Greta Garbo - Biography - IMDb Greta Garbo Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Trivia (68) | Personal Quotes (20) | Salary (16) Overview (5) 5' 7½" (1.71 m) Mini Bio (1) Greta Garbo was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson on September 18, 1905, in Stockholm, Sweden, to Anna Lovisa (Johansdotter), who worked at a jam factory, and Karl Alfred Gustafsson, a laborer. She was fourteen when her father died, which left the family destitute. Greta was forced to leave school and go to work in a department store. The store used her as a model in its newspaper ads. She had no film aspirations until she appeared in short advertising film at that same department store while she was still a teenager. Erik A. Petschler , a comedy director, saw the film and gave her a small part in his Luffar-Petter (1922). Encouraged by her own performance, she applied for and won a scholarship to a Swedish drama school.

While there she appeared in at least one film, En lyckoriddare (1921). Both were small parts, but it was a start. Finally famed Swedish director Mauritz Stiller pulled her from the drama school for the lead role in The Saga of Gösta Berling (1924). At 18 Greta was on a roll. Following The Joyless Street (1925) both Greta and Stiller were offered contracts with MGM, and her first film for the studio was the American-made Torrent (1926), a silent film in which she didn't have to speak a word of English. After a few more films, including The Temptress (1926), Love (1927) and A Woman of Affairs (1928), Greta starred in Anna Christie (1930) (her first "talkie"), which not only gave her a powerful screen presence but also garnered her an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress (she didn't win).

Later that year she filmed Romance (1930), which was somewhat of a letdown, but she bounced back in 1931, landing another lead role in Mata Hari (1931), which turned out to be a major hit. Greta continued to give intense performances in whatever was handed her. The next year she was cast in what turned out to be yet another hit, Grand Hotel (1932). However, it was in MGM's Anna Karenina (1935) that she gave what some consider the performance of her life. She was absolutely breathtaking in the role as a woman torn between two lovers and her son. Shortly afterwards, she starred in the historical drama Queen Christina (1933) playing the title character to great acclaim. She earned an Oscar nomination for her role in the romantic drama Camille (1936), again playing the title character. Her career suffered a setback the following year in Conquest (1937), which was a box office disaster. She later made a comeback when she starred in Ninotchka (1939), which showcased her comedic side.

It wasn't until two years later she made what was to be her last film, Two-Faced Woman (1941), another comedy. But the film drew controversy and was condemned by the Catholic Church and other groups and was a box office failure, which left Garbo shaken. After World War II Greta, by her own admission, felt that the world had changed perhaps forever and she retired, never again to face the camera. She would work for the rest of her life to perpetuate the Garbo mystique. Her films, she felt, had their proper place in history and would gain in value. She abandoned Hollywood and moved to New York City. She would jet-set with some of the world's best-known personalities such as Aristotle Onassis and others. She spent time gardening and raising flowers and vegetables. In 1954 Greta was given a special Oscar for past unforgettable performances. She even penned her biography in 1990. On April 15, 1990, Greta died of natural causes in New York and with her went the "Garbo Mystique". She was 84. Interred at Skogskyrkogården Cemetery, Stockholm, Sweden.

Lived the last few years of her life in absolute seclusion. October 1997: Ranked #38 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. Letters and correspondence between Garbo and poet, socialite and notorious lesbian Mercedes de Acosta were unsealed on April 15, 2000, exactly 10 years after Garbo's death (per De Acosta's instructions). The letters revealed no love affair between the two, as had been rumored. Garbo, according to director Jacques Feyder : "At 9 o'clock a.m. the work may begin. 'Tell Mrs. Garbo we're ready,' says the director. 'I'm here,' a low voice answers, and she appears, perfectly dressed and combed as the scene needs. Nobody could say by what door she came but she's there. And at 6 o'clock PM, even if the shot could be finished in five minutes, she points at the watch and goes away, giving you a sorry smile. She's very strict with herself and hardly pleased with her work.

She never looks at rushes nor goes to the premieres but some days later, early in the afternoon, enters all alone an outskirts movie house, takes place in a cheap seat and gets out only when the projection finishes, masked with her sunglasses. Once voted by The Guinness Book of World Records as the most beautiful woman who ever lived. Her parents were Karl and Anna Gustafson, and she also had an older sister and brother, Alva Garbo and Sven Garbo . Her father died when she was 14 of nephritis, and her sister was also dead of lymphatic cancer by the time Greta was 21 years old. Her personal favorite of all her movies was Camille (1936). She disliked Clark Gable , a feeling that was mutual. She thought his acting was wooden while he considered her a snob. Left John Gilbert standing at the altar in 1927 when she got cold feet about marrying him. Before making it big, she worked as a soap-latherer in a barber's shop back in Sweden.

During filming, whenever there was something going on that wasn't to her liking, she would simply say, "I think I'll go back to Sweden!", which frightened the studio heads so much that they gave in to her every whim. In the mid-'50s she bought a seven-room apartment in New York City (450 East 52nd St.) and lived there until she died. 1951: Became a US citizen. Garbo's sets were closed to all visitors and sometimes even the director! When asked why, she said: "During these scenes I allow only the cameraman and lighting man on the set. The director goes out for a coffee or a milkshake. When people are watching, I'm just a woman making faces for the camera. It destroys the illusion. If I am by myself, my face will do things I cannot do with it otherwise." Garbo was criticized for not aiding the Allies during WWII, but it was later disclosed that she had helped Britain by identifying influential Nazi sympathizers in Stockholm and by providing introductions and carrying messsages for British agents. Garbo was prone to chronic depression and spent many years attacking it through Eastern philosophy and a solid health food regimen.

However, she never gave up smoking and cocktails. Except at the very beginning of her career, she granted no interviews, signed no autographs, attended no premieres and answered no fan mail. Her volatile mentor/director Mauritz Stiller , who brought her to Hollywood, was abruptly fired from directing her second MGM Hollywood film, The Temptress (1926), after repeated arguments with MGM execs. Unable to hold a job in Hollywood, he returned to Sweden in 1928 and died shortly after at age 45. Garbo was devastated. Garbo actually hoped to return to films after the war but, for whatever reason, no projects ever materialized. She was as secretive about her relatives as she was about herself, and, upon her death, the names of her survivors could not immediately be determined. Never married, she invested wisely and was known for her extreme frugality. Related to Anna Sundstrand of the Swedish pop group Play. Although it was believed that Garbo lived as an invalid in her post-Hollywood career, this is incorrect. She was a real jet setter, traveling with international tycoons and socialites.

In the 1970s she traveled less and grew more and more eccentric, although she still took daily walks through Central Park with close friends and walkers. Due to failing health in the late 1980s, her mobility was challenged. In her final year it was her family that cared for her, including taking her to dialysis treatments. She died with them by her side. She was originally chosen for the lead roles in The Paradine Case (1947), My Cousin Rachel (1952) and "The Wicked Dutchess". She turned down these roles, with the exception of "The Wicked Dutchess", which was never shot due to financial problems. Popularized trench coats and berets in the 1930s. According to her friend, producer William Frye , he offered Garbo $1 million to star as the Mother Superior in his film The Trouble with Angels (1966). When she declined, he cast Rosalind Russell in the part--at a much lower salary. She was voted the 25th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly. Sister of Sven and Alva.

