Greta Garbo

Screen queen Greta Garbo was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson on September 18, 1905, in Stockholm, Sweden. Garbo’s father died when she was fourteen years old, forcing the teenager to leave school and begin working as a barbershop lather girl. Garbo later worked as a department store clerk, where she also landed a role in a series of short film ads for the store. Her appearances in the ads were eventually seen by director, Eric Petscher, who then gave the young hopeful a bit part in his 1922 film Peter The Tramp.

During the early 1920s, Garbo studied acting at Stockholm’s prestigious Royal Dramatic Theatre, where she met director Mauritz Stiller. Stiller trained Garbo, and gave her a new stage name as well as a starring role in the 1924 silent film, The Story of Gösta Berling. Garbo went on to star in other films in both Sweden and Germany before moving to the United States to work for MGM studios.

With MGM, Garbo was cast in silent movies such as The Torrent in 1926, Flesh and the Devil in 1927, and Love also in 1927, with John Gilbert. Garbo and Gilbert were set to be married until she left her leading man at the altar. Garbo was also romantically linked to a series of actresses, including Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, and Louise Brooks.

Garbo made her debut in a "talkie" film with Anna Christie in 1930. In 1932, she starred alongside John Barrymore in the Oscar winning film, Grand Hotel, in which she delivered her now famous line, "I want to be alone." Garbo once pointed out a discrepancy with the line, stating "I never said, 'I want to be alone.' I only said, 'I want to be left alone.' There is all the difference."

With her innate allure and acting ability, Garbo earned the respect of many of her contemporaries, including Bette Davis, who once said that "Her instinct, her mastery over the machine, was pure witchcraft. I cannot analyse this woman's acting. I only know that no one else so effectively worked in front of a camera." However, not all of her fellow actors appreciated Garbo; she and Clark Gable were rumored to have a mutual dislike for one another.

Garbo’s diva behavior was commemorated in print during the final interview of her career, given to the London Daily Mail. When the reporter interviewing Garbo began questioning her by commenting, "I wonder..." Garbo cut him off by firing back, "Why wonder?" before storming off.

In 1950, Garbo was voted Best Silent Actress of the Century, and has the distinction of being listed as the most beautiful woman who ever lived by the Guinness Book of World Records.

As Garbo gradually began declining film roles, she also grew increasingly reclusive, living in New York City and shunning the spotlight. Garbo died in New York City on April 15, 1990, at the age of eighty-four, and her ashes are buried in Stockholm, Sweden.

YUDDY