Greta Garbo: Life Story and Fabulous Photos Of One Of The Greatest Actress Of All Time

Greta Garbo is one of the greatest actresses of all time, remembered for her remarkable roles in both silent and talking films before World War II. Garbo was known for her melancholy, somber persona, fabulous looks, and natural instincts.

Modeling Career

She was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1905. Her father died from the Spanish flu when she was only 15. Garbo left the school and went to work in a department store as a salesperson to support her mother. She started her modeling career with the same department store as a teenager, the store used her as a model in its newspaper and billboard advertisings. After modeling hats for the store’s catalogs, Garbo earned a more lucrative job as a fashion model. Encouraged by her own performance, she applied for and won a scholarship to a Swedish drama school.

Film Career

Greta began her professional film career with a small role in a short comedy film ‘Peter the Tramp’ in 1922. Swedish director Mauritz Stiller gave her a lead role in his film ‘The Saga of Gosta Berling’ when she was studying in a drama school. The film’s success in both Sweden and Germany made Greta famous. She moved to America in 1925 and within a year she got the role of a Spanish peasant who is desperate to become an opera star in the film ‘The Torrent’. Greta rose to prominence with her performance in two super-hit movies ‘The Temptress’ and ‘Flesh and the Devil’ in the same year. The films were both successful and made the actress an international star.

Greta had a Swedish accent and she worked hard to improve her accent. She made her debut in sound in a movie adaption of Eugene O’Neill’s ‘Anna Christie’ in 1930. Greta played the role of Mata Hari, a German Spy of World War I in the film ‘Mata Hari’. She also portrayed the role of a Russian Ballerina in the movie ‘Grand Hotel’ in 1932. Both films were MGM’s highest-earning films of 1931 and 1932. In 1933, Garbo took on one of her most ambitious roles as a fictional Swedish monarch in ‘Queen Christina’. She showcased her talent and fabulous performance in more than 40 films and dramas throughout her professional career.

Personal life

Greta Garbo never married and she had no children. Although she had a romantic relationships with famous actors including John Gilbert, Leopold Stokowski, and many others. Recent biographers and others believe that Garbo was bisexual, and she also had a relationship with some famous women including actress Lilyan Tashman and Mercedes de Acosta.

Greta Garbo’s death

Greta Garbo was successfully treated for breast cancer in 1984 and she also suffered from gastrointestinal and periodontal ailments. Greta was died on 15 April 1990, in the hospital as a result of pneumonia and renal failure. She was cremated in Manhattan, and her ashes were interred in 1999 at Skogskyrkogården Cemetery just south of her native Stockholm.

Here below are some gorgeous photos of legendary actress form her life and early career.

#1 Greta Garbo wearing a hat, 1927.

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#2 Greta Garbo, 1927.

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#3 Greta Garbo in a costume of the Mata Hari style, 1931.

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#4 Greta Garbo with John Barrymore, 1927.

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#5 Greta Garbo with John Gilbert in a scene from ‘Queen Christina’, 1933

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#6 Greta Garbo seated on an ottoman, wearing a large business suit and sporting ballet shoes, 1930s.

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#7 Greta Garbo arrived in New York, 1926.

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#8 Young Greta Garbo, 1926.

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#9 Greta Garbo in hat trimmed with small flowers.

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#10 Greta Garbo posing for a portrait, 1928.

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#11 Greta Garbo listening to her co-star in the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production of “Ninotchka”.

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#12 Greta Garbo with Lionel Barrymore in “Camile”, 1936.

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#13 Greta Garbo from the movie ‘Anna Karenina’, 1935.

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#14 Greta Garbo in Lacy Dress, 1935.

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#15 Greta Garbo on Skis, 1932.

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#16 Greta Garbo sitting on a horse, 1926.

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#17 Actress Greta Garbo during a photoshoot, 1931.

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#18 Garbo in a Velvet Evening Gown, 1937.

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#19 Greta Garbo in a beautiful dress, 1929.

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#20 Greta Garbo during a film scene, 1929.

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#21 Greta Garbo wearing a black hat, 1928.

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#22 Greta Garbo in black dress, 1927.

