Featured Icon: Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo (September 18, 1905 – April 15, 1990), born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson in Sweden, was an international film star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films, from her first, Torrent in 1926, to her last, 1941's Two-Faced Woman, were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable. Garbo was nominated four times for an Academy Award and received an honorary one in 1954 for her "unforgettable screen performances". She also won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress for both Anna Karenina (1935) and Camille (1936). In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Garbo fifth on their list of greatest female stars of all time, after Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, and Ingrid Bergman.

Garbo launched her career with a secondary role in the 1924 Swedish film The Saga of Gosta Berling. Her performance caught the attention of Louis B. Mayer, chief executive of Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), who brought her to Hollywood in 1925. She immediately stirred interest with her first silent film, Torrent, released in 1926; a year later, her performance in Flesh and the Devil, her third movie, made her an international superstar.

With her first talking film, Anna Christie (1930), she received her first Academy Award nomination. MGM marketers enticed the public with the catch-phrase "Garbo talks!" In 1932, her immense popularity allowed her to dictate the terms of her contract, and she became increasingly choosy about her roles. Many critics and film historians consider her performance as the doomed courtesan Marguerite Gautier in Camille to be her finest. The role gained her a third Academy Award nomination. After working exclusively in dramatic films, Garbo turned to comedy with Ninotchka (1939), which earned her a fourth Academy Award nomination, and Two-Faced Woman (1941).

In 1941, she retired after appearing in 27 films. Although she was offered many opportunities to return to the screen, she declined most of them. Instead, she lived a private life, shunning publicity.

Read More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_Garbo

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VIDEO: Movie Legends - Greta Garbo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBjfDqkuM1w