Greta Garbo is one of the biggest stars in the history of cinema. It’s now 80 years since she gave her final performance in The Two Faced Woman. That movie was her only flop. Stung by the lacklustre response to her poor casting in a screwball comedy, she left Hollywood and never acted again. She was 36 years old.
Garbo lived for another 50 years. Over that time, she become one of the world’s most famous recluses. How could the Divine Garbo, one of the most desired women in the world, just walk away? The hope for a potential Garbo comeback haunted the minds of many cineastes, but it wasn’t to be. Did Garbo ever regret walking away from Hollywood? We’ll never know. She wasn’t really prone to discuss her feelings in any detail. She remained a mystery to even her closest friends.
Robert Gottlieb is a revered literary editor and lifelong Garbo devotee. His latest book “Garbo” attempts to unravel the mystery of Hollywood’s most elusive star. He’s 90 years old so his age gives him something of an advantage. He’s been around long enough to remember when a Garbo comeback was a possibility.
It’s quite astonishing to consider how well known Garbo still is. Although her films have dated, some to the point of being all but forgotten, her name still resonates. She’s the first Golden Age Hollywood star Madonna name checks in Vogue.
Her films may have dated, but her performances are still captivating. She was able to elevate often clunky scripts, making them seem like high art, at least while she was on the screen. Her performance in Queen Christina is probably her best. It’s one Swedish queen playing another.
Garbo uttered her most famous line in Grand Hotel (“I want to be alone”). It seemed to sum up her life. She had a loathing of crowds and photographers. She made a point of covering her face when the press pursued her around the world: she wasn’t going to allow them to have a decent shot.
She never married or had children, but she had affairs with various men and women. In the later part of her life she didn’t seem to have any interest in pursing romantic relationships. In fact, she didn’t seem to have much interest in anything at all. She never said anything especially interesting. Her conversation was often whimsical, although she did have a decent, if fatalistic sense of humour.
One thing Garbo did have was charisma. People who met her over the years – even huge stars like Maria Callas – were dazzled to even be in her presence. In denying the public a curtain call after her final film, she created a Garbo vacuum. People filled it in by projecting their fantasies onto her. She was the international woman of mystery; the ultimate reclusive star. Kenneth Tynan said “What when drunk, one sees in other women, one sees in Garbo sober.” In terms of her mystery, he said “We know little more about Garbo than we know about Shakespeare.”
So, how does a biographer approach a subject as difficult to pin down as Garbo? In some ways she was quite a simple person. Born into the Swedish peasantry in 1905, she dreamed of becoming an actress. It was quite an ambition for someone who came from nothing. Clearly, her ambition was fulfilled not long after she left drama school.
Throughout her years of success, she remained an unpretentious Swedish woman who wanted a simple life. She didn’t seem to derive much pleasure from becoming a superstar, or from her vast wealth. On the rare occasions she attended social events, she’d eventually say “I tank I go home now” and leave. She was always leaving, always on the run.
Robert Gottlieb looks at Garbo from every angle. He’s read everything that’s been published about her. The Garbo he brings to life in 2021 is a combination of banality and brilliance. Someone you can’t pin down. In other words, the same star who captivated audiences throughout the 1920s and 1930s, and then vanished, never to be forgotten.
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