Greta Garbo Biography

As a child, she was a very shy daydreamer who hated school and preferred to play alone. However, she was both imaginative and a natural leader who directed her friends in make-believe games and performances, giving her the ambition to become an actress.

In the winter of 1919, Spanish flu spread to Stockholm and Garbo's father became ill and started missing work. He died in 1920 when she was only 14, meaning she had to find work. Before modelling hats and acting, she was a soap-lather girl in a barbershop.

She began her career modelling for Stockholm department stores, but won a scholarship to the Royal Dramatic Theatre.

While there, she was spotted by director Mauritz Stiller, an important filmmaker in the early 1920s. Stiller cast Greta in 'The Atonement of Gosta Berling', in 1923, which made her a minor star, and became Greta's mentor and lover, glamourising her image and changing her professional name to Garbo.

She was then cast in a German film drama, 'The Joyless Street', in 1925, which was directed by G. W. Pabst.

Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios hired Stiller, who brought Garbo with him, even though Louie B. Mayer was unimpressed by her. It was only after shooting her first American film, 'The Torrent', in 1926, that MGM realised they had a potential gold mine.

In 'Flesh and the Devil' (1927), Garbo co-starred with John Gilbert for the first time, and they fell in love. They made many films together including 'Love' (1927) and 'A Woman of Affairs' in 1928 and lived together for a time. She agreed to marry him, but changed her mind at the last minute. Although Garbo had many affairs, including relationships with Leopold Stokowsky and director Rouben Mamoulien, she never married.

There was much concern about Garbo's first talking picture, since she had such a thick Swedish accent. However, 'Anna Christie' was very successful, heralded by the famous "Garbo Talks" advertising campaign.

Her aloofness and desire to "be alone" only increased her following.

Garbo's performance in 'Anna Karenina' in 1935 was arguably one of her best as she was breathtaking as the woman torn between two lovers and her son.

As World War II began, Garbo became less and less popular, even though the 1939 comedy 'Ninotchka' was a hit.

Her last film, 'Two Faced Woman', in 1941, was not a success. She retired from movies permanently, despite an invitation to make Hitchcock's 'The Paradine Case'.

She lived a private life of simplicity and leisure during her retirement, never making a public appearance. As in her Hollywood years, she was reclusive but had many friends and enjoyed socialising and travelling with them.

Garbo was made a naturalised citizen of the US in 1951 and bought an apartment in New York in 1953. Despite being solitary in her later years, she developed a close friendship with her housekeeper and cook of 31 years Claire Kroger.

In 1969, Italian director Luchino Visconti attempted to bring Garbo back to the big screen as he wanted to make an adaptation of Proust's 'Remembrance of Things Past' with a cast including Laurence Olivier. Almost four hours long, the budget became too much and the film was abandoned.

She lived in New York city and was often seen strolling the streets near her apartment. She died in 1990 at the age of 84 as a result of pneumonia and renal failure.

Garbo was cremated and after a long legal battle, her ashes were interred at a Swedish cemetery near her native Stockholm.