Greta Garbo

AKA:

The Devine Garbo

Birth Name:

Greta Lovisa Gustafsson

Birth Date:

September 18, 1905

Birth Place:

Stockholm, Sweden

Death Date:

April 15, 1990

Place of Death:

New York Hospital, New York City, New York

Age:

Cause of Death:

Pneumonia and kidney failure

Cemetery Name:

Skogskyrkogården

Claim to Fame:

Show Business

Greta Garbo was a Swedish-American actress, renowned for her iconic roles in the silent film and early sound film eras. Born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson in Stockholm, Sweden, she worked as a shop assistant and appeared in a few Swedish films before being discovered by Hollywood in 1925. She signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1927 and soon became one of the most popular stars of the 1920s and 1930s. Garbo's mysterious, often melancholic on-screen presence earned her the nickname "The Divine Garbo." She starred in several classic films such as Flesh and the Devil (1926), Camille (1936), and Grand Hotel (1932), which showcased her range, from passionate lovers to tragic figures. Her roles often reflected themes of love and loss, matching her off-screen enigmatic persona. Garbo made a successful transition to sound films, and in 1939, she received an Academy Award nomination for Ninotchka. Despite her success, Garbo was known for her desire for privacy, and in 1941, she retired from acting at the age of 36 after making only 26 films in 17 years. When Garbo quit Hollywood, she spent the remainder of her life in shuttered and fenced residences in France, Switzerland and Manhattan, where she lived in an East Side high-rise. Known as “the Swedish sphinx” because of her deep fear of reporters and other strangers, she ironically became one of the most publicized women in the world while trying to guard her privacy. Her biographer John Bainbridge wrote in “Garbo,” that except at the start of her career, she “granted no interviews, signed no autographs, attended no premieres, answered no fan mail.” At the time of her death in 1990 she owned 18th-century antiques, fine rugs, damask curtains, real estate and many pieces of art, including a Renoir. She left her entire estate of $32 million (equivalent to $75,000,000 in 2023) to her niece.

Fun Fact

Just because Garbo never married didn’t mean she didn’t keep “busy.” A lover of both men and women, Greta Garbo was in relationships with Cecil Beaton (1946 – 1972), Gilbert Roland (1943 – 1944), Rouben Mamoulian (1933), Mercedes de Acosta (1931 – 1955), Nils Asther (1928 – 1929), Fifi D’Orsay (1928), John Gilbert (1926 – 1927), Marlene Dietrich (1925), Mimi Pollak (1922 – 1923), Louise Prussing, Ona Munson, Salka Viertel, Billie Holiday, Leland Hayward, Mauritz Stiller, Charles K. Feldman, Claudette Colbert, Lilyan Tashman, Sydney Guilaroff, Joseph Kennedy Jr. and Charles Addams (to name a few).

Garbo’s most-remembered line was in “Grand Hotel” when she said, “I want to be alone.” She was also reputed to have said the same to reporters, although she once insisted to a friend that what she had said was, “I want to be let alone.”

Greta Garbo was ranked fifth on the American Film Institute’s (AFI) list of the greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema in 1999.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Skogskyrkogården

Stockholm, Sweden,

Europe

Map:

Map of Skogskyrkogården cemetery in Stockholm, Sweden

Grave Location:

Section 12A, Grave 1

Grave Location Description

The only way to find the grave of legendary actress in this UNESCO World Heritage site is to utilize the GPS coordinates below. She resides in Section 12A which is near the cross-paths of Varhimmelsvagen and Ljusglimtsvagen. Important note: do not go in the winter as the snowfall can easily accumulate to 3-4 feet, making it difficult to hike to and see her actual monument.