Greta Garbo is considered one of the best actresses of all time, a feat made all the more impressive given she was retired from the movie industry much longer than she was in it.
Like the best Hollywood stars, Garbo was a force of nature on screen and incredibly eccentric off. She began her career in her home country of Sweden, studying acting at the Royal Dramatic Training Academy in Stockholm from 1922 to 1924. Soon, she was cast in the 1924 film The Saga of Gösta Berling by Finnish director Mauritz Stiller. Stiller became a mentor to the young Garbo and the success of their film led Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to draft contracts for the both of them.
Why we’re still obsessed with Greta Garbo
At just 20 years old, Garbo quickly became one of the biggest stars of the silent film era. She starred in several silent films under MGM and was praised for her beauty and her ability to convey new emotions through subtle changes in expression. “Her most stunning attribute was subtlety,” film critic David Denby wrote in the The New Yorker. “She registers a passing idea with a contraction of her brows or a drooping of her lids … Worlds turned on her movements.”
When the silent film went extinct in favor of the talkies, Garbo proved she was a star in that medium too. Despite worries her Swedish accent would hurt her box office appeal, Garbo continued to dominate with her first speaking film, 1930’s Agatha Christie. She would go on to star in some of her most well-known roles during this era in the films Mata Hari, Grand Hotel, and Camille.
In 1941, Garbo starred in the romantic comedy Two-Faced Woman. The film was a critical failure but it was not the reason for Garbo’s retirement from the industry. Several factors, like the war in Europe, her age, and a desire to “live another life,” as she told biographer Sven Broman in his book Conversations with Greta, led Garbo to leave the screen. While she entertained the idea of returning several times, she ultimately lived out the rest of her years in her New York City home and died in 1990 at the age of 84.
Greta Garbo’s cause of death, explained
Garbo died on April 15, 1990 at New York Hospital in Manhattan. The hospital did not share the cause of her death but friends reported she had been in ill health for some time. After successfully undergoing breast cancer treatment in 1984, Garbo only shared info about her health with close friends.
Those friends spoke with The Los Angeles Times shortly after her death and reported that she had died due to heart and kidney failure. They shared that she had been receiving dialysis treatments several times a week for hours at a time. Garbo’s friend, author Raymond Daum told The LA Times that Garbo was also suffering from gastrointestinal and periodontal illnesses up until her death. Those who knew her spoke fondly of their time together, remembering the actress’ eccentricities (“she made coffee in a casserole dish”) and love of taking long walks.
Though she led a private life in her final years, Garbo was celebrated by many. Her beauty and honest acting style, combined with an air of mystery one develops by keeping their personal life private, has cemented her legacy as one of the best actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Era.