Greta Garbo

Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, known by her stage name Greta Garbo (Stockholm, September 18, 1905 – New York, April 15, 1990), was an actress Swedish nationalized American who lived most of her life in the United States and gained international recognition for participating in various Hollywood film productions, both silent and sound, in the 1920s and 1930s. She retired from acting in 1941. Although she began her artistic career as an advertising model, she established herself mainly in the cinema, where she began acting in 1920. She obtained her first leading role in the 1924 silent film The Saga of Gösta Berling, under directed by Mauritz Stiller. The following year she was hired by the Metro Goldwyn Mayer studios, which is why she soon moved to Hollywood.

Based in Hollywood, she made twenty-four films; She was given the nickname "the woman who doesn't laugh" because of her acting conditions for the drama. Among the silent productions in which he appeared are Torrent —his first American film—, Flesh and the Devil, by Clarence Brown, Love, The divine woman and A woman of affairs.

Published under the slogan "Garbo speaks!", her first sound film (directed by Clarence Brown) was released in 1930: Anna Christie, which earned her the first of four nominations Oscar for best actress. She would eventually be awarded an honorary one in 1954, but she did not go to collect it; she in her place was Nancy Kelly.

During the 1930s, it was directed by filmmakers such as Clarence Brown, George Fitzmaurice, and Edmund Goulding, and starred alongside some of the most important actors of the time, including Robert Montgomery, Clark Gable, Melvyn Douglas, and John Gilbert. Her role as Nina Ivanovna "Ninotchka" Yakushova in the comedy Ninotchka (1939), directed by Ernst Lubitsch, was highly praised. At the time of her death, she had about thirty filmed films, two short films and various advertisements. In 1999, Garbo was named by the American Film Institute as the fifth greatest female star in Hollywood history.

A peculiar character

Born in Södermalm, a humble neighborhood of Stockholm with the name of Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, she became the main myth of the Seventh Art. Her early retirement at just 36 years old contributed to magnify the legend of & # 34; la Garbo & # 34;.

The American Film Institute considers her the fifth greatest female star in film history.

She was known by the nicknames «La divina», «La esfinx» and «La mujer que no laugh» due to the serious rictus of her face, only interrupted in a scene from her memorable film Ninotchka where he suddenly bursts out laughing. This exception caused rivers of ink to flow in newspapers around the world with the headline "La Garbo laughs!".

His life was always surrounded by mystery and multiple questions that he never answered. He retired at thirty-six and lived the rest of his life in near seclusion.

Precisely her enigmatic behavior and her stubborn bachelorhood gave rise to multiple rumors in the media about her lesbianism; among those rumors, that of being the lover of the Mexican actress Dolores del Río and the Spanish-American writer Mercedes de Acosta, with whom she maintained 28 years of friendship and abundant correspondence that remained as a legacy after the death of Mercedes in 1968..

His distant relationship with Marlene Dietrich was also suspicious, both pretended they didn't know each other until Orson Welles introduced them in 1945, but it has been revealed that they had worked together on a silent film, both being very young, and that they had a brief love affair According to these rumors, Greta felt mistreated and mocked by Marlene, and when they became famous they chose to avoid each other and deny all contact. Dietrich considered "La Garbo" as a narrow-minded woman, of a provincial character and always referred to her in derogatory terms. So many rumors, that her friends never confirmed or denied, in the long run only increased the legend of Greta Garbo, turning her into one of the greatest myths of the seventh art.

Even today her face is considered perhaps the most perfect to have graced the big screen. The semiotician Roland Barthes considers it "an archetype of the human face" and states:

The face of the Garbo represents that unstable moment when cinema extracts existential beauty from an essential beauty.

Ramón Novarro, his counterpart in the 1931 film about Mata Hari, gave his opinion of his film partner:

[Garbo] That's all one could dream. In addition to beautiful, it is seductive, full of mystery, with a distance that only men understand, because that is a quality that is usually only found in men.” - “I think everyone should get married, all except artists. You can't serve two masters: marriage and art... Greta Garbo is, first of all, the artist and I, I hope, I am, too. She's promised she'll never get married and I know I won't.

Ramón Novarro (1931)

Biography

Greta Garbo began her acting career in Sweden, during the silent film era, where she participated in several productions as an extra and in two others with director Mauritz Stiller, who was also hired by Hollywood.

Early Years

Greta Garbo at 14 years (1919)

At the early age of 14, Greta's father died, forcing her to drop out of school to work and thus help the family in their economically disadvantaged condition (with only her mother and two brothers). Subsequently, she got a job at a store known as Pub , in Stockholm and it didn't take long for her to be chosen for the department store's advertising campaigns. As soon as her picture appeared in the newspapers, she was cast in a short advertising film for the same Pub chain. This ultimately made her taste the film since she soon appeared in another short film. A comedy director, Eric Petscher, gave her a small break in his production Luffar-Petter (Peter the Trickster) in 1922 and very soon young Greta was awarded a scholarship to study at a drama school in Stockholm.

