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Greta Garbo
Greta Lovisa Gustafsson [1905-1990]
![color portrait of Greta Garbo [1905-90]](images/GretaGarbo-color.jpg "color portrait of Greta Garbo [1905-90]") | short profile |
"What, when drunk, one sees in other women, one sees in Garbo sober."
— film critic Kenneth Tynan
"[Garbo] never gives a bad performance. There are one or two disappointing films,
like 'Mata Hari', but it's still full of fabulous imagery."
— cinema historian Kevin Brownlow
"[Greta Garbo] was like a horse on the track. Nothing, and then the bell goes,
and something happens." — cinematographer James Wong Howe
B I O
h e r e
In July 1920, she modeled for newspaper advertisements and appeared in two short film advertisements, which were eventually seen by comedy director Erik Arthur Petschler; he gave her a part in "Peter The Tramp" [1922]. Two years later, she met director Mauritz Stiller, who trained her in cinema acting technique, gave her the stage name Greta Garbo, and cast her in a major role in the silent film "The Saga of Gosta Berling" [1924]. When Stiller came to Hollywood, he brought Greta with him.
In 1949, master cinematographer James Wong Howe was chosen to shoot test footage for the proposed comeback of Garbo in the movie "La Duchesse de Langelais".
Greta Garbo entry at Wikipedia
Greta Garbo credits [1920-41] at Internet Movie Database
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Greta Garbo received an Honorary Oscar® in 1955 and was nominated 4 times (1930-1940) |
a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Movies of Greta Garbo
browse Greta Garbo on DVD at Amazon
Greta Garbo credits [1920-41] at Internet Movie Database
 | "The Garbo Silents Collection" [2005] includes "Flesh and The Devil" [1926] co-starring John Gilbert & Lars Hanson; "The Temptress" [1926] co-starring Lionel Barrymore, Antonio Moreno, Roy D'Arcy & Armand Kaliz; and "The Mysterious Lady" [1928] co-starring Conrad Nagel Warner Home Video b&w DVD [9/2005] 2 disks for $35.99 |
 | "Garbo: The Signature Collection" [2005]
Warner Home Video DVD set [9/2005] 10 disks for $77.99 includes "Anna Christie" [English 1930] with Charles Bickford; "Anna Christie" [German 1931]; "Mata Hari" [1931] with Ramon Novarro & Lionel Barrymore; "Grand Hotel" [1932] with John Barrymore, Wallace Beery & Lionel Barrymore; "Queen Christina" [1933] directed by Rouben Mamoulian, with John Gilbert; "Anna Karenina" [1935] with Fredric March; "Camille" [1936] directed by George Cukor, with Robert Taylor & Lionel Barrymore; and "Ninotchka" [1939] directed by Ernst Lubitsch, with Melvyn Douglas; three Garbo silent features {as above}: "The Temptress" [1926]; "Flesh and The Devil" [1926]; and "The Mysterious Lady" [1928]; PLUS the T.C.M. original documentary "Garbo" [2005] and other extras |
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"Peter The Tramp" [1922] director Erik Arthur Petschler
"The Saga of Gosta Berling" [1924] director Mauritz Stiller
"The Joyless Street" [Germany May 1925, USA July 1927]
starring Greta Garbo, Antonio Moreno & unbilled Marlene Dietrich;
full credits at IMDb
http://www.amazon.com/The-Joyless-Street/dp/B000W9TTSS/ = truncated 60 min version
"The Temptress" [M.G.M. Oct 1926 silent] /B002EAYEE2/
starring Greta Garbo & Antonio Moreno;
full credits at IMDb
"Flesh and The Devil" [M.G.M. Dec 1926 silent]
Directed by Clarence Brown; starring John Gilbert, Greta Garbo & Lars Hanson
full credits from IMDb; listed on National Film Registry (2006)
"Love" [1927 silent] /B002EAYE4M/
Two endings were filmed, one happy and one sad • based on Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina";
continuity by Frances Marion; starring Greta Garbo & John Gilbert •
full credits from IMDb
"The Mysterious Lady" [M.G.M. Aug 1928 silent]
starring Greta Garbo & Conrad Nagel;
full credits at IMDb
"Wild Orchids" [M.G.M. Feb 1929] /B002EAYEGK/
Directed by Sidney Franklin, starring Greta Garbo & Nils Asther;
full credits at IMDb
"The Single Standard" [M.G.M. July 1929] /B0026R5708/
starring Greta Garbo & Nils Asther;
full credits at IMDb
"The Kiss" [M.G.M. Nov 1929] /B002EAYE38/
Directed by Jacques Feyder, starring Greta Garbo & Nils Asther;
full credits at IMDb
"Romance" [1930]
"Anna Christie" [M.G.M. Feb 1930]
  | "Garbo talks!" The title character, raised in far Minnesota, returns to live with her fisherman father. A shipwrecked Scottish seaman falls in love with her, but she resists her attraction to him. The father tries to stop the romance, and the girl resents the men's assumed control over her life. She reveals the tragic events of the past 15 years; the men react, followed by a kind of forgiveness • Co-produced & directed by Clarence Brown; script by Frances Marion [1886-1973], based on the 1921 play by Eugene O'Neill [1888-1953]; starring Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, George F. Marion, Marie Dressler, James T. Mack & Lee Phelps; Oscar noms for Best Director, Best Actress & Best Cinematography
