Actress Greta Garbo was born Greta Gustafsson on September
18, 1905 in Stockholm, Sweden. She won a bathing beauty competition at age sixteen,
and then appeared in several advertising campaigns. While studying at the Royal
Theatre Dramatic School she was discovered by film director, Mauritz Stiller.
Changing her name to Greta Garbo, she starred in Stiller's film, The Atonement of Gosta Berling (1924). After
appearing in The Joyless Street
(1925), she and Stiller immigrated to the United States. In Hollywood she
appeared in several silent films including The
Temptress (1926), Flesh and the Devil
(1927) and The Mysterious Lady (1928).
Despite her Swedish accent, Garbo successfully switched to talking pictures
with Anna Christie (1930). This was
followed by Susan Lennox, Her Fall and
Rise (1931), Grand Hotel (1932), Mati Hari (1932), Queen Christina (1933), Anna
Karenina (1935), Camille (1937)
and Ninotchka (1939). She nominated for four best actress Academy Awards. In 1955, she was awarded an honorary Oscar for life-time achievement but did not attend the ceremony. Garbo retired from
movies after filming Two Faced Woman
(1941) and remained a total recluse for the rest of her life. Greta Garbo died
in New York City on April 15, 1990.
Michael Thomas Barry
is the author of Fade to Black. The book can be purchased from Amazon through
the following link:
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