Her favorite American director was Ernst Lubitsch , although Clarence Brown , directed her in six films, including the classics Flesh and the Devil (1926), A Woman of Affairs (1928), Anna Christie (1930) and Anna Karenina (1935). Her first "talkie" film was Anna Christie (1930). She was voted the 8th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine. Was named #5 Actress on The American Film Institute's 50 Greatest Screen Legends Spanish sculptor Pablo Gargallo created three pieces based on Garbo: "Masque de Greta Garbo à la mèche," "Tête de Greta Garbo avec chapeau," and "Masque de Greta Garbo aux cils". Is one of the many movie stars mentioned in Madonna 's song "Vogue" Pictured on a 37¢ USA commemorative postage stamp issued 23 September 2005, five days after her 100th birthday. On the same day, Sweden issued a 10kr stamp with the same design.

The likeness on the stamps was based on a photograph taken during the filming of As You Desire Me (1932). Once lived in the famed Chateau Marmont hotel in Los Angeles (8221 Sunset Boulevard). Grandaunt of Derek Reisfield and Scott Reisfield , children of Gray Reisfield and Donald Reisfield . Her first film appearance ever was in a short advertising film that ran in local theaters in Stockholm. Her performance as Ninotchka in Ninotchka (1939) is ranked #25 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006). Her greatest confidante was Salka Viertel , a German friend who had known her back in Sweden. Viertel proved to be very manipulative of her, including relationships (particularly with Mercedes de Acosta ), film choices and general living. It was Viertel, in fact, who persuaded her not to return to films. Ironically, Viertel was friendly with Marlene Dietrich , Garbo's enemy, whom Salka had known back in the period of Germany's Weimar Republic, and she had a lot of dirt on Dietrich's deepest secrets and past.

Garbo's film choices were largely determined by Salka's persuasion; they co-starred in the German version of Anna Christie (1930), and shortly after that Garbo insisted that Salka be placed on the MGM payroll as a writer for her films. Is portrayed by Kristina Wayborn in The Silent Lovers (1980) Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 316-319. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999. In Italy, her first films (like Mata Hari (1931) and Grand Hotel (1932)) were dubbed by Francesca Braggiotti . Because Braggiotti had been living in the United States for many years and had a slight American accent, the Italian public didn't really accept her voice so the very Italian Tina Lattanzi was chosen as Garbo's official Italian voice instead (she even re-dubbed Mata Hari (1931)).

For her last two films Ninotchka (1939) and Two-Faced Woman (1941), she was dubbed by Andreina Pagnani . When some of Garbo films were re-released in Italy in the 1960's, they were re-dubbed once more. This is how stage actress Anna Proclemer lent her voice to the divine Garbo. Gary Cooper was reportedly one of her favorite actors. She requested him for several of her films, but nothing ever materialized. Throughout her MGM career she insisted that William H. Daniels be cinematographer on her pictures. This may not have been purely superstition, as the two notable films she made without him-- Conquest (1937) and Two-Faced Woman (1941)--were her only notable flops. She was Adolf Hitler 's favorite actress. In late 1934, after Queen Christina (1933) and The Painted Veil (1934), which were both huge hits in Europe (making twice their budget in the UK alone) but underwhelming US successes, Garbo signed a contract with MGM saying that she would only make films under David O.

Selznick and Irving Thalberg . Her next two films, Anna Karenina (1935) and Camille (1936), were notable hits at the US box office, and produced by Selznick and Thalberg respectively. In 1937 her contract had to be revised, as Selznick left the studio in 1935 and Thalberg had died. She made only three films after "Camille". When she heard that David O. Selznick , who had produced her hit Anna Karenina (1935), was leaving MGM in 1935 to start his own studio, she begged him to stay, promising that she would let him personally supervise all of her pictures exclusively. He said that it would be a great honor, but he had other plans. Ironically, the usually very finicky Irving Thalberg , Garbo's other favorite producer, was the first person to give Selznick money to start his company ($200,000). Mentioned in The Killers ' "The Ballad of Michael Valentine". Mentioned in the song "Celluloid Heroes" by The Kinks .

Was offered the role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (1950), but she turned it down. Gloria Swanson was cast instead and she went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance. A photograph of Garbo, probably cut from a movie magazine, was one of several images of movie stars, royalty, pieces of art, and family members used as decoration by Anne Frank on the wall of her room in the "Secret Annex" in Amsterdam where she and her family hid from July 1942 until their capture by the Nazis in August 1944. Was offered the role of Mama Hanson in I Remember Mama (1948), but she turned it down. Irene Dunne was cast instead and went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance. Is going to be on the 50 Kronors banknote in 2015. Mentioned in the song "Perfect Skin" by Lloyd Cole & The Commotions.

For her last acting role of Siobhan O'Dea on Murder, She Wrote: Wearing of the Green (1988), Jean Peters modeled her character after Garbo, as she was portraying a reclusive foreign actress who goes into seclusion following the demise of her lover at the height of her career. In 1924 Mauritz Stiller planned to shoot a film in Turkey titled "The Odalisque from Smyrna" and had hired Conrad Veidt and Einar Hansen as stars. Stiller, along with Hansen and protégé Garbo, left for Istanbul but the promised financing vanished. Stiller reportedly returned to Berlin to raise backing, but failed. Garbo remained in Turkey sulking, not even communicating with fellow Swede Hansen. Eventually she returned to Berlin. Director Clarence Brown said of her, "Working [with her] was easy because she trusted me. I never directed her in anything above a whisper. She was very shy, so we'd go through the changes I wanted in a little quiet whisper off in the corner, without letting others know what I was telling her. I learned through experience that Garbo had something behind the eyes that told the whole story that I couldn't see from my distance.

Sometimes I would be dissatisfied with a take, but would go ahead and print it anyway. On the screen Garbo multiplied the effect of the scene I had taken. It was something that no one else ever had. According to a 1974 Michael Parkinson interview with Orson Welles , Garbo did two bread commercials for theater use before she changed her name. The films existed at a Stockholm archive at that time. At the Swedish School of Drama, where she studied from 1921-24, she made a close friend with Vera Schmiterlöw , which grew into a lifelong friendship. The intimate correspondence between the two are saved in the National Archives of Sweden. In 2005 three of these numerous letters were stolen from the archives and have not yet been found. She was the last surviving person mentioned in the song "You're the Top" featured in the 1934 Cole Porter musical "Anything Goes". First Swedish actress to be nominated for an Academy Award. The others are Ingrid Bergman , Lena Olin , Ann-Margret , and Alicia Vikander who won the Oscar. The only Swedish actor to be nominated is Max von Sydow .

