English film critic Kenneth Tainen once said: "Everything that a drunkard sees in other women, sober sees in Garbo." Very accurate description: many Greta seemed the embodiment of a dream. The audience in the cinema halls admired the Swedish beauty and envied those who were close to her in real life. They did not know that in addition to the actor's talent, Greta Garbo has another talent - to break the hearts of those who had the misfortune to fall in love with her. The fatal "lady with the camellias" Greta Garbo seemed to demand sacrifice for her attention.
Greta Louise Gustafson was born on September 18, 1905 in Stockholm, not just in the poor, but in a poor working-class family. She was the youngest of three children whom her parents could hardly give to school. And then only for a few years. Therefore, Greta was forever illiterate, she did not think well and was not interested in reading. Greta did not like to remember childhood. She behaved as if she had no relatives at all. Only after Garbo's death it became known that her mother and elder brother lived in the USA for many years. For all these years Greta has never met with them. She, being a famous movie star and the richest woman, did not help her mother and brother settle in America, did not support financially. However, they never addressed her.
At the age of fifteen, Greta Gustaffson worked in a haberdashery store, where she was seen by the wealthy aristocrat Max Gample, who became her first husband. Together they did not last long. To the greatest surprise of Max, Greta herself filed for divorce. To her husband, she explained that she was "just fed up", and the family lawyer Gampelov said she had no property claims.
Greta Gustafson never dreamed of associating her life with art. But if there was an opportunity to earn - she did not refuse. At seventeen, Greta posed in fashionable hats for a women's magazine. When the film director Maurice Stiller caught these pictures, he invited Grete to act in a small role. "The girl in the hat" took this proposal without interest. And only when I found out that I was paid more for shooting in the film than for posing for the photographer, I agreed.
It was Maurice Stiller who suggested that she take the pseudonym "Garbo": it sounded exotic, unlike the popular "Gustafson". Stiller dreamed of seeing Greta in Hollywood and for this purpose organized her trip to the film festival, held in Constantinople. There the young Swede was noticed by representatives of a large American film company MGM. Greta and Stiller were invited to the US and signed a contract with them for two films. However, after the filming of these two films, Greta continued to shoot already other directors. And Stiller after just received a salary under the contract and wasted nothing. Garbo immediately became a star. And Stiller suffered, being unclaimed in the US, but also unable to return to his homeland, afraid to part with Greta Garbo.
During the filming of the film "Flesh and the Devil" Greta Garbo met with John Gilbert. Gilbert was the most highly paid and popular actor in Hollywood and had the reputation of a ruthless heartthrob. But he gave his heart to Greta Garbo almost on the first day of shooting. Gilbert knew how to take good care of. Garbo showed indifference to all his madness. All the more surprising was for Gilbert and for all those around him, when, at the end of filming, Greta moved to live with him. Maurice Stiller suffered, was jealous, eventually made a scandal - and was expelled from the studio. At MGM long dreamed of getting rid of the unlucky Pygmalion of the beautiful Galatea - Garbo. I needed an excuse, and then Garbo herself demanded that she be shielded from an obsessive admirer. Stiller was deported to Sweden, where he sighed and soon died. When he was found dead, Greta's photo was in his hands. Young Greta in a fashionable hat. Greta did not react to the news of Stiller's death. Her affair with Gilbert was in full swing. And the happy Gilbert did not know yet that for him the connection with Garbo would be disastrous. Greta agreed to marry Gilbert, even the wedding day was appointed. But just before the wedding, the bride left Gilbert's mansion - and just disappeared. In Hollywood, she returned, when the passion for her flight a little calmed down. She never explained the reasons for her act. And she did not even want to talk to Gilbert.
John Gilbert was in despair. Trying to comfort his best actor, Louis Meyer, the head of the MGM studio, told Gilbert: "All the best, mate! I slept with a beauty - and even do not have to marry! "Gilbert reacted to these cynical words unreasonably: he hit the head of the film company in the jaw, so much that he knocked him to the floor. The insulted Meyer did everything to destroy John Gilbert. The actor was no longer given roles. In 1929 he married actress Ide Clair, but lived with her for a year. He could not forget Greta Garbo. Greta was like a drug, a destructive sweet poison: you can hate, and still you will. Unable to endure separation from Garbo, Gilbert began drinking and died of alcoholism at the age of thirty-seven.
