Robert Gottlieb (1) (1931–2023)

Garbo: Her Life, Her Films by Robert Gottieb is a 2021 Farrar, Straus and Giroux publication.

Just the singular name- Garbo- brings with it a certain mystique.

Garbo was a fine actress-successfully transitioning from the silent era into ‘talkies’, but it was the mystery surrounding her that captivated us for decades after she made her last film.

I think it is telling that here we are in 2021 still mesmerized and fascinated with Garbo.

There have been several deeply researched biographies written about Garbo over the years, something that Gottieb acknowledged and even quoted from one or two of them in this book.

But Gottieb has taken a refreshing approach, combining both Garbo’s career and her personal life into one book and having them coincide together in the same time frame, so we understand what was going on in Garbo’s life while she was making her movies.

Garbo was well ahead of her time, and she pushed the envelope, both professionally and personally, seeming to always march to the beat of her own drum. Yet, at the same time, I think maybe she just didn’t do what was expected, but not necessarily by design.

I think she’s been understandably mythologized, but once you strip away the veneer, she was a shy, quiet woman, who valued her privacy.

Her personality wasn’t as large as one might be led to believe, and her relationships weren’t nearly as torrid as they might seem.

The reality is far less glamorous. Garbo seems to me to have suffered from depression, based on some of her comments, but perhaps she also liked living life on her own terms, enjoying close friendships over marriage and children, or maybe she just enjoyed her own company.

For me, it is her presence on the screen and those expressive eyes that captivates her audience. Her performances are sealed in time, forever frozen in place, her aura impossible to replicate.

Once the busty bleach blondes were ushered in, the Golden Age magnificence faded away, but Garbo remains as iconic as ever, eighty years after her last film.

This book is very well researched, and has a wonderful, engaging presentation.

There are some fun trivia facts about Garbo in the last several sections, including the times she was mentioned in contemporary songs and books, musings by Billy Wilder and Melvyn Douglas, amongst others, ‘Garbo sightings’, a wide array of photographs, a filmography, and bibliography.

This is an interesting, and very insightful biography, tastefully done, and reliable, but never heavy.

I think Robert Gottieb has given us an incredibly intimate portrait of the iconic actress- the one and the only- Greta Garbo.… (mais)

What I learned from reading this biography is that I know very little about French theater or aristocrats of the late 19th and early 20th century. Its interesting we all know Les Miserables but if you mention La Dame Aux Camelias by Alexandre Dumas or Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo - we are at a loss. The other thing I learned was Sarah was extremely narcissistic and self promoting to the point that writing her biography is mostly speculative because she made up so many stories about herself. To her credit, she was born to a teenage mother, her father was only a rumor, and her mother was either neglectful or verbally abusive. Sarah had many affairs with leading men, and pretty much any one she knew including Victor Hugo and a few men. She was known for her extravagant dress and very adept at posing for pictures, which I guess a strength in the theater. I can't say I admire her, but she did have strong personality at a time when women were expected to marry or prostitute themselves.… (mais)