The DVD includes both the English- & German-language versions Warner Home Video b&w DVD [9/2005] for $17.99 M.G.M. b&w VHS [9/98] out of prodn/many used full credits from IMDb • 1930 movie entry at Wikipedia blue 27"x40" poster (top) from Amazon for $19.99
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 | "Anna Christie" [M.G.M. Jan 1931] "Garbo talks!" in German! An example of Simultaneous Bilingual Film Production during the early talkies. This German-language version was made on the same sets after the 1930 version was completed, the only duplicate cast member was Garbo. (She considered this to be the better version.) • Directed by Jacques Feyder; German script & dialogue by Walter Hasenclever & Frank Reicher; starring Greta Garbo, Theo Shall, Hans Junkermann, Salka Viertel & Herman Bing • The DVD includes both the English- & German-language versions Warner Home Video b&w DVD [9/2005] for $17.99 full credits from IMDb • 1931 movie entry at Wikipedia |
"Susan Lenox: Her Fall & Rise" [1931]
"Mata Hari" [1931]
with Ramon Novarro & Lionel Barrymore;
full credits at IMDb
"Grand Hotel" [1932]
with John Barrymore, Wallace Beery & Lionel Barrymore;
full credits at IMDb
"As You Desire Me" [M.G.M. May 1932]
 | A bar entertainer in Budapest lives with novelist Salter, remembers nothing of her past, and drinks a lot; a strange man shows up claiming that the woman is a war refugee and the wife of Bruno, an officer in the Italian Army; she goes with him to Italy; Salter then shows up in Italy with a mentally-damaged woman that he claims is the real wife • Directed by George Fitzmaurice; adapted by Gene Markey from the 1930 stageplay "Come Tuo Mi Voi" by Luigi Pirandello; starring Greta Garbo {as a blonde}, Melvyn Douglas, Erich von Stroheim, Owen Moore, Hedda Hopper, Rafaela Ottiano, Warburton Gamble & Albert Conti
M.G.M./Warner b&w VHS [9/98] out of prodn/used 27"x40" black poster from Amazon for $18.99 full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia |
 | "As You Desire Me" stageplay [1930] by Luigi Pirandello, new translation by Hugh Whitemore Oberon Books 8x5 pb [9/2006] for $18.95 E.P. Dutton & Co. 9x6 hardcover [1931] out of print/used |
"Queen Christina" [1933]
directed by Rouben Mamoulian, with John Gilbert •
full credits at IMDb
"The Painted Veil" [studio mo 1934]
"Anna Karenina" [1935]
with Fredric March • full credits at IMDb
"Conquest" [1937]
"Camille" [studio mo 1937]
Directed by George Cukor; co-written by Frances Marion; starring Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor & Lionel Barrymore;
listed on Time Magazine's All-TIME 100 Movies (5/2005); VHS available • full credits from IMDb
"Ninotchka" [M.G.M. Oct 1939]
 | Three Russian agents are sent to Paris to sell jewelry confiscated during the Revolution; a former Russian noblewoman enlists a British count to retreive her family's jewelry, the three agents are seduced by Western decadence, and stiff agent Ninotchka Ivanoff is sent to bring the jewels and agents back • Co-produced & directed by Ernst Lubitsch; written by Melchior Lengyel, Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder & Walter Reisch; starring Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire, Bela Lugosi, Sig Ruman & Felix Bressart; Oscar nomi- nations for Best Picture, Best Original Story, Best Screenplay, Best Actress (Garbo); listed on National Film Registry (1990); listed on Time Magazine's All-TIME 100 Movies (5/2005)
Warner Home Video b&w Blu-ray [9/2015] for $13.89 Warner Home Video b&w DVD [11/2018] for $17.99 Warner Home Video b&w DVD [9/2005] for $19.57 M.G.M. Video b&w VHS [1/99] out of prodn/used 11"x17" square 'Garbo laughs!' poster from Amazon for $14.99 full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia |
 | "Ernst Lubitsch's Ninotchka Starring Greta Garbo" script & critical text [1975] Edited by Richard J. Anobile Flare/Avon pb [4/75] out of print/used Universe/Darien House 11x8¾ hardcover [4/75] out of print/many used |
"Two-Faced Woman" [studio mo 1941]
unproduced "La Duchesse de Langeais" [Italy 1949]
American producer Walter Wanger signed Garbo for a one-picture 'comeback' project; they agreed on Honoré de Balzac's 1834 novel, with filming to be in Italy; James Mason agreed to co-star, and Max Ophüls agreed to adapt & direct; cinematographer James Wong Howe shot test footage with Garbo, which was lost until discovery in a garage
circa 1990; delays and the loss of financing eventually killed the project.
