She was born Greta Gustafsson in inauspicious circumstance in Stockholm in 1905, and wound up in her first full-length movie — playing a maid — in Sweden in 1921.
Twenty years and some 30 titles later, her career was voluntarily over, and she famously embarked for the rest of her life on a singular journey premised insistently on being alone.
But there is no question that Garbo is a screen icon, considered one of Hollywood’s most beautiful classic stars of the Thirties — some say THE most beautiful. And she could act. Her love scenes with silent screen hero John Gilbert can still raise temperatures.
How much do you know about Greta Garbo. Less than you think you do? Well, let’s see how you fare with the following 10 queries of our Monday Quiz. We were inspired here by Frederick Sands and Sven Broman, coauthors of The Divine Garbo, published 11 years before her death at age 84 in 1990. (Answers tomorrow.)
1) Question: During her peak years at MGM, Garbo was known by various nicknames. Which of the following is not one of them? a) The Swedish Sphinx; b) La Divina; c) Hot Lips; or d) The Face.
2) Question: Although their acting styles were very different, Garbo and Clark Gable very much admired each other’s work. a) True; or b) False?
3) Question: Silent screen star Gilbert was so in love with costar Garbo that he made enemies with Louis B. Mayer because the MGM boss passed unflattering remarks about her. a) True; or b) False?
4) Question: “Garbo Talks” was the studio’s promotional pitch for which one of Garbo’s pictures? a) Flesh and the Devil; b) Queen Christina; c) Anna Christie; or d) Ninotchka.
5) Question: Although she learned English remarkably easily, Garbo never lost the lilting Scandinavian speech rhythm that many of her countrymen cannot escape. a) True; or b) False?
6) Question: Garbo and sister Swede Ingrid Bergman were close friends throughout their professional lives? a) True; or b) False?
7) Question: Which of the following men figured most importantly in Garbo’s life? a) Gayelord Hauser; b) Mauritz Stiller; c) Max Gumpel; or d) Rouben Mamoulian.
8) Question: Throughout her many romances, Garbo always regretted that none of the liaisons resulted in marriage? a) True; or b) False.
9) Question: Unusual for a foreign actress in Hollywood, Garbo took to the movie capital very quickly and more or less felt at home. a) True; or b) False.
10) Question: What did Garbo have in common with Bette Davis and Olivia DeHavilland? a) All three got into protracted contract disputes with studio bosses; b) All three were prima donnas; c) All three lived long lives; or d) All three made scads of money during their careers?
As we approach Easter, and today on the very anniversary of GRETA GARBO’s death, Joe & Frank are taking us back to their very same quiz from June 2, 2014…
1) C
2) B
3) A
4) C
5) B
6) B
7) B
8) B
9) B
10) Joe & Frank’s answer: Garbo like Bette Davis and Olivia DeHavilland engaged in protracted contractual battles with studio front offices. Garbo tired of playing fallen women after 1926’s Flesh and the Devil, and tussled with MGM’s Mayer over scripts and more money. She locked her feet and eventually won a contract that raised her weekly salary from $600 to $5,000.
GRETA GARBO’s most famous tagline was always said to be, “I want to be alone,” spoken with a heavy accent which made the word “want” sound like “vont.” This quote as noted comes from her role in Grand Hotel . However, Garbo later commented, “I never said, ‘I want to be alone.’ I only said, ‘I want to be let alone.’ There is all the difference.”
Garbo reportedly entered into a variety of intimate liaisons with men and women, but her long-standing relationship appeared to be with the leading man, John Gilbert, whom she agreed to marry but she failed to show up for her wedding. In her retirement, during which she became increasingly reclusive, she lived in New York City. A 1986 Sidney Lumet film, GARBO TALKS, reflected the continuing popular obsession with the star. Until the end of her life, Garbo-watching became a sport among the paparazzi and the media, but she remained elusive.
In 1953, she bought a seven-room apartment in New York City at 450 East 52nd Street, where she lived for the rest of her life.
She would at times jet-set with some of the world’s best known personalities such as Aristotle Onassis and Cecil Beaton, but chose to live a private life. She was known for taking long walks through the New York streets dressed casually and wearing large sunglasses, always avoiding prying eyes, the paparazzi, and media attention. Garbo did, however, receive one last flurry of publicity when nude photos, taken with a long-range lens, were published in People in 1976. Trim and relaxed, she was enjoying a swim.
Garbo lived the last years of her life in absolute seclusion. Having invested very wisely, particularly in commercial property along Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, she was known for extreme frugality, and was very wealthy.
She died in New York Hospital on April 15, 1990, aged 84, as a result of pneumonia and renal failure, which had shut down her stomach and kidneys. She had previously been operated on and treated for breast cancer, which required a partial mastectomy, from which she recovered.
She was cremated, and after a long legal battle her ashes were finally interred at the Skogskyrkogården Cemetery in her native Stockholm. She left her entire estate, estimated at $20,000,000 to her niece, Gray Reisfield of New Jersey.
In September 2005, the United States Postal Service and Swedish Posten (Sweden) jointly issued two commemorative stamps bearing her likeness.
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