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Greta Garbo -
The Ice Queen Pinup
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Greta Garbo the pinup style icon and the woman who was probably more of an influence on my personal style than any other I can think of.
*Greta Garbo portrait art
As a young girl attempting to make my body look more like Julie Newmar or Bettie Page through sheer will power alone, I first discovered the great Garbo. Someone told me that I looked like her and I immediately went to find and image...I was stunned. Greta was the most exquisite creature I had ever seen...more beautiful and etherial than any queen, witch or fairy princess from any of the illustrations I had obsessed over as a child. I set about finding out all I could about her and making myself look more like her.....My eyebrows shrunk down to virtually nothing, I stopped altering the natural deco shape of my lips with excessive liner and wound my tailbone length auburn hair into the severe coiled up-dos I am now known for. But as I got older it was more than this superficial styling that became important to me..as I recognized the importance poise, carriage and the use of the eyelashes and brows to convey ..well just about anything really! Garbo works these like a beautiful witchcraft, and If you watch my stopmotion animated film "Jack and Jill... A wicked tale" you may see the influence of Greta Garbo's style of movement and glances in my puppet Jill, who is based in part on the great silent star.
Greta Garbo (18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish actress during Hollywood's silent film period and part of its Golden Age. Regarded as one of the greatest and most inscrutable movie stars ever produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Garbo received a 1954 Honorary Academy Award "for her unforgettable screen performances" and in 1999 was ranked as the fifth greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute.
A very private superstar...one of her nicknames was "The Swedish Sphinx" ... Garbo was often criticized for her interview manner and avoidance of the the public eye even when important people in her life died. She terminated her friendship with the great photographer Cecil Beaton when he revealed their affair in his memoirs and did not attend the academy awards when they honored her. Clark Gable loathed her, calling her a snob, she called his acting "wooden". She left her fiancee standing at the alter and indeed never did marry. And for most of her career she never attended a premier, or signed an autograph or gave a proper interview. None of this bothers me one bit, she is still my heroine. I mean she was all those things and still one of the highest paid women in America of the 1930s...and is responsible for the introduction of what we now know as 'method acting'. The official Greta Garbo website describes her as "the first woman to be viewed as both assertive and feminine"
She was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson in Stockholm, Sweden, the youngest of three children. When she was 14 years old, her father, to whom she was extremely close, died which pushed the family into financial trouble and She was forced to leave school and go to work.
Her first job was as a soap-lather girl in a barbershop. But it was her next job that was the surprizing start of her film career. Garbo became a clerk at the department store 'PUB' in Stockholm in the early 1920's. They had her model for their newspaper advertisements. She first got movie star aspirations when she appeared in two short film advertisements (the first for the department store where she worked). These advertisements were eventually seen by comedy director Erik Arthur Petschler and he gave her a part in his upcoming film Peter the Tramp (1922)
From 1922 to 1924 she studied, with a scholarship, at the royal dramatic theater in Stockholm. It was while there that one of her acting teachers, the director Mauritz Stiller, gave her the stage name Greta Garbo. He was reputed to be a volatile individual but became her mentor and one of her closest friends. He cast her in a major role in the silent film Gösta Berlings Saga (The Story of Gösta Berling) in 1924, a dramatization of the famous novel by Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlöf. In 1925, during the making of another film, Die freudlose Gasse (The Joyless Street or The Street of Sorrow) directed by G. W. Pabst and co-starring Asta Nielsen, Garbo and Stiller were brought to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by Louis B. Mayer. On viewing Gösta Berlings Saga during a visit to Berlin, Mayer had been impressed with Stiller's direction, but was much more taken with Garbo's acting and screen presence. According to Mayer's daughter, Irene, it was the "gentle feeling and expression that emanated from her eyes" which had so impressed her father.
Sadly her relationship with Stiller did not last. As her fame grew he struggled and was fired by MGM for his constant arguing with executives. He returned to Sweden in 1927, where he died the following year at the age of 45. Greta was devastated at his death but was not public about it
  Click image for this great Garbo book from Barnes&Noble
Iconic Greta Garbo look
Having achieved enormous success as a silent movie star, Greta Garbo was one of the few actresses who made the transition to talkies, though she delayed the shift for as long as possible.
Her film The Kiss (1929) was the last film MGM made without dialogue (it used a soundtrack with music and sound effects only). Her voice was first heard on screen in Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie (1930), which was publicized with the slogan "Garbo Talks". The movie was a huge success, as you would imagine, and such a mercy that her voice was as captivating as her face unlike so many others who failed to make the transition. In 1931 Garbo made a German version of the movie.
Her role as the doomed courtesan in Camille (1936), directed by George Cukor, was her favourite and regarded by Garbo as her finest acting performance (though most critics would say it was her portrayal of Anna Karenina in 1935 that was her greatest hour) .
The film Ninotchka was a successful attempt at lightening Garbo's image and making her less exotic. The story line is a somewhat absurd but oddly charming one, revolving around the sale of the jewels of a grand Dutchess in Paris by three Russians, and what happens when they are 'corrupted' by capitalist ways. The film was Garbo's first comedy and was promoted with the tagline, "Garbo laughs!". She came over surprzingly well in the role, but then she was a greater actress than she was given credit for.
