Women’s History Month — Greta Garbo, the Mysterious One
Anyone who has a continuous smile on his face conceals a toughness that is almost frightening.
There are some who want to get married and others who don’t. I have never had an impulse to go to the altar. I am a difficult person to lead.
I never said, ‘I want to be alone.’ I only said, ‘I want to be left alone.’ There is all the difference.
You don’t have to be married to have a good friend as your partner for life.
All the above quotes from Greta Garbo. She, in my opinion rocked it. I totally agree with all of them. Who wants to get married? Okay, I’ll let that one go because a lot of people love spending tons of money on that special day.
Anyone who has a continuous smile on his face conceals a toughness that is almost frightening.
Greta Garbo was my kind of movie star. No fake smiles to be found. She had a job, she did her job magnificently while preserving her mystery; she kept her private life private. Well, as private as she was able during the golden days of Hollywood. But I was and still am of the opinion — if you want your privacy — you can have it.
It’s not necessary to be everywhere all the time showing whatever it is, one does to stay fresh, fantastic and fabulous. Me — I don’t really want to know. I feel we are supposed to want to feel fabulous because we’re not? The thing is, we are fabulous — each in our own, individual way — without the stuff we’re told we should do by celebrities, influencers, friends…and the list goes on endlessly.
I am a difficult person to lead.
Greta Garbo knew this. She didn’t push her personality, her fame on anybody. They called her mysterious; later, a recluse. Greta Garbo was a normal person and wanted a normal life. Of course, she was aware of an image she had honed, had made her what she was. She was aware it gave her certain things. But she did it with grace. Grace is good. That’s why I’ll always love her and feel she is a woman of history we should forever remember.
I don’t want to be a silly temptress. I cannot see any sense in getting dressed up and doing nothing but tempting men in pictures.
And she stuck to her beliefs. Her first sound film was Anna Christie in 1930, where she played a woman with a dark past aka a prostitute and uttered one memorable line: Gimme a whiskey, ginger ale on the side, and don’t be stingy baby!
Her best film, in my opinion, is Camille, as Marguerite Gautier, based on the Dumas novel. It was one of the first movies I saw with her. And being the forever romantic, I will always love it. Her doomed Camille had depth. And I loved her for that portrayal. For the record, it was also her favorite film.
Her last film was Two-Faced Woman in 1941, and considered a flop. Garbo retired after that, at the age of 35. Pretty ballsy in my opinion. Greta Garbo never returned to the screen and lived a life of privacy, collecting art, not all of the artists particularly well-know, but after her death, works by Renoir and Bonnard were found. She did what she did for the joy and love it brought her. She was lucky enough to have that chance. She embraced it wholeheartedly.
I want to be left alone.
Greta Garbo didn’t succumb to the ‘ageless’ ie plastic surgery crazy that has become batshit insane over the years. I respect that and hope more follow her lead. Age with grace and keep some of your life shrouded in mystery.
There are many things in your heart you can never tell to another person. They are you, your private joys and sorrows, and you can never tell them. You cheapen yourself, the inside of yourself, when you tell them. ~ Greta Garbo