Greta Garbo – Part 1

HOLLYWOOD DIVAS: GRETA GARBO – PART 1

On September 18, 1905 a baby girl was born on the Stockholm island of Södermalm. Her parents would give her the name Greta Lovisa Gustafsson. How could anyone know that the young infant would one day become the world’s most famous woman? A woman whom everyone would come to know as Garbo.

1914 — age 9 (that’s Garbo in the middle)

At the age of 14 Greta Garbo’s father died and the young girl was forced to leave school and get a job in order to help her disadvantaged family (her mother and two siblings).

1920 — age 15

She got herself a job at the Stockholm department store PUB, and it was not long after that the store would use Garbo’s unique look in their advertising campaigns. Soon after appearing in newspaper ad’s Garbo went on to make an advertising short for PUB, which would giver her first taste for film. After appearing in another short film, a comedy director gave Garbo a small part in his production of “Luffar-Petter” (1922) and soon after the young Greta received a scholarship at a drama school in Stockholm.

1923 — age 18 (by Olaf Ekstrand)

In 1924 Garbo would make her big break through when famed director Mauritz Stiller gave her a part in his film “Gösta Berlings Saga”. Following the films success both Garbo and Stiller were offered contracts with MGM in California. Her first film there would be “The Torrent”, and slowly but surely Garbo became one of the silent eras biggest stars, making a series of films including “Love” and “A Woman of Affairs”.

1926 — age 21

It was during these early Hollywood years that Garbo also came close to getting married. But at the last minute she left groom John Gilbert standing at the altar in 1927. She would never marry, but rumours and speculation of her love life and interests would continue for years.

1929 — age 24

A successful box office star, Garbo’s talents were put to the test as talkies began to replace the silent film era. Everyone knew Garbo looked great, but how did she sound, and could she even speak English? Hollywood got the answer in 1930 when she played the title role in the 1930 film “Anna Christie”. Her divine looks were now accompanied by a dark and seductive voice, and as she spoke one of her first lines in the film (“Give me a whiskey. Ginger ale on the side. And don’t be stingy, baby”) the world became captivated. “Anna Christie” made Garbo a talking star and it garnered her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

1930 — age 25

A string of successful films followed, but it would be films like “Grand Hotel”, “Queen Christina”, “Anna Karenina” and “Camille” (which got her another Oscar nomination) that would forever be associated with her.

1932 — age 27

In 1939 Garbo made her first comedy, “Ninotchka”. It was a box office hit, and would get her another Oscar nomination. MGM had found a new way to market one of the world’s biggest stars; as a comedienne.

1941 — age 36

In 1941 Garbo made another comedy, “Two-Faced Woman”. The film would be her last.

1946—age 41 (by Cecil Beaton)

After her Hollywood years Garbo moved to New York City.

1951 — age 46 (by George Hoyningen-Huene)

In 1951 she became an American citizen, and in 1954 she finally received an Oscar (a special award for her unforgettable performances). Over the next 30 years she would jet-set with some of the world’s best known personalities, and although she had not made a film since “Two-Faced Woman”, public interest never died.

1965 — age 60 (by Cecil Beaton)

The paparazzi followed her and there were constant rumors of a comeback (some true, most false).Garbo would later reflect, saying that ”The story of my life is about back entrances, side doors, secret elevators and other ways of getting in and out of places so that people won’t bother me.” The world’s greatest movie star became known as the world greatest recluse.

1990 — age 85

Garbo’s health declined in her 80’s and on April 15, 1990, she died of natural causes in New York. In June of 1999 her remains were interred at Skogskyrkogården Cemetery in Stockholm.

Text from www.garboforever.com

To see the Part 2: The Films of Greta Garbo, just click here.

GARBO PORTRAITS

Marilyn Monroe – Part 1

HOLLYWOOD DIVAS: MARILYN MONROE – PART 1

Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jean Mortenson but baptized and raised as Norma Jeane Baker; June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962) was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s.
After spending much of her childhood in foster homes, Monroe began a career as a model, which led to a film contract in 1946. Her early film appearances were minor, but her performances in “The Asphalt Jungle” and “All About Eve” (both 1950) were well received. By 1953, Monroe had progressed to leading roles as in “Niagara” (1953), a melodramatic film noir. Her “dumb blonde” persona was used to comic effect in such films as “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (1953), “How to Marry a Millionaire” (1953) and “The Seven Year Itch” (1955). Limited by typecasting, Monroe studied at the Actors Studio to broaden her range. Her dramatic performance in “Bus Stop” (1956) was hailed by critics, and she received a Golden Globe nomination. Her production company, Marilyn Monroe Productions, released “The Prince and the Showgirl” (1957), for which she received a BAFTA Award nomination and won a David di Donatello award. She received a Golden Globe Award for her performance in “Some Like It Hot” (1959).
Monroe’s final completed film was “The Misfits”, co-starring Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift, with the screenplay written by her then husband, Arthur Miller.
The final years of Monroe’s life were marked by illness, personal problems, and a reputation for being unreliable and difficult to work with. The circumstances of her death, from an overdose of barbiturates, have been the subject of conjecture. Though officially classified as a “probable suicide”, the possibility of an accidental overdose, as well as the possibility of homicide, have not been ruled out.

Read more about her on Wikipedia. For another post in this blog about Marilyn, click here. Enjoy the gallery.