The follow-up film, Two-Faced Woman (1941), attempted to capitalize by casting Garbo in a romantic comedy, where she played a double role, and tried to make her into "an ordinary girl". The film, Garbo's last, was directed by George Cukor, and was a critical (though not a commercial) failure. Personally I think that her exotic-ness is what is so appealing about her....I mean who really needs yet another 'girl next door'? what is wrong with being untouchable?.
It is often reported that Greta Garbo chose to retire from cinema after this film's failure, but she had been becoming very choosy about the roles she played since 1935, and eventually years passed without her agreeing to do another film. She said herself that after World War II the world had changed, perhaps forever. Was she wrong? Greta Garbo Fact: Garbo was criticized for apparently not aiding the Allies during WWII, However it was later revealed that she had helped Great Britain by naming influential Nazi sympathizers in Sweden and by providing introductions and carrying messages for UK agents. Think she learned something from playing Mata Hari?.
There were rumors at the time that Garbo had become an invalid and that is why she was not acting and was never seen. The truth was that she simply felt that her films had achieved what she wanted them too and the new roles available were not interesting to her. She was really working on maintaining the "Garbo Mystique" and jet-setting around the world with the A-list...not too shabby huh kittens?!
Possibly her last interview was with the entertainment writer Paul Callan of the London Daily Mail during the Cannes Film Festival. Meeting at the Hotel du Cap Eden Roc, Callan began "I wonder..." before he could get out another word Garbo cut in with "Why wonder?" and stalked off, making it one of the shortest interviews ever published. Should anyone wonder why this woman is an inspiration to me look no farther than that! LOL. Magnificent.
 Click image for this rare look at the iconic style of Garbo. From Barnes&Noble
She gradually withdrew from the entertainment world and moved to a secluded life in New York City, refusing to make any public appearances. Up until her death, Garbo sightings were a sort of sport for the paparazzi. In 1974, pornographic film maker Peter De Rome tracked Garbo across New York and shot unauthorized footage of her for his X-rated feature Adam & Yves. Despite her attempts to flee from fame, she was nevertheless voted Best Silent Actress of the Century in 1950 (her Swedish compatriot Ingrid Bergman winning the Best Sound Actress) And was once designated as the most beautiful woman who ever lived by the Guinness Book of World Records ...Beat that bitches!
Greta Garbo was not the first superstar pinup, she didn't invent femme fatal,nor was she my first female crush, but she was arguably the most naturally gifted actress and the most truly beautiful woman ever to grace the silver screen. She had a self reliance and dignity that we should all aspire to in our lives..the anthises of today's media whores revealing every revolting facet of their lives, she maintained her mystery (never confirming or denying the stories of her bisexuality for example) and therefore maintaining her impact.
Greta Garbo fact: She never actually said the most famous quote that is associated with her "I vant to be alone" what she actually said in the film grand hotel, was "I want to be let alone", a fact that Garbo always maintained made all the difference!.Other nice Garbo quotes include "life would be so wonderful if we only knew what to do with it" and "There is no one who would have me - I can't cook"
So as Modern Pinups what can we learn from this Hollywood preistess? Plenty.....Always stick to your guns and don't let others tell you who to be, it will generally end in failure if you do...Maintain as much of your mystery as you can, it has value... Never forget the power of a simple look or gesture, be aware of your self and be in control of that power...And play your strengths and know your weaknesses. For example; Garbo hated her legs so often wore riding trousers which hid them, she started a fashion trend. If you do what works for you best no one else can top it and everyone else will want to copy it, even if you started it to cover a 'weakness'.
Hope you enjoyed this article on the life of Greta Garbo, here are some more you may enjoy:
*What happened to Betty Page?
*Dita Von Teese biography
*Pinup Girls main page
*1930's fashion guide
*Return from Greta Garbo biography to the HOME PAGE
*Contact me directly
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Shop Garbo
Great Greta Garbo stuff chosen by me for you to love...
 
Ella Wig Brown Adult
 
Sonia - String 
Amazon UK is a great place to find all sorts of Garbo related books and DVD's...
A look at her life on screen and some insight into the personal life of this mysterious and aluring movie legend
Approved by the Garbo estate this book is a study of the trend setting style of the Hollywood icon, and a rare look beyond the screen persona of the secretive star.
 A huge selection of Garbo books and films
the signature collection dvd set includes - Anna Christie (1930), Mata Hari, Grand Hotel, Queen Christina ,Anna Karenina, Camille, Ninotchka, Flesh and the Devil ,The Mysterious Lady, The Temptress
i love paper dress-me dolls! these would make a lovely unique gift for any Garbo fan.
For the flawless skin and dramatic eyes of Greta Garbo I would choose Afterglow's mineral makeup every time.
Organic total cover concealer. Concentrated powder to cover all imperfections. avaialble in 5 shades to coordinate with the foundation colours.
Eye trio sets mix 3 perfect shades together for you, one for the lid one for the crease and one for the highlights. This is the look that Marilyn Monroe favoured and called the "Garbo eye"
For maximum drama use the powder liner as an eye shadow.
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