Sam Green Interview from Daily Record
(Glasgow, Scotland), April 20, 2000

"My Darling Garbo Was No Lesbian!"

     Private letters hidden for 40 years threatened to expose the intimate details of screen legend Greta Garbo's secret lesbian life. But while the letters told little when they went on show in Philadelphia last week, the man who knew the real Garbo has spoken out.
     Sam Green, left, her closest confidante for 20 years, tells JANET MIDWINTER the truth about the letters, which were written to scriptwriter Mercedes de Acosta, the woman who snapped Garbo topless and was rumoured to be her lover. But he also tells of his hidden connection to de Acosta and how keeping that secret allowed him to stay friends with Garbo

 
       Sam Green in 2005                                Garbo with Green in mid 1980s

"Mercedes de Acosta's sister is my godmother!"

     In all the years I knew Garbo, I had a big secret which I never told her. Mercedes de Acosta's sister is my godmother. Her name was Maria and she married an American composer called Chandler. They lived next door to my parents in New England. When I was born, Maria asked to be my godmother.
     When I met Garbo years later, I knew she had cut Mercedes off after her tell-all autobiography, so I never mentioned her name. We never talked about Garbo's career or her past. She didn't like her friends talking about her early days. If one knew about her past relationships, one would be prying.
     If I'd let my association with the de Acosta family be known, it would have implied I knew about her relationship with Mercedes and, in Garbo's cautious mind, that would have meant I was looking into her life and privacy. So, in spite of our closeness, it was never mentioned. I enjoyed keeping my little secret.

"We both enjoyed secrets.."

     We both enjoyed secrets – it helped keep things interesting. But the more Garbo stayed out of the limelight, the more her fans wanted her and the more tempting it became for those close to her to exploit that. When they did, she dismissed them immediately. She had to dismiss almost everyone in her long life.
     From all I know, Mercedes was a shameless self-publicist who became close to Garbo in 1931. Their affair – if that's what it was - was long over when Mercedes wrote her autobiography Here Lies The Heart , which was published in 1960.
     To promote sales, it included a topless picture Mercedes had taken of Garbo on a trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Thirties. People want to make something of that, but it could have been perfectly innocent.

"Garbo would take her clothes off for anyone at the drop of a hat!"

     Garbo would take her clothes off for anyone at the drop of a hat. She had no inhibitions at all. She never wore a bra. She was as unself-conscious with nakedness as anyone could possibly be. When she swam off yachts, she would just pull off her suit and dive in with the crew watching.
     Mercedes apparently exaggerated the length of the trip they took, saying it was six weeks. In reality, it couldn't have been more than six days. It's generally presumed she exaggerated much more about their relationship, including the that Garbo was an aggressive lesbian who behaved more like a man than a woman. Naturally, Garbo never spoke to her again.
     In the end, Mercedes was in bad financial shape and needed money. Some people, including the photographer Cecil Beaton – later ostracised by Garbo for claiming they were lovers - asked Garbo for money to help Mercedes. They said if she didn't help, Mercedes might sell those letters Garbo had written years earlier. Garbo was unmoved and flatly refused.
     It's well known that a document dealer offered pounds 6,000 for them, a great deal of money in the Sixties – today that would be worth around pounds 125,000. But somebody helped because Mercedes didn't sell them.
     She died in 1968 after leaving the letters to a museum on condition they were not to be opened until 10 years after Garbo's death. In doing this, Mercedes extended her own fame for another 30 years.  The letters possibly contain some intimacies, but I suspect Garbo was simply practising her written English with a trusted friend.

"I remain sceptical about claims that theirs was a passionate affair..!"

     I remain sceptical about claims that theirs was a passionate affair - Garbo was not demonstrative. The woman I knew was much too self-conscious to have written letters declaring love or baring her soul in the uninhibited way lovers do. Many people claim to have know her intimately. She was the most sought-after woman in society – and the most reluctant.
     Although I knew her for more than 20 years, she always called me Mr Green. I called her Miss G or G, but never Greta - she loathed that name. I met her through Baroness Cecile de Rothschild in the 1960s. Cecile acted as Garbo's protector in Europe and the three of us had wonderful times on yacht trips around Greece, Turkey, Corsica and France.
     Garbo and I both lived in New York, but she had no-one to look after her. I did lots of things for her and one of my responsibilities was to keep her accounts. I often wrote personal cheques to settle her bills because her cheques were never cashed. People simply wanted to keep them for her signature, so I paid and she reimbursed me. I'd also distract photographers when Garbo wanted to go out.

"She was entertaining company, full of jokes and still very beautiful!"