HOLLYWOOD , Sept. 26.– Greta Garbo has been ill here in a hospital for several days, it was learned today from close friends of the star.

The illness threatened to become serious, but it was checked, friends said. Physicians were said to be satisfied with her condition. It is believed she will be released from the hospital within a day or two. Friends of Miss Garbo did not tell the name of the hospital where the star is being treated.

from:   The New York Times,        March 22, 1932
© Copyright by   The New York Times

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Sept. 17.–Greta Garbo, film actress, has bought an estate at Harby, forty miles southwest of Stockholm. She will take possession of it in December. The estate, covering about 1,000 acres, dates back to the sixteenth century, when it was owned by the noble family of Leuhusen. It is beautifully situated and has a large garden and park.

from:   The New York Times,         September 18, 1936
© Copyright by   The New York Times

 
King Honors Greta Garbo

STOCKHOLM, Dec. 30 (AP).– The “litteris and artibus” decoration was awarded today by King Gustaf to Greta Garbo, film star. The order is more than 100 years old.

from:   The New York Times,        December 31, 1936
© Copyright by   The New York Times

 
Garbo to Act in Swedish Film

STOCKOLM, Sweden , July 31 (North American Newspaper Alliance)–Greta Garbo, who returned to Sweden recently, will play the principal role in a film to be made here about the seventeenth-century Swedish colony on the Delaware River. According to Aftonbladet, a newspaper here, Miss Garbo will play a immigrant girl in New Sweden . No other players have been assigned as yet.

from:   The New York Times,        August 1, 1946
© Copyright by   The New York Times

 
Garbo May Appear in Ballet

PARIS, Oct. 14 (Reuters)–Greta Garbo, film star, may appear at the Paris Opera House in the title role of Phedre , new ballet by Jean Cocteau, Georges Auric and Serge Lifar. Auric, composer of the music, said today, “ Miss Garbo, who is at present in America , has accepted in principle. She is at present in possession of the manuscript. *** We are awaiting her definite decision. If she accepts she will mime the role. She will not dance.”

from:   The New York Times,        October 15, 1949
© Copyright by   The New York Times

 
No rest yet for Garbo as grave debate rages on

STOCKHOLM, July 13: Swedish Hollywood film goddess Greta Garbo, famous during her lifetime for her desire to be alone, is still to find the solitude she craved for in death.

Seven years after Garbo died in New York , aged 84, her home city of Stockholm and her sole heir, niece Gray Reisfield, are still trying to agree about where the actress's ashes should be buried.

Stockholm Mayor Mats Hulth said Stockholm is the rightful resting place for Garbo, whose parents and younger sister are buried in a traditional family plot in a Stockholm cemetery.

“Stockholm is her home city and she is the greatest daughter of our city, so we want her to be buried here,'' Hulth said.

“We have offered her niece various grave sites in Stockholm , but she has made no decision yet,'' he said.

“She has been to Stockholm twice and we are hoping she will come back again this year, hopefully this autumn, so we can show her what we can offer,'' the Mayor said.

Reisfield is yet to decide where the ashes of her celebrity aunt should be buried. “We are looking for something that is appropriate and secure and we are evaluating a number of possibilities,'' Reisfield's son Derek said ”But it is family policy not to comment publicly on family affairs,'' he said.

Until a decision is finally made, Garbo's ashes are being kept in an urn which is believed to be stored in a New York undertaker's office.The city of Stockholm exhibits great affection for its most famous daughter, even though the actress spent less than half of her life in Sweden. Any news of her letters, biographies or ashes makes headlines across the country.

Born in Stockholm as Greta Gustafsson, her working life began as a lather girl in a city barber's shop at the age of 14. She went on to work behind the counter in the millinery department of a central Swedish department store, Pub.

Because of her outstanding looks, Greta was allowed to model hats in some advertisements, which led to a part in a filmed commercial and then a screen test by Swedish comedy director Eric Petschler.

But Garbo's big break came when she decided to learn her trade thoroughly and went to a Stockholm theatre school.

There she was spotted by film director Mauritz Stiller, who was scouting for talent. When Stiller was offered a contract to go to Hollywood, he made it conditional that the young star, whom he named Garbo, should go with him.

 

from:   Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd,        1997
© Copyright by   Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd

 
Garbo's tombstone toppled

STOCKHOLM : The gravestone of movie legend Greta Garbo was found knocked over Saturday, just three months after she was interred in a cemetery outside Stockholm . Police said it looked like vandalism rather than an accident.

"It is a big gravestone, and you would need a tool to knock it over," spokesman Tor Petrell told The Associated Press. Otherwise, the grave looked normal. There was no graffiti or message left behind, police said.

The incident was reported Saturday morning and the gravestone was put back in place hours later. "It's very deplorable, but the family still thinks that Stockholm is the right choice of place for her final rest," Gunnar A. Olin, a spokesman for Garbo's relatives, told Sweden's news agency TT.

Garbo, the star of 1930s film classics like "Mata Hari" and "Anna Karenina," died in New York City in 1990 at age 84. She was cremated and the ashes were kept at a mortuary while her niece and sole heir, Gray Reisfield, decided what to do with them. The funeral was held June 16.

 

from:   The Holland Sentinel,        1999
© Copyright by   The Holland Sentinel