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• Swedish born actress Greta Garbo was a prominent Hollywood starlet from 1920 to 1941. Her career began with silent films and continued into the sound era. She retired from film at the age of 36.

• Fast Facts

  1. Full name: Greta Lovisa Gustafsson
  2. Born: September 18, 1905
  3. Died: April 15, 1990 at the age of 84
  4. Birthplace: Stockholm, Sweden
  5. Became a United States citizen in 1951
  6. Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
  7. Has two postage stamps bearing her likeness
  8. Starred in 27 movies

• Career

  From 1922 through 1924, Garbo attended the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, where she met Mauritz Stiller. He trained her in cinema acting and gave her the screen name Greta Garbo. Stiller cast her in a major role in Gosta Berlings Saga, a silent film. Louis B. Mayer was impressed with the film and brought Stiller and Garbo to MGM.

  Garbo went on to star in several silent films such as The Temptress and Flesh and the Devil. In 1929, she appeared in her final silent film, The Kiss.

  Garbo had a smoother transition to sound films than many of her colleagues. She was nominated for best actress for four of her films with sound. Two-Faced Woman was Garbo's last film appearance, after which she withdrew herself from the public eye until her death in 1990.

• Notable Roles

  • Leonora Moreno in Torrent (1926)
  • Mata Hari in Mata Hari (1931)
  • Nina Yakushova 'Ninotchka' Ivanoff in Ninotchka (1939)
  • Karin Borg Blake in Two-Faced Woman (1941)

• Quotes

  "She did nothing that was second-rate. She had dignity and nobility. Like so many great actresses, she may never have possessed a particle of intellectual power, but she had genius before the camera because she was guided by a secret, sublime, infallible instinct to do the right thing in the right way. So unerring was her instinct that it produced the illusion of a most subtle intelligence."—The New York TimesHeroine Worship: Greta Garbo, 84, Screen Icon Who Fled Her Stardom, Dies (April 16, 1990)

• Related Mahalo Pages

  Lauren Bacall | Ingrid Bergman | Katharine Hepburn | Grace Kelly | Audrey Hepburn | Clark Gable | Joan Crawford | Marlene Dietrich | Bette Davis | Charlie Chaplin | Buster Keaton | Jean Harlow | Marilyn Monroe | Cary Grant | Vivien Leigh | Judy Garland | Gary Cooper | Ann Savage

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