Mentioned in the song "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes . Mentioned in the song "She Keeps On Coming" by The Bee Gees. Norwegian Air Shuttle has a portrait of Greta Garbo on the tail of one of their Boeing 737's. It is one of their many "Tail Fin Heroes". According to director Albert Lewin "[on casting the leading role in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)]: One day, I received a message from Cedric Gibbons, who wanted to see me on a matter of urgency and secrecy. Gibby was the only close friend of Greta Garbo around the studio, and he had been deputed to tell me that Garbo wanted to play Dorian. Indeed, it was the only role she would come back to the screen for. Of course, I moved heaven and earth to set it up. But everyone had a fit: the censorship problem, formidable anyway, would have become insurmountable with a woman. Personal Quotes (20) There is no one who would have me . . . I can't cook. Being a movie star, and this applies to all of them, means being looked at from every possible direction.

You are never left at peace, you're just fair game. You don't have to be married to have a good friend as your partner for life. I wish I were supernaturally strong so I could put right everything that is wrong. Life would be so wonderful if we only knew what to do with it. Anyone who has a continuous smile on his face conceals a toughness that is almost frightening. I never said, "I want to be alone".I only said, "I want to be left alone". There is a whole world of difference. I don't want to be a silly temptress. I cannot see any sense in getting dressed up and doing nothing but tempting men in pictures. The story of my life is about back entrances, side doors, secrets elevators and other ways of getting in and out of places so that people won't bother me. If only those who dream about Hollywood knew how difficult it all is. Your joys and sorrows. You can never tell them. You cheapen the inside of yourself if you do. There are some who want to get married and others who don't. I have never had an impulse to go to the altar. I am a difficult person to lead.

[asked in her later years by a fan if she is Greta Garbo] I WAS Greta Garbo. If you're going to die on screen, you've got to be strong and in good health. There are many things in your heart you can never tell another person. They are you, your private joys and sorrows, and you can never tell them. You cheapen yourself, the inside of yourself, when you tell them. I live like a monk: with one toothbrush, one cake of soap, and a pot of cream. [on secrets] Every one of us lives his life just once; if we are honest, to live once is enough. [on Hollywood in 1926] Here, it is boring, incredibly boring, so boring I can't believe it's true. [in 1932, about her recreational preferences] If I needed recreation, I liked to be out of doors: to trudge about in a boy's coat and boy's shoes; to ride horseback, or shoot craps with the stable boys, or watch the sun set in a blaze of glory over the Pacific Ocean. You see, I am still a bit of a tomboy.

Most hostesses disapprove of this trousered attitude to life, so I do not inflict upon them. [on another factor contributing to her decision to shun publicity (1932)] I am still a little nervous, a little self-conscious about my English. I cannot express myself well at parties. I speak haltingly. I feel awkward, shy, afraid. In Hollywood, where every teat table bristles with gossip-writers, what I say might be misunderstood. So I am silent as the grave about my private affairs. Rumors fly about. I am mum. My private affairs are strictly private. [in 1932, on director Mauritz Stiller , the nature of her relationship with him and the part it played in cultivating her well-publicized preference for privacy over publicity] Stiller's death was a great blow to me. For so long I had been his satellite. All Europe at that time regarded Stiller as the most significant figure in the film world. Directors hurried to the projecting rooms where his prints were shown. They took with them their secretaries and, in the dim silence, they dictated breathless comments on the wide sweep of his magnificent technique.

Stiller had found me, an obscure artist in Sweden, and brought me to America. I worshiped him. There are some, of course, who say it was a love story. It was more. It was utter devotion which only the very young can know--the adoration of a student for her teacher, of a timid girl for a mastermind. In his studio, Stiller taught me how to do everything: how to eat; how to turn my head; how to express love--and hate. Off the screen I studied his every whim, wish and demand. I lived my life according to the plans he laid down. He told what to say and what to do. When Stiller died I found myself like a ship without a rudder. I was bewildered--lost--and very lonely. I resolutely refused to talk to reporters because I didn't know what to say. By degrees I dropped out of the social whirl of Hollywood. I retired into my shell. I built a wall of repression around my real self, and I lived--and still live--behind it.

Salary (16) Greta Garbo - Awards - IMDb Greta Garbo Showing all 7 wins and 6 nominations Academy Awards, USA Won Honorary Award For her unforgettable screen performances. Greta Garbo was not present at the ceremony. Nancy Kelly... More For her unforgettable screen performances. Greta Garbo was not present at the ceremony. Nancy Kelly accepted the award on her behalf. Greta Garbo — The Movie Database (TMDb) Read More From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Greta Lovisa Gustafsson (18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990), better known as Greta Garbo, was a noted Swedish actress and recluse. She was a major star in the United States during the silent film era and the Golden Age of Hollywood. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Garbo fifth on their list of greatest female stars of all time, after Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, and Ingrid Bergman. Garbo launched her career with a major role in the Swedish film The Saga of Gosta Berling. Her performance caught the attention of Louis B.

Mayer, who brought her to Hollywood in 1925 to work at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). She became a star of silent films. Garbo was one of the few actresses to negotiate the transition to sound. Her first talking film was Anna Christie (1930), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. MGM marketers enticed the public with the catchphrase "Garbo talks!" In 1932, her popularity allowed her to dictate the terms of her contract, and she became increasingly choosy about her roles. She received the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress for Anna Karenina (1935), but she considered her performance as the courtesan Marguerite Gautier in Camille (1936) her best performance; the role gained her a second Academy Award nomination. After working exclusively in dramatic films, Garbo turned to comedy with Ninotchka (1939) and Two-Faced Woman (1941). For Ninotchka, Garbo was again nominated for an Academy Award; Two-Faced Woman did well at the box office, but was a critical failure.

After 1941, she retired after appearing in 27 films, and became increasingly reclusive. She has been indelibly linked to one of her lines from the film Grand Hotel: "I want to be alone". She later remarked, "I never said, 'I want to be alone.' I only said, 'I want to be let alone.' There is all the difference."[1][2] To the end of her life, Garbo-watching became a sport among the paparazzi and the media, but she remained elusive up until her death in 1990 at the age of 84. Description above from the Wikipedia article Greta Garbo, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia 1000+ images about Greta Garbo (1905-1990). on Pinterest | Diamond chandelier earrings, Mata hari and Hollywood Pinterest • The world’s catalog of ideas Greta Garbo (1905-1990). Swedish leading lady with an enchantingly enigmatic presence. She'd already achieved star status in her native country when MGM head Louis B.

Mayer summoned her to Hollywood in 1926 for a long-term contract. Garbo earned Oscar nominations for ANNA CHRISTIE, ROMANCE (both 1930), CAMILLE (1937), and NINOTCHKA (1939) but never won. She was, however, voted an honorary Oscar in 1954 for her distinguished body of work. 103 Pins92 Followers Film History of the 1930s Film History of the 1930s 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s The Golden Age of Hollywood: From 1930 to 1948 The 1930s decade (and most of the 1940s as well) has been nostalgically labeled "The Golden Age of Hollywood" (although most of the output of the decade was black-and-white).

