Garbo Portraits - by Anthony Beauchamp

Garbo posed in 1951 for  London society photographer, Antony Beauchamp. The result were several stunning color portraits, shot in California 1951. In his posthumously published memoirs Beauchamp recounted that it was Garbo's pal, Harry Crocker, who made the introduction, but it is likely that another friend exerted substantial influence–Beauchamp's father-in-law, Winston Churchill.

Photographer and actress met in the spring of 1951 and Garbo agreed to be photographed perhaps in part because Beauchamp wanted to work in color, which would have been a novelty, and perhaps because it was time for new work to be dangled before the public. Several meetings took place before Garbo relaxed enough to let Beauchamp set up his camera. She tired of the process quickly, however, and in the end only five negatives were exposed.

Garbo met Anthony Beauchamp through her friend Harry Crocker. She met Beauchamp several times before she accepted to be photographed by him in 1951. Garbo agreed to be shot by Beauchamp because he wanted to work in colour and this would have been a new development in her art. Only six negatives were shot. One of these picture appeared on the cover of the famous magazine McCall's, in June 1951.