From Sweden to Hollywood

Greta Garbo as Ninotchka and Melvyn Douglas as Count d' Algou in a movie scene.

In 1924, Garbo had her first big break, when famed director Mauritz Stiller cast her in a role in his film The Legend of Gosta Berling (Gosta Berlings Saga).. The success of this film benefited both; Greta and Stiller were contracted with the great M.G.M. (Metro Goldwyn Mayer) in California. His first film was El Torrente (The Torrent) and little by little Garbo became one of the great stars of silent cinema with films like Love (Love) and La mujer ligera (A woman of affairs), among others. With heartthrob John Gilbert she made three almost consecutive blockbuster films. They started an affair and decided to get married, but Garbo did not show up at her wedding and Gilbert ended up fighting that day with producer Louis B. Mayer, who had laughed at her. Despite this love affair , Garbo and Gilbert continued to work together and when he was already experiencing her decline as a star, she got him back for a role in Queen Christina of Sweden .

From silent to talkies

Greta Garbo smiling in 1935.

Greta Garbo's rise as a star was in the last years of silent films, but the advent of talkies did not harm her, like Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson and other divas of the moment. Although the new sound films betrayed her thick Swedish accent, Garbo retained and reinforced her stardom, and already with the first sound film of her (Clarence Brown's Anna Christie ) she was nominated to the Oscar award.

Films like Mata Hari, Queen Christina of Sweden and Anna Karenina cemented the legend of "la Garbo". It is said that when shooting Ninotchka , and for fear of failure, he wanted to leave the profession, although previously he had been reducing his work.

She was nominated for best actress by the American Academy of Motion Pictures in 1930, 1932, 1937 and 1939, but she never received an Oscar, forgetting that years later the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided to make amends with an honorary Oscar in 1954 that he refused to pick up, because in his own words "he did not want to see anyone's face." The trophy was sent to her home.

A range of successful films would follow, but it would be films like Grand Hotel, Queen Christina of Sweden, Anna Karenina and Camille which would always be associated with her image and even earned her new Oscar nominations. In 1939 Garbo made his first comedy, Ninotchka , which was not only a great commercial and box office success, but also contributed to another Oscar nomination. M.G.M found a new way to market one of its biggest stars: as a comedian. In 1941 Garbo returned to light comedy with the film La mujer de dos caras ( Two-Faced Woman ), which would be his last film appearance.

Greta Garbo was associated with the phrase «I want to be alone», although she specified: «I meant to say that they leave me alone, which is different». Her lifestyle was described as a hermit and somewhat aloof, because unlike other stars la Garbo she kept away from the big events of Hollywood, preferring solitude and anonymity.

Premature retirement

Greta Garbo at age 45 in 1950.

At the height of her popularity, Garbo left the world of cinema at the young age of 36 and spent the rest of her life in a well-appointed New York apartment near Central Park, surrounded by works of art; he collected paintings by Renoir, Pierre Bonnard, and Kandinsky, among other masters. She lived completely withdrawn and avoiding any contact with the news media. She did not go to parties or public events; even when she was offered an Honorary Oscar, she turned it down. Her last interview was as brief as it was surprising: the journalist began by saying "I wonder..." and she interrupted him and left saying "Why wonder?"

Star of fame in Hollywood.

After her years in Hollywood, Garbo moved to New York City, and in 1951 she became a US citizen. Finally in 1954 she received an Oscar for her great film career. In the following 30 years of his life he would maintain contact with great personalities of the jet set and despite not having appeared in any film since The Two-Faced Woman in 1941, the public interest in his person never waned; the paparazzi constantly besieged her, and rumors of her return to the movies (some false, others real), were never lacking. Garbo would later comment, "My life has been a journey of hideouts, back doors, secret elevators, and every possible way to blend in so as not to be bothered by anyone." The great star of yesteryear went on to become the most famous recluse in the world.

Since her retirement was discovered in the 1960s, journalists harassed her until the last moment and stood guard outside her house chasing her to photograph her in her old age, which is why she was always seen wearing large dark glasses and hats that they hid their face. Such precautions were not enough; She was photographed on several occasions, including in the year of her death, and in 1976 People magazine published images of her swimming naked, captured with a telephoto lens.

Despite his early retirement, he had a significant fortune thanks to wise real estate investments in the luxurious area of Rodeo Drive (Beverly Hills, Los Angeles). But she lived simply, eating frugally, and although she cultivated friendships with celebrities such as Aristotle Onassis and photographer Cecil Beaton, she dressed very discreetly and wore undyed gray hair to blend in. On one occasion, she shared a cab ride with Burt Reynolds, who did not recognize her; he did not know who she was until the moment of saying goodbye to her.

