Greta Garbo

Born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, Greta moved to Los Angeles, California in 1925.

Her first job was as a soap-lather girl in a barbershop in Stockholm. One day a young man by the name of Kristian Bergström, son of the founder of PUB department store, Paul U. Bergström, entered the barbershop for a shave. He eventually offered her a job as a clerk at PUB. She accepted the offer and started to work for PUB in July 1920, where she also modeled for newspaper advertisements. She appeared in two short film advertisements, the first for PUB, and they were eventually seen by comedy director Erik Arthur Petschler. He gave her a part in his upcoming film Peter the Tramp (1922).

From 1922 to 1924, Greta studied at The Royal Dramatic Theatre's Acting School in Stockholm. During her time in school, she attented a couple of silent movies, The Saga of Gosta Berling and The Joyless Street or The Street of Sorrow

After she arrived to the states, she got a cast in a movie within the month. The movie was called The Torrent and did very well at the Box Office.

Garbo Talks!

Garbo was one of few actors that successfully managed the transition to movies with sound. Her voice was first heard in the film Anna Christie, which quickly became a huge success. She later starred in Mata Hari (1931), Grand Hotel (1932), Queen Christina (1933) and Two-Faced Woman (1941), among others.

Garbo lived the last years of her life in relative seclusion. On 15 April 1990, aged 84, she died in New York Hospital as a result of pneumonia and renal failure.

Garbo is buried in Skogskyrkogården Cemetery just south of her native Stockholm.