Garbo, Greta, 1905–90, American film actress, b. Stockholm, Sweden, as Greta Gustafsson. Garbo's success in the Swedish film The Atonement of Gösta Berling (1923) brought her to Hollywood. Possessing classic beauty and a husky, alluring voice, she was known in her early films for her portrayals of sexual passion. Her image as a tragic heroine was established in Anna Christie (1930), Anna Karenina (1935), and Camille (1936). Garbo retired from the screen and lived in legendary seclusion from 1941 until her death. Her films include Flesh and the Devil (1927), Grand Hotel (1932), and Ninotchka (1939).

Bibliography

See biographies by J. Bainbridge (1971) and B. Paris (1995); M. Conway, The Films of Greta Garbo (1968); H. Vickers, Loving Garbo: The Story of Greta Garbo, Cecil Beaton, and Mercedes Acosta (1994).

Garbo, Greta

orig. Greta Louisa Gustafsson

Greta Garbo in Camille (1936).

(credit: Culver Pictures)

(born Sept. 18, 1905, Stockholm, Swed.—died April 15, 1990, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Swedish-U.S. film star. She was working as a salesclerk when she was chosen to appear in publicity films for the store where she worked. Her modest success encouraged her to study at the Royal Dramatic Theatre's training school, where the film director Mauritz Stiller discovered her. He cast her in The Story of Gösta Berling (1924) and became her mentor and coach. Stiller and Garbo were hired by MGM in 1925, and Garbo's beauty and enigmatic personality made her a star in her first U.S. film, The Torrent (1926). Aloof, mysterious, yet passionate, she mesmerized audiences in films such as Love (1927), Anna Christie (1930), Grand Hotel (1932), Anna Karenina (1935), Camille (1936), and Ninotchka (1939). Her reclusive life after her sudden retirement at age 36 added to her mystique.

Garbo, Greta (b. Greta Louisa Gustafson) (1905–90) film actress; born in Stockholm. A shop-girl who won a bathing beauty contest at age 16, she made some publicity shorts and studied acting before gaining international recognition in Mauritz Stiller's Swedish film, The Story of Gosta Berling (1924). She came to Hollywood (1924) with Stiller, her mentor and companion, and they worked together on The Torrent (1926) but he soon returned to Sweden while she stayed on to become known as "The Swedish Sphinx," reflecting her aloofness and cool beauty. Promoted by the resources of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, she became an international star, especially after her first talkie, Anna Christie (1930); although she made only 13 more films and retired abruptly in 1941, she came to personify all that was most alluring yet unattainable about movie stars. She became an American citizen in 1951, and in 1954 was awarded a special Oscar. Although linked with several men, she never married and became almost a recluse in her final decades.