details at 'Garbo Forever' fansite
Works About Greta Garbo
browse books about Greta Garbo
"The Private Life of Greta Garbo" [Doubleday, Doran 1931] by Rilla Page Palmborg
"The Only True Story of Greta Garbo’s Private Life"
[Amalgamated Press, London 1933] by Sven-Hugo Borg
"Garbo" [1961] by John Bainbridge
http://www.amazon.com/Garbo-John-Bainbridge/dp/0030850452/
 | "30 Years of Fun" [Fox Feb 1963] 85-minute docufilm features silent-era actors & filmmakers Billy Bevan, Charlie Chaplin, Charley Chase, Andy Clyde, Vernon Dent, Douglas Fairbanks, Greta Garbo, Oliver Hardy, Buster Keaton, Harry Langdon, Stan Laurel, Tom Mix, Mabel Normand, Mary Pickford, 'Snub' Pollard, Edna Purviance, and King Vidor Produced, written & directed by Robert Youngson [1917-74] Televista b&w DVD [10/2007] for $24.95 full credits at IMDb |
 | "The Love Goddesses: A History of Sex in the Cinema" [Paramount March 1965] Co-produced, co-written & directed by Saul J. Turell; co-produced & co-written by Graeme Ferguson; narrated by Carl King; featuring Theda Bara, Brigitte Bardot, Ingrid Bergman, Clara Bow, Louise Brooks, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Ava Gardner, Jean Harlow, Rita Hayworth, Audrey Hepburn, Deborah Kerr, Hedy Lamarr, Dorothy Lamour, Gina Lollobrigida, Carole Lombard, Sophia Loren, Myrna Loy, Jeanette MacDonald, Jayne Mansfield, Marilyn Monroe, Nita Naldi, Pola Negri, Simone Signoret, Barbara Stanwyck, Gloria Swanson, Elizabeth Taylor, Shirley Temple, Gene Tierney, Lana Turner & Mae West Image Ent. widescreen color/b&w DVD [7/99] out of prodn/used Embassy/Nelson color/b&w VHS [undated] for $24.50 full credits at IMDb |
"Garbo" [Holt, Rinehart & Winston 1971] by John Bainbridge
http://www.amazon.com/GARBO-FAMOUS-BIOGRAPHY-LAVISHLY-ILLUSTRATED/dp/B0010LMWDQ/
"An Orange Full of Dreams" [Dodd, Mead 1971] /B00409IX7Y/
by Antoni Gronowicz, Foreword by Greta Garbo
"Walking With Garbo" [1991] by Raymond W. Daum & Vance Muse
http://www.amazon.com/Walking-Garbo-Raymond-Greta-Vance/dp/B001Y1QX9Q/
http://www.amazon.com/Walking-Garbo-Raymond-vamce-Greta/dp/B0027BVFQ8/
 | "Conversations With Greta Garbo" [1992] by Sven Broman Viking 9¾x7¼ hardcover [3/92] out of print/ many used |
 | "The Man Who Shot Garbo: The Hollywood Photographs of Clarence Sinclair Bull" [1989] by Terence Pepper & John Kobal Nearly 200 portraits of filmstars such as Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Katherine Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Vivian Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor & Spencer Tracy, and 20 years (1921-41) of exclusive studio portraits of Greta Garbo Schirmer/Mosel Verlag pb [4/96] out of print/used S&S hardcover [11/89] out of print/many used |
"Garbo" [Knopf 1995] by Barry Paris /081664182X/
"Greta Garbo: A Life Apart" [9/1997] by Karen Swenson /0684807254/
"Greta Garbo: The Mysterious Lady" [A&E Biography April 1998]
Produced, written & directed by John Griffin;
full credits at IMDb
http://www.biography.com/people/greta-garbo-9306210/videos/greta-garbo-full-episode-2073245152
"Greta and Cecil" [Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2000] by Diana Souhami /184212160X/