The 30s was also the decade of the sound and color revolutions and the advance of the 'talkies', and the further development of film genres (gangster films, musicals, newspaper-reporting films, historical biopics, social-realism films, lighthearted screwball comedies, westerns and horror to name a few). It was the era in which the silent period ended, with many silent film stars not making the transition to sound (e.g., Vilmy Banky, John Gilbert, and Norma Talmadge). By 1933, the economic effects of the Depression were being strongly felt, especially in decreased movie theatre attendance.

As the 1930s began, there were a number of unique firsts: young 'platinum blonde' star Jean Harlow appeared in her first major role in Howard Hughes' World War I aviation epic, Hell's Angels (1930) ; the "Blonde Bombshell" was signed by MGM in 1932 and soon became a major star enigmatic silent star Greta Garbo (originally named Greta Lovisa Gustafsson), part of MGM's galaxy of stars and nicknamed "The Divine Garbo" and "The Swedish sphinx," spoke her first immortal, husky, Swedish-accented words in director Clarence Brown's MGM film Anna Christie (1930) . (As a floozy, she spoke: "Gimme a vhiskey, ginger ale on the side.

And don't be stingy, baby") - it was Garbo's first talkie (advertised as "GARBO TALKS!") the first of Hollywood's dramatic prison dramas (a new subgenre) was produced by MGM, The Big House (1930), directed by George Hill B-actor John Wayne made his debut in his first major role in a western directed by Raoul Walsh, The Big Trail (1930) - one of the first films shot in Grandeur, Fox's experimental wide-screen 70mm format.

Both the film and the new process flopped; it would be nine more years before his star-making appearance in Stagecoach (1939) Broadway actress Helen Hayes made her screen debut in The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) and won the Best Actress Academy Award for her first talkie MGM stars Clark Gable and Joan Crawford starred together in the risque pre-Code film Dance, Fools, Dance (1931), the first of eight features that teamed them together the best-known Charlie Chan actor, Warner Oland, played the detective for the first time in Charlie Chan Carries On (1931) RKO won its sole Best Picture Academy Award for the western Cimarron (1931) in 1930, the Motion Picture Production Code, administered by Joseph I.

Breen (and former Postmaster General Will Hays) set film guidelines regarding sex, violence, religion, and crime (not yet strictly enforced until the Production Code Administration (1934)) the first daily newspaper for the film industry had its debut in 1930, The Hollywood Reporter Katharine Hepburn made her screen debut in A Bill of Divorcement (1932) Olympic swimming champion Johnny Weissmuller made his screen debut as the vine-swinging ape-man in Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932) Curly-topped, dimpled child star Shirley Temple appeared in her first films, an Our Gang type series of shorts titled Baby Burlesks (1933) the first appearance of the cartoon character Popeye was in the Betty Boop cartoon from Paramount and Max Fleischer, Popeye the Sailor (1933) the world's first drive-in theatre opened in Camden, N.J.

in June, 1933; the fourth drive-in was located on Pico in Los Angeles, CA and opened in September, 1934 the first Three Stooges comedy film (the first of their 190 slapstick comedy films that lasted through 1959) with Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard, was released by Columbia, the short Woman Haters (1934) (with all the dialogue in rhyme) Walt Disney's 8-minute The Wise Little Hen (1934) featured the first appearance of Donald Duck the longest Hollywood talkie released up to that time, MGM's The Great Ziegfeld (1936), at 2 hours, 59 minutes MGM star Spencer Tracy won consecutive Best Actor Oscars in the late 30s for his appearances in Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938) - this wouldn't happen again until Tom Hanks won back-to-back Oscars in the 90s for Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994) Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich: Although Austrian-born director Josef von Sternberg's best works were

 in his silent films (Underworld (1927), The Last Command (1928), and The Docks of New York (1929)), he acheived greatest notoriety during the 30s.

Exotic German actress Marlene Dietrich's stardom was launched by von Sternberg's The Blue Angel (Germany, 1929) with her role as the leggy Lola Lola, a sensual cabaret striptease dancer and the singing of Falling in Love Again. It was Germany's first all-talking picture. Dietrich would soon go on to star in many other films - usually with characters that were variations on Lola - jaded femme fatales. Dietrich was 'discovered' and appeared in her first Hollywood feature film, Morocco (1930), again as a nightclub singer with co-star Gary Cooper as a French legionnaire. Dietrich was subsequently promoted by Paramount Studios as a 'continental' German rival to MGM's imported star Greta Garbo.

A few years later, Dietrich collaborated further with von Sternberg in Dishonored (1931), Shanghai Express (1932) , Blonde Venus (1932) (with Dietrich as a demure wife who is transformed into a cabaret star), The Scarlet Empress (1934) (with Dietrich as Russia's Catherine the Great), and in The Devil is a Woman (1935) (as a money-hungry, seductive vamp). Dietrich and von Sternberg made a total of seven films together. By 1946, von Sternberg was the uncredited assistant to director King Vidor for Duel in the Sun (1946) . The Sound Era's Coming-of-Age: Most of the early talkies were successful at the box-office, but many of them were of poor quality - dialogue-dominated play adaptations, with stilted acting (from inexperienced performers) and an unmoving camera or microphone. Screenwriters were required to place more emphasis on characters in their scripts, and title-card writers became unemployed. The first musicals were only literal transcriptions of Broadway shows taken to the screen.

Nonetheless, a tremendous variety of films were produced with a wit, style, skill, and elegance that has never been equalled - before or since. Rouben Mamoulian, a successful Broadway director, refused to keep the cumbersome sound cameras pinned to the studio floor, and demonstrated a graceful, rhythmic, fluid, choreographed flowing style in his films - first with his directorial debut 1929 film Applause (1929) (and later with Love Me Tonight (1932)), one of the first great American musicals starring legendary Roaring 20s torch singer Helen Morgan in her first film role. Applause also introduced a revolutionary sound technique: a double-channel soundtrack with overlapping dialogue. Mastery of techniques for the sound era were also demonstrated in the works of director Ernst Lubitsch, who advanced the action of his films with the integrated musical numbers.

The first filmic musical was Lubitsch's first talkie, the witty and bubbly The Love Parade (1929/30) with Jeanette MacDonald (in her debut film) and Maurice Chevalier (in his second picture) - the recipient of six Academy Awards nominations (including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor). After directing three more musical comedies in the next three years, including Best Picture-nominated One Hour with You (1931/32) with the same leads, Lubitsch filmed his last musical, The Merry Widow (1934) with equally naturalistic musical expressions and the winner of the Best Art Direction Academy Award. Also, in the first filming of the Ben Hecht-MacArthur play, Lewis Milestone's The Front Page (1931), a mobile camera was combined with inventive, rapid-fire dialogue and quick-editing. Other 1931 films in the emerging 'newspaper' genre included Mervyn LeRoy's social issues film about the tabloid press entitled Five Star Final (1931) (with Edward G.