Marriage with Gilbert Garbo preferred an affair with a woman: the famous poetess and screenwriter Mercedes D'Acosta. At the first meeting, Mercedes could not tear an enthusiastic glance from the beautiful face of the Swede. While Greta could not tear her eyes from the heavy gold and sapphires bracelet on the hand of Mercedes. Noticing this, Mercedes with the generosity of a true lover took off the bracelet and put it on Greta's arm. Greta generally accepted gifts with undisguised pleasure, and Mercedes tried to guess her every desire. Although Garbo herself was much richer than Mercedes, she never did return gifts. It just did not occur to her. Garbo found it quite natural that she was worshiped as a goddess. Greta planned to rest for a while in the break between filming two films, and Mercedes invited her to her secluded estate on the shore of Lake Silve Lake, where they spent six weeks together. Mercedes was happy and at the same time - disappointed. Intellectual, creative personality, Mercedes D'Acosta considered one of the most important life pleasures conversation. Greta was not talkative at all, and when she opened her mouth it became clear that all the thoughts of the beauty were banal, interests were carnally limited. Mercedes could not believe that her idol actually did not possess either a developed intellect or sensitivity. But for several decades I tried to "solve the riddle of Garbo". In her personal diary, published after her death, Mercedes D'Acosta bitterly admitted to herself: "In my soul, a feeling arose for a non-existent person. My mind sees reality - a person, a girl-servant from Sweden, with a person whom the creator touches with love, only interested in money, health, food and sleep. And yet this face is deceptive, and my soul is trying to translate its image into something that my mind does not accept. Yes, I love her, but I love the image I created, and not a specific person of flesh and blood. "Mercedes D'Acosta introduced Greta Garbo to Marlene Dietrich. Greta became interested in the famous German woman, learning that she is very skillful in love. And most importantly - incredibly generous to his mistresses. And Mercedes did everything to ensure that Garbo and Dietrich met. "I will bring you to bed, whom you will!" And not because I do not love you enough, but because I love with all my heart, oh, my Most Beautiful! "- wrote Mercedes in one of the letters to Greta. By the way, the novel of two movie stars did not ask: Dietrich was, of course, generous, but was spent mainly on white roses, while Garbo would prefer something more important. And in bed, Dietrich disappointed her.
With Cecil Beaton, a British aristocrat and court photographer of the royal family, Greta was also introduced to Mercedes. This happened in May 1932, shortly after the filming of the movie "Queen Christina", who raised Garbo above all the cinematic stars. Until now, Beaton was denied all attempts to persuade Garbo to pose for him. But when Mercedes introduced them to each other, Greta did not consider it necessary to refuse a friend of her lover in such a trifle as a photo. When they were sitting on the terrace, Greta took a tea rose from the vase, put it to her cheek. As Beaton later recalled, tanned and flushed skin after a long walk Greedy color and silkiness was exactly like that rose. And then she lifted the flower up and said: "Here is a rose that lives, dies and disappears forever." Garbo kissed the rose and handed it to Bitona. He dried the flower in his diary, and then hung it in the frame near his headboard. Beaton stored this rose until his death, and after the famous flower was auctioned for 750 pounds sterling - a record amount for that time! They became lovers. Mercedes D'Acosta suffered and was jealous, wrote desperate poems and slipped it under Greta's door. But everything was useless: Greta opted for Biton.
Being a true artist, Cecil Biton was especially keenly aware of beauty. And the beauty of your beloved woman - in the first place. He made a lot of great photos, which Greta liked most. He also left some amazing literary sketches: "With its smooth, languid movements, it is more like a panther or a mermaid, and, let it be tall, with large arms and legs, - there is something in its appearance from an elf." It was not long before Biton, like Mercedes, ceased to idealize Greta. He wrote in his diary: "Her nothing and nobody in particular is not interested. It is unbearable, like an invalid, and is just as selfish, and completely unwilling to reveal itself to anyone. She would have turned out to be a dull interlocutor, she is superstitious, suspicious, and she does not know the meaning of the word "friendship". She is also unable to love. " But even assessing her soberly, Beaton did not manage to "root out" Garbo from his soul. For the first time their connection did not last long. Biton made a mistake - suggested Greta to become his wife. Greta replied not just with a refusal, but with a complete break in the relationship. For her, such proposals sounded like an encroachment on her personal life, which she zealously guarded.
