GARBO

by John Bainbridge ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 24, 1955

A discreet and dispassionate appraisal of one of the ""great ornaments and excitements"" of our age still does not blunt the special fascination of the simple Swedish girl who became a legend in her own lifetime, trespasses with respect on the private life of the woman who never said ""I want to be alone"" but ""I want to be let alone"". Pensive and seclusive childlike, secretive and self-absorbed too, ""Mademoiselle Hamlet"" had her start modelling hats, until the ""face that was to launch a thousand sighs"" appeared in commercial films and she secured a scholarship at the Royal Dramatic Theatre Academy. As a seventeen-year old Trilby to forty-year old Mauritz Stiller's Svengali, Garbo was brought to Hollywood where with her second film- she was a distinct triumph while Stiller, jobless, went back home to die. Her successive pictures- there were 24 in all; her social claustrophobia save for a few friends; the unresolved relationships with John Gilbert, Stokowski, and possibly Gayelord Hauser; and finally her withdrawal from the screen where her matchless gift for portraying illicit and tragic love brought her a lonely splendor- all this is here, along with the magic of a name which endures- and the mystery of a woman who is nonetheless inscrutable and unassailable.

Pub Date: March 24, 1955

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1955

Categories: NONFICTION