Reproduced here from the GRAND HOTEL trivia section:
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Greta Garbo
vinidici — 9 years ago(April 26, 2016 12:16 AM)
Reproduced here from the GRAND HOTEL trivia section:
Depite them not having any scenes together, Joan Crawford often tried to talk to Greta Garbo, and would say "Hello, Miss Garbo" whenever the two would pass each other in the hall. Garbo never responded, so Crawford gave up and stopped saying anything. This led to Garbo stopping Crawford as she walked silently past her, and asking, "Aren't you going to say something to me?"
Greta Garbo, as everyone knows the legend concerning her, was an enigma from the start of her film career, to the end of her career, and all the way to her death in 1990. In every phase of her life and at every turn, she shunned publicity (only agreeing to so much when participating in any sort of studio PR) and had rigidly avoided virtually any interaction at all with her fans. And yet it's plain that she was lonely and craved some attention and human contact; but it seems that if she must choose between living out her famed "Grand Hotel" quote, "I want to be alone" (i.e. maintaining her privacy) and its opposite (to be more outgoing and to enjoy others' company), she would always choose the former.
She didn't want to be noticed but didn't want to be ignored, either!
It's true that Garbo did have a few friends and she wasn't a COMPLETE recluse in her private life but she was about as close to BEING one as you can get.
I wish I could know more about Greta Garbo and what made her tick; but you know what? I don't think she'd want me to know! So I'll respect her wishes and just take of her what she wanted me and the rest of the world to have (her work in motion pictures) and just leave it at that.
But I still can't help feeling sorry for her.
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vinidici — 9 years ago(November 07, 2016 03:10 AM)
I like Garbo as an actress, but someone who doesn't let you know them probably isn't really worth knowing.
A couple-er-three things have occurred to me since originally posting:
1.) Miss Garbo might have been an extremely shy person, and only at ease when in small, private groups.
2.) Maybe the American culture shock was too much for her Nordic / European sensibilities and she couldn't comprehend the mindset of fans who would mob her should she ever be spotted eating out at restaurants, making grocery store trips, etc.? The over-adulation of celebrities is a two-edged sword: you may become rich and famous, but at the cost of spending the rest of your days jealously fighting for some privacy, peace, and quiet. I don't fully know European culture and how much it may have changed during the last several decades, but I believe it's been said that celebrities in Europe were usually allowed some respectable distance, and not relentlessly accosted whenever they were out among the public; but here in America, for instance, we're not exactly known, are we, for letting hungry celebs eat their restaurant meals in peace.
3.) Celebrities, whether due to the studio-generated publicity of Hollywood's Golden Age or on the front pages of today's tabloids at the supermarket check-out stands, are generally "plastic" with their public personas; and perhaps Miss Garbo wanted no part of that kind of phoniness.
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