Robinson and Boris Karloff in a rare, non-monster role), Frank Capra's Platinum Blonde (1931) (with Jean Harlow), and John Cromwell's Scandal Sheet (1931). After 1932, the development of sound-mixing freed films from the limitations of recording on sets and locations. Scripts from writers were becoming more advanced with witty dialogue, realistic characters and plots. Hecht adapted Noel Coward's work for Lubitsch's Design for Living (1933), starring Gary Cooper, Fredric March and Miriam Hopkins, and Dudley Nichols adapted Maxwell Anderson's play for director John Ford's screen version Mary of Scotland (1936). Two-Color and Three-Color (Full-Color) Technicolor Development: One of the first 'color' films was Thomas Edison's hand-tinted short Annabell's Butterfly Dance. Two-color (red and green) feature films were the first color films produced, including the first two-color feature film The Toll of the Sea, and then better-known films such as Stage Struck (1925) and The Black Pirate (1926).

It would take the development of a new three-color camera, in 1932, to usher in true full-color Technicolor. The first film (a short) in three-color Technicolor was Walt Disney's animated talkie Flowers and Trees (1932) in the Silly Symphony series. [However, others claim that the first-ever color cartoon was Ted Eschbaugh's bizarre Goofy Goat Antics (1931).] In the next year, Disney also released the colorful animation - The Three Little Pigs (1933). Its optimistic hit theme song: "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" (based upon the tune of Happy Birthday) became a Depression-era anthem. It was one of the earliest films displaying 'personality animation' - each of the three pigs had a distinctive personality. In 1934, the first full-color, live-action short was released - La Cucaracha (1934). Hollywood's first full-length feature film photographed entirely in three-strip Technicolor was Rouben Mamoulian's Becky Sharp (1935) - an adaptation of English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray's Napoleonic-era novel Vanity Fair.

The first musical in full-color Technicolor was Dancing Pirate (1936). And the first outdoor drama filmed in full-color was The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936). In the late 30s, two beloved films, The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Gone with the Wind (1939) , were expensively produced with Technicolor - what would the Wizard of Oz (with ruby slippers and a yellow brick road) be without color? And the trend would continue into the next decade in classic MGM musicals such as Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) and Easter Parade (1948). Special-effects processes were advanced by the late 1930s, making it possible for many more films to be shot on sets rather than on-location (e.g., The Hurricane (1937) and Captains Courageous (1937) .) In 1937, the Disney-produced Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first feature-length animated film - a milestone. The colorful Grimm fairy tale was premiered by Walt Disney Studios - becoming fast known for pioneering sophisticated animation.

Film History of the 1930s 1000+ images about GG on Pinterest | Hollywood, Stockholm sweden and Cecil beaton Greta Garbo paperspots: Greta Garbo by Clarence Sinclair Bull See More Greta Garbo E-mail james@movietreasures.com for PRICES, AUTHENTICITY, HISTORY and SPECIAL DISCOUNTS GRETA GARBO ORIGINAL ITEMS FROM MGM VAULT Shooting script and Continuity script for "Susan Lenox: Her Fall & Rise", 1931Greta Garbo's fourth sound film, It was Clark Gable's 10th and with"A Free Soul" opposite Norma Shearer and Susan Lennox he became the HUGEST box office star in movie history! Garbo/Gable 1 Two Original, Vintage 8 x 10 Lobby cards from 1931 "Anna Karenina" Mag ad in Perfect condition (moire pattern not on the original) GRETA GARBO 8 X 10 Original photo, Not a copy! "Camille" Museum mounted this poster more than 35 years ago. I cannot trace its heritage. A good clue is the artist's name "Willy" upper left corner.

Many tiny imperfections, altho not apparent without magnification. Poster was folded. Very Rare Danish Original Vintage Poster 24.5" x 33.5" "Anna Christie" This is the extremely rare Jumbo Lobbycard 14"x17" Card is a photograph not a litho from 1930. GARBO TALKS !!! "Gif me a visky and don't be stingy!" "Grand Hotel" Above poster will be included FREE to FIRST buyer of one of above items. NEW ITEM ORIGINAL VINTAGE 8 x 10 PHOTO from 1937 movie "Conquest" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mini biography In "Anna Karenina" (1935) the train pulls into the Moscow train station, a cloud of steam envelopes the exit of a first class car and then a woman emerges from the cloud. The figure is aristocratic, the face is a vision. But it's the eyes that enthrall the viewer and Vronsky who has expected his mother to be the first woman off the train.

Bosley Crowther, New York Times film critic from 1940 to 1967, had this to say about the Garbo eyes: "Set in the face of classic structure were large, sad, luminous eyes that expressed a limited but intense emotional range". Crowther did not include this film in his short list of Garbo's major artistic achievements. His list: "Anna Christie" (1930) where Garbo "made the role of the cynical dockside ex- prostitute a thing of poetic beauty;" "Camille" (1936) where she played the Paris courtesan who had inspired novels, concertos and an opera with "alabaster loveliness;" "Ninotchka" (1939) where Garbo "demonstrated that she had the wit and flexibility to be a fine comedienne;" "Grand Hotel" (1932) where Garbo, then only 26, played a fading ballerina; and "Queen Christina" (1933) where Crowther was impressed by how she "deftly romped in masculine costumes".

All of Garbo's films were in black and white and black and white enhanced her mystery and romantic allure. In real life, Garbo knew when to make her exit from Hollywood and the public eye. Her sense of timing, when to make her entrance and her exit -- perhaps she learned something from Tolstoy whose "Anna Karenina" must have been based on a woman just as real as Maureen O'Sullivan's Kitty in that film whom a man like Tolstoy won when Kitty lost Vronsky to a woman who could reveal so much through her eyes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mini biography Greta Lovisa Gustafsson was born in Stockholm, Sweden on September 18, 1905. She was 14 when her father died, leaving the family destitute. Greta was forced to leave school and go to work in a department store. The store used her for her modeling abilities for newspaper ads. She had no film aspirations until she appeared in an advertising short at that same department store while she was still a teenager. This led to another short film when Eric Petscher, a comedy director, saw the film. He gave her a small part in the film, PETER THE TRAMP (1920).

Encouraged by her own performance she applied for and won a scholarship in a Swedish drama school. While there she appeared in two films, EN LYCKORIDDARE in 1921 and LUFFARPETTER the following year. Both were small parts, but it was a start. Finally famed Swedish director, Mauritz Stiller, pulled her from drama school for the leading role in THE ATONEMENT OF GOSTA BERLING in 1923. At 18, Greta was on a roll. Following DIE FREUDLOSE GASSE (1925) both Greta and Stiller were offered contracts with MGM. Her first US film was THE TORRENT in 1925. It was a silent film where she didn't have to speak a word of English. After a few more films, such as THE TEMPTRESS (1926), LOVE (1927), and A WOMAN OF AFFAIRS (1928), Greta starred in 1930's ANNA CHRISTIE (her first 'talkie') which not only gave her a powerful screen presence, but also gave her an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress. Unfortunately she didn't win.

