Greta Garbo
Greta Lovisa Gustafsson was born in Stockholm, Sweden on September 18, 1905. She was the youngest daughter of Anna Lovisa Johansson and Karl Alfred Gustafsson. She had an older brother, Sven Afred and an older sister Alva Maria.
The Gustafssons lived in great poverty in Stockholm. Karl, Greta's father, with whom she had a wonderful relationship, died when she was 14. Greta was a very quiet young girl and she later said of having nightmares of her father being buried alive. Even in mourning, they had to take difficult decisions and the children had to abandon their studies to work and help their mother financially.
Greta first worked as a soap-lather girl in a barbershop. Later she started working as a clerk in the department store PUB in Stockholm. There she was chosen to model for their publicity. Here you can see her in her first film publicity called "
How not to dress" for PUB.
The publicity films were a sensation and PUB didn't want their wonderfully funny modelto work for a real movie when director Erik Arthur Petschler wanted her for his upcomming comedy
Peter the Tramp (1922). She needed the money she earned from PUB but her passion for acting was stronger. Her mom and siblings agreed with her when she quit her job to enter the movies.
She went on to make
Peter the Tramp (1922), a silent Swedish comedy where she didn't look at all like the alluring actress she would later become.
From 1922 to 1924, Greta studied at the Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm. While there she met the first important man of her career: the creator of Greta Garbo.
Mauritz Stiller 
Mauritz Stiller (July 17, 1883-November 18, 1928) was a Finnish Jewish actor, screenwriter and influential silent film director. Stiller saw in Garbo was many hadn't seen. While others thought she would be the funny fat girl of comedy, Stiller saw a raw diamond that he could shape into the screen goddess he idealized. He made her lose weight, dress differently, talk differently and coached her acting into what he wanted to see on screen and he chose the new name of Garbo. She was selected to work in his new film
Gosta Berlin Saga. The movie was a real hit in Europe, principally in France and Germany. That allowed Stiller to negociate new contracts and to take his crew to Germany. There Stiller convinced another great man, G.W. Pabst (August 25, 1885- May 29, 1967) to take his protegee for the new film Pabst was about to shoot,
Joyless Street. 
Joyless Street was another great hit in Europe and it raised Hollywood's interest in Garbo and her mentor.
Off to HollywoodSeveral theories on who was the real interest for MGM exist nowadays. Some say that Louis B. Mayer, MGM head leader, wanted only Stiller and that he imposed Garbo in his contract, others say it was the other way around. Whatever it was, they both arrived in New York in 1925.
They spent several months in New York because MGM didn't have any project for any of them. They lingered there even considering to return home to Sweden.
It was only when Garbo and Stiller met photgrapher Arnold Genthe that MGM understood the potential Garbo had as an actress.
He made a shooting of very dramatic pictures showing Garbo expressing raw emotion. Just after seeing the pictures, MGM sent for Garbo and Stiller and off the went to Holywood.
Upon arriving in Hollywood, she met Lous B. Mayer, MGM partners and Irving Thalberg (May 30, 1899 - September 14, 1936). Thalberg was an Academy Award winning film producer during the early years of motion pictures.
Thalberg just couldn't understand why Greta was called the most beautiful actress in Sweden. He was responsible for the shaping of Garbo's looks in films. She had her hair straightened and her teeth capped.She was given her first part in a film called
The Torrent.
The film was a success and Garbo became the new vamp of films. A position which she hated.
Another project had started for both Garbo and Stiller which was called
The Temptress. The shooting of the movie was very troublesome. Conflicts between Stiller and the actors and the studio heads made it a difficult set to work into. During the shooting Greta received the bad news of the death of her sister Alva who died of cancer at 22.
MGM refused to let her go to Sweden for her sister's funeral, which made her extremelly sad and angry against the studio.
Working with Stiller had become a pain to everybody so Thalberg decided to fire him. Greta and Stiller were heart-broken. His scenes were re-shot by Freb Niblo and the film was another great success, even though Garbo hated the picture.
Another project was in talks. Garbo asked Mayer to let her mourn her sister and that she wouldn't be able to work right away. Instead of trying to help her, Mayer sent her a lettre threatening her to put her on suspension if she didn't agree to make the new picture. Needless to say, Greta was deeply hurt by his decision.
After negociation, she decided to accept the part of Felicitas in the movie called
Flesh and the Devil with the biggest male star at that time, who would also become the most important of her leading men...
John Gilbert
John Gilbert (July 10, 1899 - January 9, 1936) was an American actor and major silent film star.
During the making of
Flesh and the Devil Garbo and Gilbert started a stormy love affair.
The sexual chemistry between the two leading actors was palpable in the movie. Needless to say, the movie was another great hit, and the legendary Garbo-Gilbert
pairing was created.
**be patient when watching this video. It is worthwhile! You'll see the most beautiful
and sexy seduction scene ever filmed in a silent.
Gilbert and Garbo lived a very passionate affair. They often didn't hear director
Clarence Brown say "cut" and kept on making out on the set. Brown later said
he felt embarrassed to interrupt and everyone left silently leaving them by
themselves.
She soon moved to Gilbert's place and he never hid that he was deeply in
love with her.
Meanwhile Garbo was really not satisfied with the parts given to her by MGM.
She went on strike and after weeks of negotiation they decided on a better
contract. Gilbert was also in bad terms with Mayer who wanted to get rid of him.
Gilbert insisted in marrying Garbo. She refused many many times and finally gave
up and said "yes". On the day of the ceremony, she had cold feet and never
showed up. Gilbert was deeply hurt, but couldn't stop loving her. Unfortunatly their
affair didn't last much longer. During the shooting of "A Woman of Affairs" they ended
their affair but still had a lot of tenderness towards each other.
She went on in being the greatest star Hollywood had ever seen. The transition
from silents to talkies wasn't kind to many stars of the era, including John
Gilbert. Thalberg decided to prepare Greta for her first talkie and took their time.
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mizfitz65posted 583 days ago
