“There are many things in your heart you can never tell another person. They are you, your private joys and sorrows, and you can never tell them. You cheapen yourself, the inside of yourself when you tell them.” – Greta Garbo

Greta Lovisa Gustafsson was born into an impoverished family in Södermalm, Stockholm, Sweden; they lived in an area of the city regarded as a slum.

“It was eternally grey—those long winter’s nights. My father would be sitting in a corner, scribbling figures on a newspaper. On the other side of the room, my mother is repairing ragged old clothes, sighing. We children would be talking in very low voices, or just sitting silently. We were filled with anxiety as if there were danger in the air. Such evenings are unforgettable for a sensitive girl. Where we lived, all the houses and apartments looked alike, their ugliness matched by everything surrounding us.” – Greta Garbo

Greta Gustafsson left school at 13 f filmad her father fell ill, one of the millions who contracted Spanish flu just after the end of the First World War. He died when Greta was fourteen years old. The ill-educated Garbo worked at menial jobs before she was asked to model hats for the catalogue of the department store where she worked. In 1920, a director of film commercials for the store cast Gustafsson in roles advertising women’s clothing. In 1922, Gustafsson caught the attention of film director Erik Arthur Petschler, who gave her a part in his short comedy, Peter the Tramp. (1922)

A bigger opportunity followed when Greta earned a scholarship at the prestigious Royal Dramatic Theater, Sweden’s premier school for aspiring actors. But Greta cut her education short after just a year after meeting director Mauritz Stiller, Sweden’s leading silent film director, who wanted the young actress to star in his new film, The Legend of Gosta Berling (1924). Stiller also suggested that Greta Gustafsson change her name to Greta Garbo.

Streets of Sorrow (1925) with Garbo playing a prospective prostitute established her as a star in Europe and convinced Louis B Mayer to offer director Mauritz Stiller a contract. Stiller agreed to join MGM on one condition, that his protege, Greta Garbo, was also signed to MGM.

Garbo’s first American press interview was brief and abrupt:

“I was born. I had a mother and father. I went to school. What does it matter?” – Greta Garbo’s first interview with the American Press

Garbo was not directed by Stiller in her first Hollywood film. Cast as a Spanish peasant desperate to become an opera star in The Torrent (1926) directed by Monta Bell. The film was a hit and Garbo was praised for her performance.

She was given top billing after her first American appearance, playing opposite Antonio Moreno in The Temptress. Stiller, who was engaged as director, spoke little English, quarrelled with Moreno and was promptly fired. Stiller went Paramount, where he again encountered problems with his bosses. He returned to Sweden in 1928 and died a year later. The Temptress (1926) was re-shot by Fred Niblo, the extra expense of doing so made it the only Garbo silent to lose money, despite being one of the most popular films of the season.

The financial failure of The Temptress was offset by the rave reviews that confirmed her star status; MGM cast her as the lead in a further eight silents, three with leading man John Gilbert. Flesh and the Devil (1926), Love (1927) and A Woman of Affairs (1928) exploited the on-screen chemistry between Garbo and Gilbert. The romance had been felt in real-life by the two stars, by the time their first film had wrapped the pair were living together.

Greta Garbo gave her last American interview in 1927 and began to insist on a degree of privacy on set; she prohibited visitors, including the studio brass and demanded that black flats or screens surround her to prevent extras and technicians from watching her. When asked about these eccentric requirements, she said: “If I am by myself, my face will do things I cannot do with it otherwise.” Her withdrawal from the glare of publicity only increased the public’s fascination with her.

MGM was concerned about their biggest star’s transition to sound fearing that her low voice and Swedish accent would prove unpopular. MGM was the last major studio to issue a sound picture, Garbo was the star of their last silent feature, The Kiss (1929).

“The Kiss”, with an unusual taste exhibited in casting and direction, is entertainment of the holding kind. And it is one of Miss Garbo’s best, without stretching the elastic of kindness. Though this is silent it may be stronger that way than with dialog…Few actresses could weather the series of close-ups required of Miss Garbo in this one. In each she registers an individual perfection. The series proves her biggest asset is her naturalness.* – Variety Nov 29, 1929

The move to sound could not be put off, the public was fascinated by the audio dimension of the moving picture even though the visuals became essentially static due to the heavy soundproof booths surrounding the bulky cameras. Greta Garbo starred in Anna Christie (1930), an adaptation of the 1922 play by Eugene O’Neill. It was marketed using the slogan “Garbo Talks!”

MGM’s worries that Greta Garbo’s voice, like that of many big stars of silent films, would prove unacceptable to audiences were unfounded. Garbo’s English was so good by the time she appeared in this film, she had to add an accent in several retakes to sound more like the Swedish Anna. Audiences heard Garbo speak for the first time but had to wait until the first sixteen minutes of the film to pass before her first line:

“Gimme a whisky, ginger ale on the side, and don’t be stingy, baby!” Greta Garbo

Contemporary reviews expressed surprise at the low pitch of Garbo’s voice. Mordaunt Hall of the New York Times wrote that “although the low-toned voice is not what is expected from the alluring actress, one becomes accustomed to it, for it is a voice undeniably suited to the unfortunate Anna.” Variety said that “La Garbo’s accent is nicely edged with a Norse “yah”, but once the ear gets the pitch it’s okay and the spectator is under the spell of her performance.” John Mosher (New Yorker) called it “a boy’s voice, really, rather flat, rather toneless, yet growing more attractive as the picture advances and you become somewhat accustomed to it.

Anna Christie was nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award for Anna Christie and her following film, Romance (1930). In 1931, she teamed up with Clark Gable in Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise, and in 1932, she co-starred with Melvyn Douglas in As You Desire Me. That same year, she was part of an all-star cast that included John and Lionel Barrymore, Joan Crawford and Wallace Beery in Grand Hotel, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

In 1933, Garbo took on one of her most ambitious roles as a Swedish monarch in the historical costume drama Queen Christina. She was paired for the fourth and last time with John Gilbert whose own career had severely declined after the introduction of the talkies. The film portrays the life of Queen Christina of Sweden who became monarch at the age of six in 1632 and grew to be a powerful and influential leader. As well as the demands of being a war-leader during the Thirty Year’s War Queen Christina is expected to marry a suitable royal figure and produce an heir. However, she falls in love with a visiting Spanish envoy whom she is forbidden to marry as he is a Roman Catholic and must choose between love and her royal duty. The film was a major commercial and critical success in the United States and worldwide.

Other films followed, such as Anna Karenina (1935), Camille (1936, for which she earned her third Oscar nod) and Conquest (1937). In the late 1930s, however, Garbo’s box office appeal began to diminish. With America during the Depression, the actress’ cosmopolitan style didn’t resonate with audiences like it once had. In an effort to remake herself, Garbo was cast in a pair of comedies, Ninotchka (1939) and Two-Faced Woman (1941), neither of which matched her previous successes, though she did receive her final Oscar nomination for the former. After a contract dispute with MGM, she retired from acting. Garbo later received a special Academy Award in 1955 honouring the entirety of her career.

“I was born; I grew up; I have lived like every other person. Why must people talk about me? We all do the same things in ways that are just a little different. We go to school, we learn; we are bad at times; we are good at others. We find our life work and we do it. That’s all there is to anyone’s life story, isn’t it?” – Greta Garbo

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