Ingrid Bergman

**Ingrid Bergman** (Swedish: [ˈɪ̌ŋːrɪd ˈbæ̌rjman]; born August 29, 1915 – died August 29, 1982) was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films, television movies, and plays. She won many accolades, including three Academy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, four Golden Globe Awards, and a BAFTA Award.

## Life & career

### Early life/career

Bergman was born in Stockholm to a Swedish father and a German mother, and started her acting career in Swedish and German films. Her introduction to Americans came in the English-language remake of *Intermezzo* (1939). In addition to the classic and Best Picture Academy Award-winning *Casablanca* (1942) opposite Humphrey Bogart, her notable performances from the 1940s include the dramas *For Whom the Bell Tolls* (1943), *Gaslight* (1944), *The Bells of St. Mary's* (1945), and *Joan of Arc* (1948), all of which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress; she won the award for *Gaslight*. She made three films with Alfred Hitchcock including *Spellbound* (1945), with Gregory Peck, and *Notorious* (1946), opposite Cary Grant.

In 1950, she starred in Roberto Rossellini's *Stromboli*, following the revelation that she was having an extramarital affair with the director. The affair and then marriage to Rossellini created a scandal in the United States that forced her to remain in Europe for several years, during which she starred in Rossellini's *Journey to Italy* (1954), now critically acclaimed. She made a successful return to working for a Hollywood studio in *Anastasia* (1956), the debut film for Yul Brynner, winning her second Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1958, she starred for a second time with Cary Grant, this time in the popular romantic comedy *Indiscreet*.

### Later career

In her later years, she won her third Academy Award, this one for Best Supporting Actress, for her small performance in *Murder on the Orient Express* (1974). In 1978, she worked with director Ingmar Bergman (no relation) in *Autumn Sonata*, for which she received her sixth Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. In her final acting role, she portrayed the late-Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in the television mini-series *A Woman Called Golda* (1982) for which she posthumously won her second Emmy Award for Best Actress.

## Death & Legacy

Ingrid died on her sixty-seventh birthday (August 29, 1982) from breast cancer, at 12:00 am, her 67th birthday, in London, of breast cancer. Her body was cremated at Kensal Green Cemetery, London, and her ashes taken to Sweden. Most of them were scattered in the sea around the islet of Dannholmen off the fishing village of Fjällbacka in Bohuslän, on the west coast of Sweden, where she spent most of the summers from 1958 until her death in 1982. The rest were placed next to her parents' ashes in Norra Begravningsplatsen (Northern Cemetery), Stockholm, Sweden.

### Autobiography

In 1980, Bergman's autobiography, *Ingrid Bergman: My Story*, was written with the help of Alan Burgess. In it, she discusses her childhood, her early career, her life during her time in Hollywood, the Rossellini scandal, and subsequent events. The book was written after her children warned her that she would only be known through rumors and interviews if she did not tell her own story. It was through this autobiography that her affair with Robert Capa became known.

### Honors

According to the *St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture*, Bergman quickly became "the ideal of American womanhood" and a contender for Hollywood's greatest leading actress. In the United States, she is considered to have brought a "Nordic freshness and vitality" to the screen, along with exceptional beauty and intelligence; David O. Selznick once called her "the most completely conscientious actress" he had ever worked with. In 1999, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked Bergman as the fourth-greatest female screen legend of Classic Hollywood Cinema.

## References

1. ↑ Obituary *Variety*, September 1, 1982.
2. ↑  (2000) *St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture*. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale Publishing. ISBN 1-55862-405-8.
3. ↑ AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Stars. *American Film Institute*. Archived from the original on 20 October 2006. Retrieved on 23 October 2006.

## External links

* Ingrid Bergman article at *Wikipedia*
* Ingrid Bergman links at FreeOnes
* http://www.ingridbergman.com/ Official website
* Ingrid Bergman at the Encyclopædia Britannica
* Ingrid Bergman at the TCM Movie Database