Later that year she filmed ROMANCE which was somewhat of a letdown, but bounced back as lead role in SUSAN LENOX: HER RISE AND FALL with Clark Gable. The film was a hit and led to another exciting title role in MATA HARI in 1931. Greta continued to give intensified performances in whatever was handed her. The next year Greta was cast in another hit GRAND HOTEL. But it was MGM 1935's ANNA KARENINA where she, perhaps, gave the performance of her life. She was absolutely breathtaking in the title role as a woman torn between two lovers and her son. In 1939, Greta starred in NINOTCHKA which showcased her comedic side. It wasn't until two years later she made what was to be her last film that being TWO-FACED WOMAN, another comedy. After World War II, Greta, by her own admission, felt that the world had changed perhaps forever and she retired, never again to face the camera. She would work for the rest of her life to perpetuate the Garbo mystique. Her films, she felt, had their proper place in history and would gain in value.

She abandoned Hollywood and moved to New York City. She would jet-set with some of the world's best known personalities such as Aristotle Onassis and others. She spent time gardening flowers and vegetables. In 1954, Greta was given a special Oscar for past unforgettable performances. She even penned her biography in 1990. On April 15, 1990, Greta died of natural causes in New York and with it the "Garbo Mystique". She was 84. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interred at Skogskyrkogï¿½rden Cemetery, Stockholm, Sweden. Lived the last few year of her life in absolute seclusion. (October 1997) Ranked #38 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. Was warned to pay ex(lesbian)lover, Mercedes De Costa who was broke, or Garbos love letters to her would be made public. Garbo allegedly never paid but the fact remains that letters were kept secret. Ms De Costa died in 1968.

10 years after Garbos death (April, 2000) Philadelphia, Pa (USA)] Rosenbach Museum and Library putting letters on display Garbo according to movie director Jacques Feyder: "At 9 o'clock AM the work may begin. "Tell mrs. Garbo we're ready" says the director. "I'm here" a low voice answers, and she appears, perfectly dressed and combed as the scene needs. Nobody could say by what door she came but she's there. And at 6 o'clock PM, even if the shot could be finished in five minutes, she points at the watch and goes away giving you a sorry smile. She's very strict with herself and hardly pleased with her work. She never looks rushes nor goes to the premiï¿½res but some days later, early in the afternoon, enters all alone an outskirts movie house, takes place in a cheap seat and gets out only when the projection finishes, masked with her sunglasses". -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Personal quotes "There is no one who would have me...I can't cook." "Being a movie star, and this applies to all of them, means being looked at from every possible direction.

You are never left at peace, you're just fair game." "You don't have to be married to have a good friend as your partner for life." "I wish I were supernaturally strong so I could put right everything that is wrong." "Life would be so wonderful if we only knew what to do with it." "Anyone who has a continuos smile on his face conceals a toughness that is almost frightening." "I never said, 'I want to be alone.' I only said, 'I want to be left alone.' There is a whole world of difference." "She gave you the impression that, if your imagination had to sin, it could at least congratulate itself on its impeccable taste." - Alastair Cooke sin, it could at least congratulate itself on it's impeccable Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia: Actress. (b. Sept. 18, 1905, Stockholm, as Greta Louisa Gustafsson; d. Apr. 15, 1990.) Few screen personalities have been totally successful in isolating their private lives from their public personas, but this enigmatic Swedish beauty certainly accomplished it.

What's most amazing is that, in avoiding media scrutiny and public contact, she did so in a way that actually enhanced the mysterious allure that had been so vital an element in her success. Born into poverty, she worked as a shopgirl in a large department store and was chosen to appear in a short film promoting it. She made a few other such commercial appearances before deciding that acting might be her ticket out of the working class. Remarkably, she won a scholarship to the Royal Dramatic Theater acting school and, while doing some minor stage work, was spotted there by film director Mauritz Stiller. He tested her for and then signed her to play a role in The Story of Gosta Berling (1924). Garbo's feature-film debut, while wellreceived, hardly made her an overnight sensation. But Stiller believed in the young actress, and took her under his wing. She played second female lead in G. W. Pabst's The Joyless Street (1924, which also included Marlene Dietrich as an extra) before going to America with Stiller, who had been offered a Hollywood contract by MGM's Louis B. Mayer.

The highly regarded director used his influence to get Garbo signed as well, a move initially resisted by Mayer. She was assigned to play the female lead, a Spanish prima donna, in Monta Bell's The Torrent (1926), opposite Ricardo Cortez, and although studio brass at first had little faith in her, they were amazed by the quality of her work. Moreover, studio publicity men crafted hard-sell promotional materials that not only sold the film but launched the Garbo mystique, creating an air of mystery surrounding the naturally quiet, reticent woman. As Garbo's star rose, however, Stiller's fell. Slated to direct her next film, The Temptress he quarreled relentlessly with MGM management and was finally replaced with the prosaic Fred Niblo. Although the picture turned out to be a middling artistic success, Garbo's femmefatale characterization attracted curious moviegoers and made it a commercial hit. For her next film, Flesh and the Devil (1927), she was teamed with John Gilbert, then MGM's reigning male star, with whom she carried on a torrid affair that, not surprisingly, spilled over into their cinematic lovemaking.

The release of Flesh her best film to date, saw Garbo a full-fledged superstar. Certainly there was no one else like her on American movie screens, although other studios rushed to import similarly exotic European beauties and shroud them in synthetic cloaks of secrecy. Love (also 1927) reunited Garbo with Gilbert; she played Anna Karenina in this Tolstoy adaptation, and once again moviegoers were treated to the sight of real-life lovers playing out their passion on the big screen. Away from the cameras, though, Garbo began to have second thoughts about Gilbert (for reasons that were never made clear). They planned to marry, but she literally left Gilbert standing at the altar, which devastated him. (By this time her mentor Stiller had returned to Sweden.) The iconoclastic Garbo resolutely clung to her individuality; she really did, as she famously said in Grand Hotel want to be left alone. And that impenetrable aloofness became an integral part of her mystique. She continued to make silent films, all successful.

The Divine Woman, The Mysterious Lady, A Woman of Affairs (all 1928), Wild Orchids, The Single Standard and The Kiss (all 1929) depended almost entirely upon her presence alone. Her characters could be pure or sullied, willing or restrained, remote or accessible-it didn't much matter. It was Garbo people wanted to see. And hear. When MGM's publicity machine cranked out promotional material for her first talkie, Anna Christie (a Eugene O'Neill play that, in retrospect, was an ambitious and risky choice for the foreign-born, thickly accented actress), the dominant message was: "Garbo Talks!" And she did, in a husky voice that, although incongruous with her physical appearance, somehow suited her perfectly. In unexceptional films like Romance (1930), Inspiration, Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise (both 1931, in the latter opposite Clark Gable), Mata Hari and As You Desire Me (both 1932) she rose above often mediocre material; her mere presence made the films worth seeing.

