Greta Garbo

Lore & Background

Garbo launched her career with a supporting 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), and her performance in Flesh and the Devil (1926) made her an international star. By 1928, she starred in A Woman of Affairs, which catapulted her to MGM's highest box-office star, surpassing Lillian Gish. Her first sound film, Anna Christie (1930), was marketed with the tagline 'Garbo talks!' and earned her the first of three Academy Award nominations for Best Actress. She continued in films such as Mata Hari (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 her finest, gaining her a third Academy Award nomination. Her career declined and she was labelled box office poison in 1938, but revived with the comedy Ninotchka (1939), which earned a fourth nomination. Two-Faced Woman (1941) was her last of 28 feature films. In 1954, she was awarded an Academy Honorary Award 'for her luminous and unforgettable screen performances'.

Reader's Guide

Greta Garbo's significance lies in her transformation from a working-class Swedish girl into an international film icon whose subtle, melancholic performances defined an era of cinema. Her ability to command creative control over her contracts by 1932 and her selective role choices reflected her artistic independence. Despite being labeled box office poison in 1938, her revival with Ninotchka demonstrated her versatility. Her retirement after 1941, during which she shunned publicity and became an art collector, added to her mystique. The American Film Institute ranked her fifth on its list of the greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema in 1999. Her legacy endures through her filmography and her reputation as a private, enigmatic figure who chose to leave Hollywood behind, stating she was tired of the work and wanted to live another life.

Did You Know?

• Garbo was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson in Södermalm, Stockholm, Sweden.
• She was nicknamed Kata for the first ten years of her life because she mispronounced her first name.
• Her first film role was in a 1920 commercial for a department store.
• She received an Academy Honorary Award in 1954 for her screen performances.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Greta Garbo (18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990), born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish born actress and Hollywood icon." — Greta Garbo "I never said, "I want to be alone." I only said, "I want to be let alone! There is all the difference." — Greta Garbo "I am bewildered by the thousands of strange people who write me letters. They do not know me. Why do they do that?" — Greta Garbo "In alphabetical order by author or source." — Greta Garbo