch for over 60 years, and it is possible that Greta had romantic feelings for her.
The letter (partial transcript):
Mina inneligaste hälsningar till Dina Föräldrar & syskone
Tacka i mitt ställe fri all vänlighet.
21-6-25:
Älskling Mimosa.
När Du får detta är jag i ordning (tror jag att resa till Amerika. Jag hade trott ett tag att vi skulle få vara tillsammans nästa säsong men... För ett par dagar sedan ringde Moje till mig för första gången på två månader och meddelade Amerikaresan.
Åh vad jag längtar efter Dig, vad jag har längtat efter Dig. Jag har varit svartsjuk på Kilo därför har jag aldrig träffat honom. Hälsa han om Du ifrån mig, han tror nog att jag är en buffer. Mimmie jag sänder Dig min adress senare om Du vill skriva fast jag är så långt borta. Tack för att Du bad mig hem till Dig nu. Tack tack för allt Du gjort och varit för mig, på återseende Mimmie
Glöm mig inte! Alltid Din Greta
English translation:
... When you get this I will be ready to travel to America. I had thought for a while that we could be together next season but... A few days ago Moje called me for the first time in two months and informed me about the trip to America.
I am leaving as a rather unhappy young lady as you can understand. How I would have liked to have talked to you before this. Thank you my darling for your enchanting letter. If you knew how good it feels to have a person who is so sweet toward one I love you, I thank you. I am happy for you, Mimmie, I heard someone say today that Nisse was so boundlessly in love with you. You more than anyone deserved to be happy. If I come back in a year, I hope that I can bask in your presence since myself can never find any sun. You are the only one, darling, that I have really talked to about what hurts and I want to keep you Mimmie as my good, good friend. Oh, how I have longed for you. I have been jealous of Kilo and because of that I have never met him. Say hello from me. He must think I am a buffer. Mimmie I'll send you my address later if you want to write even though I am so far away. ...
No comments:
Post a Comment