Greta Garbo

The enigmatic star of Hollywood's silent and golden eras.

Greta Garbo was a Swedish and American film actress born on 18 September 1905 and died on 15 April 1990.^[1] Louis B. Mayer, chief executive of MGM, noticed her performance and arranged for her to come to Hollywood in 1925.^[2]

Quick Facts

Birth name: Greta Lovisa Gustafsson
Born: 18 September 1905
Birthplace: Södermalm, Stockholm, Sweden
Citizenship: Sweden (until 1951), U.S. (from 1951)
Died: 15 April 1990
Place of death: New York City, U.S.
Resting place: Skogskyrkogården, Stockholm
Education: Royal Dramatic Training Academy, Stockholm

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

She studied at the Royal Dramatic Training Academy in Stockholm from 1922 to 1924.^[3] Director Mauritz Stiller became her mentor and trained her as a film actress.^[4] Her father, Karl Alfred Gustafsson, worked as a street cleaner, grocer, factory worker, and butcher's assistant; the family resided in a three-bedroom cold-water flat.^[5] By 1932, her achievements enabled her to set the conditions of her contracts.^[6]

Her portrayal in Camille (1936) is regarded by many critics as her best work, earning her a third Academy Award nomination.^[7] In 1938, her career waned and she was categorized as box office poison.^[7]

What the cited sources add

The Guardian article notes that Greta Garbo said Asta Nielsen taught her everything she knew.^[8] Garbo stated: "In terms of expression and versatility, I am nothing to her"^[8][4] Garbo regarded Camille as her favorite out of all of her films.^[9][10]

References

Wikipedia, "Greta Garbo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "1951 Greta Garbo becomes U.S. citizen... - RareNewspapers.com", www.rarenewspapers.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Greta Garbo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Vieira 2005, p. 38 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Greta Garbo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Herrskapet Stockholm ute på inköp (1920)" The Swedish Film Database, Swedish Film Institute. Retrieved 3 April 2012.; Paris 1994, p. 34 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Greta Garbo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Paris 1994, p. 34; Paris 1994, p. 34; Hutchinson, "Asta Nielsen, the silent film star who taught Garbo everything Movies The Guardian", amp.theguardian.com, 27 January 2022 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Greta Garbo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Souhami 1994, p. 64; "Karl Alfred Gustafsson" . Retrieved 7 December 2010.; Bainbridge 1955b, p. 76 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Greta Garbo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Session Timeout – Academy Awards® Database – AMPAS" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Greta Garbo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Official Academy Awards Database" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Hutchinson, "Asta Nielsen, the silent film star who taught Garbo everything Movies The Guardian", amp.theguardian.com, 27 January 2022. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
Wikipedia, "Greta Garbo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Armstrong, "The Rough Guide to Film", Rough Guides UK, 2007, p. 118 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Open Library record, ISBN 9781848361256 ("The Rough Guide to Film"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Greta Garbo (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.