Death

Greta Garbo's tablet.

Garbo's health began to decline in the mid-1980s, and on April 15, 1990, he died of renal syndrome and pneumonia in New York City. She was 84 years old. In June 1999 her ashes were buried in the Skogskyrkogarden Cemetery in Stockholm. His fortune, estimated at $20 million, was inherited by his niece, a resident of New Jersey.

Filmography

Silent Films

• Mr. and Mrs. Stockholm go shopping (1920)
• The gay cavalier (1920) – Intervened as an extra unaccredited.
• Our daily bread (1921)
• The scarlet angel (1921) – As a non-accredited extra.
• Peter the cheat (1922)
• The story of Gösta Berling (The legend of Gösta Berling(1924). Director: Mauritz Stiller.
• The jewelless street (Under the mask of pleasure) by Georg Wilhelm Pabst (1925)
• The torrent (Between oranges(1926). Director: Monta Bell, based on the novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
• The temptress (The land of all(1926). Director: Fred Niblo. His first job in America. U.S.
• Flesh and the Devil (The devil and the flesh(1926). Director: Clarence Brown. He worked with John Gilbert.
• Love (1927), with John Gilbert. Free adaptation of Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina.
• The divine woman (The divine woman(1928). Only nine minutes of film remain.
• The mysterious lady (The mystery lady(1928). Director: Fred Niblo.
• A woman of affairs (The light woman(1928). Director: Clarence Brown; John Gilbert.
• Wild orchids (Wild orchids(1929). Director: S. Franklin.
• The single standard (Tennis(1929). Director: John Robertson.
• The kiss (The kiss(1929). Director: Jacques Feyder.

Sound films

• Anna Christie (1930). Director: Clarence Brown. Garbo's first sound film and his first Oscar nomination.
• Romance (Romance(1930). Director: Clarence Brown. Second Oscar nomination to the best actress.
• Anna Christie (1931). Director: Jacques Feyder. German version of the previous year's film.
• Inspiration (1931). Director: Clarence Brown.
• Susan Lenox (1931). Director: R. Leonard.
• Mata Hari (1931). Director: George Fitzmaurice.
• Grand Hotel (1932). Director: Edmund Goulding.
• As you desire me (As you wish(1932). Director: George Fitzmaurice.
• Queen Cristina of Sweden (1933). Director: Rouben Mamoulian.
• The painted veil (The veil painted(1934). Director: Richard Boleslawski.
• Ana Karenina (1935). Director: Clarence Brown. New York Critic Circle Award for Best Actress.
• Camille (Margarita Gautier(1936). Director: George Cukor. Third Oscar nomination to better actress.
• Conquest or Maria Walewska (1937). Director: Clarence Brown.
• Ninotchka (1939). Director: Ernst Lubitsch. Fourth Oscar nomination to the best actress.
• Two-faced woman (The woman on both sides(1941). Director: George Cukor.

Awards and honorary distinctions

• Award Honorary Oscar for his unforgettable performances (1954).
• Commander of the Order of the Polar Star (1983).

Awards and distinctions

Oscar Awards

Posthumous works about Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo became a film icon and after her death her figure was evoked in different cinematographic and literary works.

Documentaries

• The divine Garbo (1990), TNT, produced by Ellen M. Krass and Susan F. Walker, related by Glenn Close
• Greta Garbo: The mysterious lady (1998), Biography Channel, reported by Peter Graves
• Greta Garbo: A lone star (2001), AMC
• Garbo (2005), TCM, led by Kevin Brownlow, reported by Julie Christie

Literature

The writer from Palencia, César Arconada, published in 1926 a famous Life of Greta Garbo. It is not a conventional biography, but an avant-garde and fanciful book, written with magnificent prose.

The poet Antonio Portela dedicated a poem to Greta Garbo in his book Dogos and wrote his doctoral thesis on the topic The myth of Greta Garbo in Spanish and Latin American Literature, under the direction of Professor Luis García Jambrina. This thesis was defended before the court on May 27, 2013, at the University of Salamanca.

In La vida después (Planeta, 2011) by Marta Rivera de la Cruz, the story is told of a supposed unpublished film by Greta Garbo that was discovered after her death.

The professional relationship between the film director Clarence Brown and the actress is recreated in the story by Óscar Esquivias "La casa de las mimosas" (2010).

The writer Montero Glez has evoked the lesbian relationship between Greta Garbo and Mercedes de Acosta in his story «El secreto de la Garbo», published in the book Polvo en los labios (Editorial Lengua de trapo, 2012).