In Grand Hotel (1932) she created an archetype for herself, as the fatalistic ballerina, and got to work opposite John Barrymore, whom she greatly admired. Queen Christina (1933), which, at her request, reunited her with Gilbert (whose career had taken a sudden and dramatic turn for the worse with the advent of sound) was perhaps her best sound film. It contained several memorable moments, including a wordless scene in which, one morning af ter a rapturously happy tryst with Gilbert, she lingers in the room, touching and feeling furniture and objects so as to indelibly etch every detail of the joyous experience in her memory. Who but Garbo could have made the gesture so affecting? After finishing The Painted Veil (1934), Garbo took the title roles in Anna Karenina (1935, a remake of Love and Camille (1937, as the doomed heroine, one of her best-remembered talkies), delivering two more memorable performances in great parts perfectly suited to her persona.

After Conquest (1937), she was off the screen for nearly two years, and when she returned, it was to star in a comedy-something she'd never tried before. "Garbo Laughs!" the ads declared, and they were accurate. Ninotchka (1939), directed by Ernst Lubitsch from a Billy Wilder-Charles Brackett script, starred her as a Russian Communist functionary who, while visiting Paris, falls in love with gay blade Melvyn Douglas. Lubitsch was the perfect choice to guide her through this territory, and she was charming in her comedy debut. Two more years passed before she made another movie. While willing to try another comedy, Two-Faced Woman (1941) was a poor choice. With European distribution curtailed during World War 2, MGM tried to Americanize and "humanize" the star, with disastrous results. Stinging from this failure, Garbo weighed other script offers carefully. Several projects were planned, then abandoned, during the 1940s, and in 1949 she even submitted to a screen test for the backers of a proposed film.

But nothing came to fruition, and it was speculated that with each passing year, the idea of returning to the spotlight seemed less and less desirable to the erstwhile actress. For the remainder of her life she lived as a loner, vacationing in Switzerland, on the French Riviera, and in Italy but making home base her apartment on New York City's fashionable Upper East Side. Once in a while she would speak to passersby who saw her on the street, but by and large she avoided the public eye. The woman whose passionate love affairs once filled fan-magazine stories with speculation never married. In 1954 she received a special Oscar (amazingly, she'd never won any during her career, although she'd been nominated for Anna Christie, Romance, Camille and Ninotchka for "her unforgettable screen performances." Needless to say, she did not accept the statuette in person. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mini biography She won a beauty contest at age fourteen. In 1920 her mother, Edith Shearer, took Norma and her sister Athole Shearer (Mrs. Howard Hawks) to New York. Ziegfeld rejected her for his "Follies" but she got work as an extra in several movies.

Irving Thalberg had seen her early efforts and, when he joined Louis B. Mayer in 1923, gave her a five year contract. He thought she should retire after their marriage, but she wanted bigger parts. Her first talkie was in Trial of Mary Dugan, The (1929); four movies later she won an Oscar in Divorcee, The (1930). She intentionally cut down film exposure during the thirties, relying on major roles in Thalberg's prestige projects: Barretts of Wimpole Street, The (1934), Romeo and Juliet (1936) (her fifth Oscar nomination). Thalberg died of pneumonia September 1936, aged thirty-seven. Norma wanted to retire but MGM more-or-less forced her into a six-picture contract. David O. Selznick offered her the part of Scarlett O'Hara, but public objection killed the deal. She starred in Women, The (1939), turned down the starring role in Mrs. Miniver (1942), and retired in 1942.

Later that year she married Sun Valley ski instructor Martin Arouge, ten years younger than she (he waived community property rights). From then on she shunned the limelight; she was in very poor health the last decade of her life. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mini biography Edith Norma Shearer was born on August 10, 1902 in Montreal, Quï¿½bec, Canada. Her childhood was very pleasant and active where she ski, swim, ice skate, and play musical instruments such as the piano. By the time she was nine she saw a local production and knew right there she wanted to be an actress. By the time she was fourteen she won a local beauty contest and felt this would be the thing to give her a start and send her on her way to stardom. In 1920, her mother took Norma and her sister to New York to try out for the Ziegfeld Follies. Even though the Follies rejected her she managed to find work as an extra in several films, the first being THE SIGN ON THE DOOR and THE FLAPPER both in 1920. Her mother being star-struck herself, encouraged Norma and her sister every step of the way.

By the time she made it to California, MGM was established which was to become the greatest studio in history. Norma made a number of small films for them, but none received top treatment from the studio. The one thing they did do was to help enhance Norma's image and improve her acting. Finally, her big break came in the film THE STUDENT PRINCE IN OLD HEIDELBERG in 1927 with the role of Kathi. Motion pictures were changing and Norma had no problem making the transition from silent to "talkie" pictures. Her first sound movie was THE TRIAL OF MARY DUGAN. Norma had married studio head Irving Thalberg in 1927 and many thought her marrying the boss could give her an unfair advantage in getting roles. Not so. She continued in "B" roles and finally the film industry thought she had paid her dues. Thalberg had very poor health and died in 1936. Norma continued to act but left films forever in 1942 with the film HER CARDBOARD LOVER. She had two children by Thalberg and later married Martin Arrouge, a ski instructor.

She did maintain her ties with MGM and did a lot of traveling. There is no doubt had she stayed in films she could have gotten better and juicier roles but left while still ahead of the game. The retirement probably made Joan Crawford happy as she detested Norma. Most felt Joan was jealous because Norma was married to Thalberg. She often said, "How can I compete with her? She sleeps with the boss". Norma was smart enough never to engage Joan in confrontation unlike Bette Davis. She always remained dignified. Norma Shearer died at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California on June 12, 1983. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Irving Thalberg (1927 - 1936) (his death); 2 children -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Children, with Thalberg, Irving Jr. (b. 1930) and Katherine (b. 1935) Sister of Athole Shearer and twelve time Academy Award winning sound director Douglas Shearer Daughter of Edith Shearer Discovered both Janet Leigh and actor/producer Robert Evans. Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, California, USA, in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Benediction.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "How can I compete with Norma when she sleeps with the boss?" - Joan Crawford Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia: Actress. (b. Aug. 10, 1900, Montreal, as Edith Norma Shearer; d. June 12, 1983.) It would be easy (and more than a little cruel) to assert that Norma Shearer kept her job by marrying the boss. But MGM production chief Irving Thalberg couldn't have maintained Shearer's star status indefinitely if she hadn't been able to deliver the goods-and she did, time after time, in the vehicles he lovingly produced for her. A former child model who began her screen career in 1920's The Flapper she was signed by Thalberg in 1923 after making a strong impression in Lucretia Lombard He brought her to Metro (where he had recently set up shop after a stint at Universal) and groomed her for stardom, seeing that she got the best makeup, the smartest gowns, and the ablest cinematographers on the lot.

(She had unconventional beauty and charm, but also had a pair of oddly focused eyes that had to be photographed just right.) Shearer appeared in He Who Gets Slapped (1924), Pretty Ladies, Tower of Lies (both 1925), The Devil's Circus, Upstage (both 1926), Ernst Lubitsch's delightful The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927), A Lady of Chance and The Latest From Paris (both 1928), among other silent films. Thalberg married her in 1927, from which time she got preferential treatment, including first choice of hot properties bought for or developed by MGM. She made her talkie debut in The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1929), and followed it up later that year with two better films, The Trial of Mary Dugan and Their Own Desire (for which she was Oscarnominated). Shearer won an Oscar for her starring performance in The Divorcee (1930), playing a tolerant young society wife who finally tires of her husband's indiscretions and decides to match them with her own.