Hollywood stars in 3D

Artist and graphic designer Stefan Da Costa Gomez, paints classic portraits of Hollywood stars. Though each painting hints at the vices that would ultimately kill their subjects, Gomez means to bring them “back to life” by rendering them in such a way as to become 3D when viewed with traditional anaglyph 3D glasses (red-cyan/blue), an attempt to “combine the classic analog craft of painting with the contemporary technology and today’s hype of digital 3D film to create a new way of viewing and experiencing a painting.”
The paintings reveal hints of the tragic ending of these Hollywood figures. All work is painted in acrylics.

Enjoy these samples – 3D glasses are need, of coursse -, but if you want more details, visit the artist website clicking here.

Jessica Alba famous movies

Some time ago, the beautiful actress Jessica Alba made a photo shoot emuling some famous hollywood movies. Take a look in some of them. Enjoy.

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
EUA, 2004. Directed by Michel Gondry. Cast: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Wilkinson, Elijah Wood.

“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is a 2004 American romantic fantasy film about an estranged couple who have each other erased from their memories, scripted by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry. The film uses elements of science fiction and nonlinear narration to explore the nature of memory and romantic love. The film was a critical and commercial success, developing a strong cult following and receiving a myriad of accolades, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The film was lauded by critics as one of the best and most thought-provoking films of 2004.Learn more about this movie at Wikipedia.

ELOISA TO ABELARD

Published in 1717, “Eloisa to Abelard” is a poem by Alexander Pope (1688–1744). It is an Ovidian heroic epistle inspired by the 12th-century story of Héloïse’s illicit love for, and secret marriage to, her teacher Pierre Abélard, perhaps the most popular teacher and philosopher in Paris, and the brutal vengeance that her family exacts when they castrate him, even though the lovers had married. After the assault, and even though they have a child, Abélard enters a monastery and bids Eloisa to do the same. She is tortured by the separation and by her unwilling vow of silence — arguably, a symbolic castration — which she takes with her eyes fixed upon Abélard rather than upon the cross (line 116). Years later, she gets done Historia Calamitatum (History of my Misfortunes), which is a letter of consolation to a friend, and her passion for him is reawakened. Eloisa and Abelard exchange four letters. In an effort to make sense of their personal tragedy, they explore the nature of human and divine love. However, their incompatible male and female perspectives make painful the dialogue for both.

Alexander Pope (1688–1744)

Lines 207–210 were spoken in the movie “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, which borrowed line 209 as its title: “How happy is the blameless vestal’s lot!  The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray’r accepted, and each wish resign’d;”
Mary Svevo (Kirsten Dunst), the character who recites these lines, claims that it is a quote from “Pope Alexander”, and is later corrected by Dr. Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson). An excerpt of a puppet show, entitled “Eloisa and Abelard”, which depicts the two lovers, is performed by the character, Craig Schwartz, in the movie “Being John Malkovich”. Both films were written by Charlie Kaufman.

ELOISA TO ABELARD (fragment)

How happy is the blameless vestal’s lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray’r accepted, and each wish resign’d;
Labour and rest, that equal periods keep;
“Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep;”
Desires compos’d, affections ever ev’n,
Tears that delight, and sighs that waft to Heav’n.
Grace shines around her with serenest beams,
And whisp’ring angels prompt her golden dreams.
For her th’ unfading rose of Eden blooms,
And wings of seraphs shed divine perfumes,
For her the Spouse prepares the bridal ring,
For her white virgins hymeneals sing,
To sounds of heav’nly harps she dies away,
And melts in visions of eternal day.

Far other dreams my erring soul employ,
Far other raptures, of unholy joy:
When at the close of each sad, sorrowing day,
Fancy restores what vengeance snatch’d away,
Then conscience sleeps, and leaving nature free,
All my loose soul unbounded springs to thee.
Oh curs’d, dear horrors of all-conscious night!
How glowing guilt exalts the keen delight!
Provoking Daemons all restraint remove,
And stir within me every source of love.
I hear thee, view thee, gaze o’er all thy charms,
And round thy phantom glue my clasping arms.
I wake — no more I hear, no more I view,
The phantom flies me, as unkind as you.
I call aloud; it hears not what I say;
I stretch my empty arms; it glides away.
To dream once more I close my willing eyes;
Ye soft illusions, dear deceits, arise!
Alas, no more — methinks we wand’ring go
Through dreary wastes, and weep each other’s woe,
Where round some mould’ring tower pale ivy creeps,
And low-brow’d rocks hang nodding o’er the deeps.
Sudden you mount, you beckon from the skies;
Clouds interpose, waves roar, and winds arise.
I shriek, start up, the same sad prospect find,
And wake to all the griefs I left behind.

For thee the fates, severely kind, ordain
A cool suspense from pleasure and from pain;
Thy life a long, dead calm of fix’d repose;
No pulse that riots, and no blood that glows.
Still as the sea, ere winds were taught to blow,
Or moving spirit bade the waters flow;
Soft as the slumbers of a saint forgiv’n,
And mild as opening gleams of promis’d heav’n.

Come, Abelard! for what hast thou to dread?
The torch of Venus burns not for the dead.
Nature stands check’d; Religion disapproves;
Ev’n thou art cold — yet Eloisa loves.
Ah hopeless, lasting flames! like those that burn
To light the dead, and warm th’ unfruitful urn.

To see Pope’s poem “Eloisa to Abelard”, click here.

Enjoy the movie “Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind” gallery.