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#23 Colorized portrait of Greta Garbo, 1930s.

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#24 Beautiful Greta Garbo, 1930s.

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#25 Greta Garbo swimming at a beach, 1920s.

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#26 Greta Garbo standing in the garden of her Hollywood villa. Los Angeles, 1920s

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#27 Greta Garbo glancing up, 1920s.

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#28 Greta Garbo dancing with film director Mauritz Stiller, 1926.

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#29 Greta Garbo on the set of “Wild Orchid”.

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#30 Greta Garbo and actor Conrad Nagel on the set of “The Mysterious Lady”.

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#31 Greta Garbo on the set of Mata Hari, 1931.

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#32 Greta Garbo with her director friend Mauritz Stiller as they arrive in the United States, 1925.

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#33 Greta Garbo in Scene with Actor Fredric March in the movie ‘Anna Karenina’, 1935.

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#34 Greta Garbo wearing Hat, 1935.

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#35 Greta Garbo posing for a portrait, 1932

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#36 Greta Garbo as Irene Guarry in the film ‘The Kiss’, 1929.

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#37 Greta Garbo returning from vacationing in Sweden, 1929.

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#38 Greta Garbo posing for a publicity still for the film ‘The Single Standard,’ Los Angeles, 1929.

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#39 Greta Garbo posing for publicity portrait for the film ‘The Single Standard,’ 1929.

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#40 Greta Garbo during the filming of ‘The Single Standard,’ 1929

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#41 Greta Garbo posing with fishing rod in the outdoors, 1929.

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#42 Greta Garbo in ‘The Divine Woman,’ 1928.

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#43 Greta Garbo with two make-up women, 1927.

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#44 Greta Garbo in the film ‘Love,’ 1927.

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#45 Greta Garbo as Anna Karenina in the film ‘Love,’ 1927.

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#46 Greta Garbo posing for a portrait, 1938.

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#47 Greta Garbo portrait for MGM’s movie ‘Love,’ 1927.

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#48 Greta Garbo with John Gilbert on the set of ‘Love,’ 1927.

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#49 Greta Garbo exercising near the Fox studio, 1927.

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#50 Greta Garbo wearing a satin bandeau, 1927.

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#51 Greta Garbo posing for a publicity still for the film ‘The Temptress,’ 1926.

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#52 Greta Garbo posing for a publicity still for the film ‘The Temptress,’ 1926.

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#53 Greta Garbo in a scene from the MGM film ‘Flesh and the Devil,’ 1926.

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#54 Greta Garbo on horseback, 1926.

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#55 Garbo’s biceps, 1926.

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#56 Greta Garbo driving a car, 1925.

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#57 Greta Garbo as Elizabeth Dohna in ‘The Story of Gosta Berling,’ 1924.

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#58 Greta Garbo poses for an MGM publicity still circa 1925

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#59 Actress Greta Garbo, 1929.

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#60 Greta Garbo wearing a white fur wrap from New York designed for an evening at the theatre, 1925.

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#61 Greta Garbo with Gerda Lundekvist in the The Saga of Gosta Berling, 1924.

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#62 Greta Garbo during the filming of ‘A Women of Affairs’, 1928.

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#63 Greta Garbo in the movie “The Saga Of osta Berling”, 1924.

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#64 Greta Garbo with Lars Hanson in the film ‘The Story of Goesta Berling’ 1924.

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#65 Actress Greta Garbo on the set of “The Torrent”.

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#66 Greta Garbo with actor Antonio Moreno on the set of “The Temptress”, 1924.

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#67 Greta Garbo with actor Antonio Moreno and HB Warner on the set of “The Temptress”, 1924.

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#68 Greta Garbo poses for a publicity still for the MGM film ‘The Temptress’ in 1926.

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#69 Greta Garbo poses for a publicity photo for the MGM movie “Love”, 1927.

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#70 Greta Garbo with actor John Gilbert on the set of “Love”.

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#71 Greta Garbo with Dorothy Cumming in The Divine Woman, 1926.

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#72 Greta Garbo in ‘The Mysterious Lady’, 1928.

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#73 Greta Garbo as Mata Hair, 1931.

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