She snagged another nomination for her turn as the spoiled lawyer's daughter who falls for exonerated racketeer Clark Gable in A Free Soul (1931). That same year she appeared with frequent costar Robert Montgomery in the delightfully witty adaptation of Noï¿½l Coward's Private Lives Thalberg guided Shearer's career choices, making sure she got the most sophisticated and elegant female parts MGM had to offer; he even took to buying established stage properties, such as Strange Interlude and Smilin' Through (both 1932), specifically for her. The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934), a literate, tasteful screen adaptation of the 19th-century romance between Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, featured another Oscar-nominated Shearer performance, as did Romeo and Juliet (1936, opposite Leslie Howard) for which Shearer, who tried valiantly in the role, was far too old to be totally convincing. Thalberg's untimely death in 1936 devastated Shearer, who nonetheless went ahead with the filming of Marie Antoinette (1938), the last project he had developed for her.

She earned yet another nod from the Academy. In blond wig for her role in Idiot's Delight (1939), again opposite Clark Gable, she was annoyingly mannered and, for the first time, seemed ill at ease. The Women (1939) gave her a more down-to-earth characterization, which she carried off admirably. But her career was nearly over; after finishing Escape (1940), and a pair of duds, Her Cardboard Lover and We Were Dancing (both 1942), she retired from the screen. Left very well off by Thalberg, Shearer remarried happily and lived in contentment until mental problems plagued her in her final years. Her last contributions to movies were in the guise of talent scout: she spotted Janet Leigh's picture while vacationing at a ski resort and arranged for an MGM screen test in the late 1940s; then, in the 1950s, she spotted handsome garment center executive Robert Evans alongside a swimming pool, thought he bore a strong resemblance to her late husband, and suggested him to play Thalberg in the Lon Chaney biopic Man of a Thousand Faces launching Evans' short-lived acting career.

Her brother Douglas was MGM's Sound Department head for decades, winning 12 Oscars for achievement on individual pictures and developing many technical innovations now considered commonplace. These Items are FOR SALE to knowledgeable Collectors. Please ask all questions of provenance before purchase. Items are only exchangeable if autographs are not authentic. E-mail james@movietreasures.com for INFORMATION ‘Anna Karenina’ Through the Film Ages | IndieWire ‘Anna Karenina’ Through the Film Ages 'Anna Karenina' Through the Film Ages Talk Joe Wright 's "Anna Karenina" (November 16) looks to be a highly original take on the Leo Tolstoy classic, but it's certainly not the first time (or even the 10th) that the Russian romance has been adapted for the big screen. Below, a compare-and-contrast of six film versions. "Anna Karenina," 1935: Greta Garbo stars in the title role, with Fredric March as Vronsky. Clarence Brown ("National Velvet" and another Garbo vehicle, "Anna Christie") directs. This was Garbo's second outing as Anna K., with her first go-around in 1927's "Love" (see below).

The film's budget is estimated at just north of $1 million , with the domestic take at $865K. The film is 100% Fresh , and Emmanuel Levy writes : "In her 23rd film, Garbo's luminous performance, as the adulterous protag of Tolstoy's novel, is way above the mediocre level of the narrative and direction; the film is a remake of 'Love,' in which Garbo starred opposite her then lover John Gilbert.Other critics opined that, after years of being miscast, Garbo found 'her own particular province of glamour and heartbreak.'" "Anna Karenina," 1948: Brilliant French director Julien Duvivier ("Panique," "Pepe le Moko") went to the UK to direct this Vivien Leigh-starrer. Kieron Moore plays Vronsky, with Ralph Richardson as cuckold husband Alexei Karenin.

The film has a tepid if decent 6.5 on IMDb, but notoriously grouchy NY Times film critic Bosley Crowther wrote of the film upon its release: "With all due respect for an actress who would willingly undertake a role that has twice been rendered immortal by Greta Garbo within the past twenty years, it must be confessed by this observer that the 'Anna Karenina' of Vivien Leigh is a pretty sad disappointment, by comparison or not. At the same time, it must be admitted that Miss Leigh is not wholly to blame. It's a pretty sad chunk of motion-picture… Miss Leigh [does] slowly disintegrate into a whining, maudlin, vain, self-pitying dame." "Anna Karenina," 1997: This Warner Bros. production stars Parisian-born actress Sophie Marceau ("Braveheart," "The World is Not Enough") in the title role, with Bernard Rose directing (check out our TOH interview with him about his third Tolstoy adaptation "Boxing Day," playing Venice). Sean Bean plays Vronsky. The film flopped painfully, with a $35 million budget, and not even an $800K domestic take.

More ouch: A 26% Rotten . (With a 6.2 on IMDb , viewers seem to regard it more positively.) Check out Roger Ebert's review of the film, with this segment basically summing up the critical consensus: "It's not the story but the style and the ideas that make Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina'' a great novel and not a soap opera. There's no shortage of stories about bored rich women who leave their older husbands and take up with playboys. This new screen version of the novel makes that clear by focusing on the story, which without Tolstoy's wisdom, is a grim and melodramatic affair. Here is a woman of intoxicating beauty and deep passion, and she becomes so morose and tiresome that by the end, we'd just as soon she throw herself under a train, and are not much cheered when she obliges." "Love," 1927: 21-year-old Greta Garbo stars as Anna for her first time in this silent version.

Her real-life lover John Gilbert co-stars as Vronsky, which was a big selling point upon the film's release: Marquees screamed "Gilbert and Garbo in Love!" and the original poster read "John Gilbert in Love with Greta Garbo." The film was also released with two endings, and exhibitors decided which one would screen in which towns. The tragic ending courtesy of Tolstoy played mostly in urban communities, while the sugar-coated ending screened basically everywhere else in the country. The film's budget is estimated just shy of $500K , and made back twice that amount domestically, with a $731K international haul. A juggernaut hit. "Anna Karenina," 1967: This Soviet version stars Russian superstar Tatyana Samojlova in the title role, with Aleksandr Zharki helming. An epic at 145 minutes, the film demanded two years (!) of shooting in full color 70mm widescreen. The film has a respectable 7.1 on IMDB . Bolshoi ballet star Maia Plisetskaya plays the seemingly kind Princess who at first helps Anna, and then turns her back on her.

"Anna Karenina," 2012: Keira Knightley re-teams with director Joe Wright — a stylish helmer she fares well with — for this unusual adaptation. Based on the trailer and an early 6-minute clip , the film has a stage setting, with the actors taking on a manner of theatricality, and waltzing between what appear to be gilded amphitheatres and actual locations. Aaron Johnson co-stars as Vronsky, with Jude Law as cuckold husband Karenin. The film has a November 16 release date (with some European cities getting an earlier release date), and will premiere at Toronto in September, with its Oscar prospects unspooling then.

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Question: What movie star was nominated for acting awards for playing Anna Christie in 1930 and Anna Karenina in 1935?
Answer: GRETA GARBO