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March 11, 2005
Academy to Celebrate Greta Garbo Centennial
Beverly Hills, CA — In honor of Greta Garbo’s 100th birthday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present a centennial tribute to the Hollywood legend on Thursday, April 7, at 8 p.m., in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The evening will also serve as a kick-off for the UCLA Film and Television Archive’s seven-week screening series “Garbo: The Divine Woman.” Presented in conjunction with the Consulate General of Sweden, the event will be hosted by Academy Award®-nominated actress Lena Olin and will include appearances by actress Joan Leslie and authors Gore Vidal and Gavin Lambert, who are among the few living individuals to have known Garbo. Born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson in 1905 in Stockholm, Sweden, Garbo got her start in films in a publicity short for a department store. After training with the Royal Dramatic Theater of Stockholm, she appeared in Mauritz Stiller’s “Gösta Berlings Saga” (“The Atonement of Gösta Berling”), the film which brought her to the attention of MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer. While traveling in Europe, Mayer signed Garbo to the contract that would bring her to Hollywood in 1925. Garbo’s legendary career at MGM included Academy Award nominations for “Anna Christie” (1929/30), “Romance” (1929/30), “Camille” (1937) and “Ninotchka” (1939), as well as memorable roles in “Flesh and the Devil” (1927), “Mata Hari” (1932), “Grand Hotel” (1932) and “Anna Karenina” (1935). In 1941, at the age of 36, Garbo retired to a reclusive life spent in Manhattan, Switzerland and the Riviera. In 1954, the Academy paid tribute to Garbo’s “unforgettable screen performances” with an Honorary Oscar®. The actress died in 1990. For tickets and information about the UCLA Film and Television Archive’s series “Garbo: The Divine Woman,” please call 310-206-FILM or visit www.cinema.ucla.edu. Tickets for the Academy tribute are available at a cost of $5 each for the general public and $3 for Academy members. Tickets may now be purchased by advance mail order, in person at the Academy during regular business hours beginning April 1, or, pending availability, the night of the event when the doors open at 7 p.m. The Academy is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. For more information, call 310-247-3600, or visit the Academy website at www.oscars.org. # # # |
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