Greta Garbo left behind a mystery.
Swedish actress Greta Garbo is one of the biggest mysteries of the film world, or at least that’s the image that has been created of her.
Garbo was a Hollywood legend from the 20s to the 40s. Then he suddenly stopped acting, disappeared and the legend was complete.
Swedish Greta Garbo’s real name was Greta Gustafsson. He was born in Stockholm in 1905 to a working-class family in Södermalm. Her father died when Garbo was only 14 years old. The teenage girl had to quit school and went to work in a department store. There she was made an advertising face, and with this Garbo began to get film roles.
In Stockholm, Garbo met the Finnish-Jewish film director and actor Mauritz Stiller, and got a role in his film. Stiller has been considered the discoverer of Garbo.
Garbo’s films had caught the attention of the big MGM production company, and soon Garbo and Stiller were on their way to Hollywood. Garbo was specifically wanted in Hollywood, Stiller no longer got the opportunity to direct films starring Garbo. Stiller returned to Sweden.
In the 1920s, movies did not yet have sound. Garbo’s first Hollywood film Torrent was a silent film followed by other silent films. Garbo became a star, one of the biggest stars in the movie world.
At the turn of the decade, movies came with sound, and it was this decade that became the most successful of Garbo’s career.
Greta Garbo became a style icon. Photo from 1931. PDO
She got the nickname “Godly Garbo” because of her fateful roles. Garbo’s most significant films were, among others Mata Hara, Grand Hotel, Camellia woman and Anna Karenina.
In the movie Grand Hotel, Garbo’s iconic, even ominous lines were heard: “I want to be alone.” – “I want to be alone”.
Withdrawal
Garbo was one of the biggest movie stars of her time. Decades later, in 1999, the American Film Institute named Garbo the fifth greatest actress of the century.
Garbo was already very private in her career. He did not give interviews, did not attend premieres and did not sign autographs.
The Swede tried in every way to protect his privacy, but was not completely successful. Photographers were constantly on his butt.
Garbo was nominated for an Oscar several times, but did not win until 1955 when she was awarded an honorary Oscar for her career. Garbo was not present to accept the award. He had already left Hollywood behind and never returned.
Garbo’s last film Gemini appeared in 1941. He did not make a single film after that. Garbo disappeared. He was only 36 years old at the time. He had acted in 26 films in 17 years.
The complete withdrawal from the public made Garbo a downright mythical figure, about whom almost nothing was known. However, something was known. He lived in New York until the end of his life, never married and had no children. He became a US citizen in 1951.
Garbo also had apartments in France and Switzerland. His New York apartment was located in a skyscraper on Manhattan’s East Side. The apartment was full of antiques, valuable carpets and numerous works of art, such as works by Renoir.
Total withdrawal from the public was not typical at that time, on the contrary. Stars wanted to be stars. Garbo, on the other hand, even used the pseudonym Harriet Brown.
Swedish journalist Sven Broman met Garbo in the Swiss Kloster. Somewhat surprisingly, Garbo agreed to speak to Broman, who wrote a long series of articles about Garbo.
Garbo said that she left Hollywood because the movie scripts she received were bad and she should have been in the public eye all the time.
Garbo also said she regrets going into a film career, preferring to have acted at the prestigious Dramaten theater in Stockholm.
Greta Garbo in Ninotchka in 1939. image sport
Garbo fell ill with breast cancer, from which she recovered in the mid-80s.
He was later diagnosed with kidney failure and underwent dialysis treatments several times a week in his hometown of New York.
A huge fortune
Garbo died, reportedly reclusive, in New York of pneumonia and kidney failure. Garbo was 84 years old when she died.
Actors’ fees during Garbo’s career were nowhere near what they are today, but Garbo was successful in her financial endeavors. He invested his commission in stocks and bonds. Measured in today’s money, he had assets of around 60 million euros.
Property inheritance Gray Gustafson Reisfieldwhose aunt Garbo was.
Reisfield and Garbo were close to each other, especially in adulthood, despite the 27-year age difference.
The LA Times writes how Reisfield and Garbo often spent time together by the pool and took joint trips to the Caribbean. Gray Reisfield died in 2017 at the age of 85.
Greta Garbo never cared about publicity. PDO
– My mother thought Garbo was a really remarkable woman. I think my mother really respected him because he had achieved so much, and he had done it in his own way. Greta Garbo was very independent at a time when women weren’t, and I think that was a real lesson for my mother, son of Gray Reisfield Derek told the magazine.
Garbo was not buried immediately after her death. Gray Reisfield wanted to avoid media attention and find just the right burial place for Garbo.
Greta Garbo’s ashes were buried nine years after her death at Skogskyrkogården cemetery in Stockholm.
Greta Garbo photographed in New York shopping. Antonio Di Filippo/Shutterstock
Sources: LA Times, The GuardianIMDb.