In 1936, during the filming in the film "Conquest", where Greta played Maria Valewski, the beautiful Polish girl, whom Napoleon fell in love with, the actress had a rather serious affair with the great conductor Leopold Stokowski. In the summer they together went to travel around Italy, they even talked about their upcoming wedding. But Stokovsky preferred millionaire Gloria Vanderbilt. He was the only one with apparent ease refused a drug called Garbo.
In 1941, Greta Garbo starred in her last and very unsuccessful film "Two-faced woman." At thirty-six, she left the movie, shut herself up in her New York apartment, refusing to receive guests and give interviews. The only ones Greta allowed into her life was Shlee. They were her neighbors, Russian emigrants. George Schlee, the famous lawyer, gave Garbo financial advice, always the right one. And his wife Valentine, the famous dressmaker, sewed for her. Together they guarded the peace of the movie star, who, feeling the onset of aging, became even more withdrawn and went out into the street only in dark glasses. His retreat Garbo violated in 1946, suddenly appearing at a bohemian party. There she met with many old acquaintances, including Cecil Biton. They have not seen each other for fourteen years since their short novel. She was forty-one years old, he was forty-three. Her beauty has faded. But for Cecil Biton Greta was still irresistible, the most beautiful. He begged her for a date - and she agreed to meet him again. They walked in the Central Park, conducted endless conversations. Greta Garbo, silent and secretive, suddenly became talkative and very frank with Beaton. Once she said to him: "My bed is narrow, cold and chaste. I hate her ... "Then Beaton immediately offered her an offer of hands and heart. And, oddly enough, Garbo agreed.
Biton and Garbo did not announce the upcoming wedding, but all bohemians quickly learned about it. Beaton was convinced of the inviolability of his present happiness. Greta agreed to pose for him again, though, taking the word from him not to show anyone these pictures: Garbo did not want the fans to see her for forty years. But the photos were delicious. Beaton wanted the whole world to know that his beloved was still beautiful. He made a fatal mistake: during the trip Greta to Sweden transferred photos to the magazine "Vog". Upon learning of this, Garbo discontinued all relations with Biton. And when several years later she changed her anger to mercy, she allowed Cecil to herself only as a friend, who was allowed to provide her with all kinds of services. The unfortunate Beaton was happy already with this. True, in 1959 he married June Osborn, the widow of pianist Franz Osborne. But Greta Garbo was still his only love and the focal point of all his thoughts.
All these difficult years for himself Cecil corresponded with Mercedes D'Acosta, who also suffered separation from Garbo and dreamed of returning her. Mercedes - then already seriously ill - regularly sent Garbo gifts, which she took without the slightest expression of gratitude, never even responded with a note, not that a visit. Greta called Mercedes, only when she was completely alone, fell ill and felt helpless. Spouses Shlee went from her life: George died, and Valentine left New York.
But Mercedes, herself old and sick, rushed on the first call. She found doctors and nurses, did not leave Greta's bed. But she was banished, as soon as Garbo began to recover. Mercedes D'Acosta died in 1968 after a long and painful illness, having transferred several operations to the brain. She kept her mind clear until the end and waited till the end. But Garbo did not visit her, did not write her a single postcard to the hospital, did not even come to the funeral. When Cecil Biton died in 1980, Greta also did not want to break her privacy for the funeral and did not even send flowers to his coffin. Greta Garbo herself died on April 15, 1990, alone, who had been so long and diligently seeking. The actress wished to be cremated and buried in Stockholm. However, a number of legal difficulties arose - and the garbage ashes were kept in the burial office in New York for nine years. When the question arose of who would inherit the state of the actress, it suddenly turned out that she had a niece in the US who only saw her aunt on the screen. She got $ 32 million from Greta Garbo. Thus the fate of the fateful "lady with the camellias" Greta Garbo ended.