 | "The Girls: Sappho Goes To Hollywood" [2000] by Diana McLellan Focuses on an informal and very secret circle that ranged from Berlin to New York to Hollywood, with Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Tallulah Bankhead, Mercedes De Acosta & Salka Viertel as central figures. St. Martin's Griffin 9¼x6¼ pb [9/2001] out of print/used Robson Books 9¼x6½ imported hardcover [2001] out of print/used St. Martin's Press 9¼x6½ hardcover [10/2000] out of print/many used |
 | "LIFE: Great Romances, Volume 2" [2003] looks at couples Clark Gable & Carole Lombard, Douglas Fairbanks & Mary Pickford, Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall, Greta Garbo & John Gilbert, and Grace Kelly & Prince Rainier Madacy Records b&w/color DVD [1/2003] for $14.40 complete set on 4 disks Madacy Records b&w/color DVD set [1/2003] 4 disks for $35.99 |
 | "Garbo" documentary [T.C.M. 2005] 86-minute TV documentary that includes the 1949 'comeback' test footage shot by cinematographer James Wong Howe. Co-produced by Patrick Stanley; co-written & co-directed by Christopher Bird & Kevin Brownlow; narrated by Julie Christie; featuring Cari Beauchamp, Charles Busch, Leatrice Joy Gilbert, James Karen, Barry Paris, Gray Reisfield, Karen Swenson, Gore Vidal & Mark Vieira; with archive footage of George Cukor, Ernst Lubitsch, Mimi Pollak, Louis B. Mayer, Victor Sjöström & Irving Thalberg T.C.M. Archives color/b&w DVD [2008] out of prodn/many used full credits at IMDb |
"Garbo: Portraits From Her Private Collection" [8/2005] by Scott Reisfield /0847827240/
 | "Alone: A Valentino Mystery" [2009] by Loren D. Estleman "A letter from Garbo is the kiss of death." An elderly department store mogul offers Valentino a copy of a rare Greta Garbo silent short for the U.C.L.A. Archive if Valentino will dig up some dirt on the man's assistant, who is threatening blackmail. Days later, Valentino discovers the assistant shot dead in his client's office. Forge Books 8¼x5½ pb [11/2011] for $10.87 Forge Books 8½x6½ hardcover [12/2009] for $11.52 |
"Greta Garbo: The Mystery of Style" [9/2010] from Museo Salvatore Ferragamo /8857205800/
 | "Outlaw Marriages: The Hidden Histories of Fifteen Extraordinary Same-Sex Couples" [2012] by Rodger Streitmatter chapters/subjects include: Walt Whitman & Peter Doyle, 1865-1892; Martha Carey Thomas & Mamie Gwinn, 1878-1904; Ned Warren & John Marshall, 1884-1927; Mary Rozet Smith & Jane Addams, 1891-1934; Bessie Marbury & Elsie de Wolfe, 1892-1933; J.C. Leyendecker & Charles Beach, 1901-51; Alice B. Toklas & Gertrude Stein, 1907-46; Janet Flanner & Solita Solano, 1919-75; Greta Garbo & Mercedes de Acosta, 1931-60; Aaron Copland & Victor Kraft, 1932-76; Frank Merlo & Tennessee Williams, 1948-1963; James Baldwin & Lucien Happersberger, 1949-87; Robert Rausch-enberg & Jasper Johns, 1954-62; Ismail Merchant & James Ivory, 1961-2005; and Frances Clayton & Audre Lorde, 1968-1988 Kindle Edition from Beacon Press [5/2012] for $13.99 Beacon Press pb [DUE Feb 2013] for $10.88 Beacon Press 9¼x6¼ hardcover [5/2012] for $17.79 |
Friends & Lovers
John Gilbert
lover Mercedes de Acosta [] from 1931 to 1960
L i n k s
Greta Garbo entry at Wikipedia
browse Greta Garbo on DVD at Amazon
Greta Garbo credits [1920-41] at Internet Movie Database
Vox Populi's Greta Garbo fansite
German-language Greta Garbo fansite
'Garbo Forever' fansite
Garbo's Restaurant at RainbowVision in Santa Fe, NM
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