Ingrid Bergman

She did 5 movies in the 60s (excluding a cameo in Auguste from 1961):

Goodbye Again (1961)

The Visit (1964)

The Yellow Rolls Royce (1964)

Stimulantia (1967)

Cactus Flower (1969)

She also performed on stage:

Hedda Gabler (in Paris, 1962)

A Month in the Country (in the UK, 1965)

More Stately Mansions (in New York, 1967)

Her children with Roberto Rossellini were teenagers in the 60s. Maybe that had something to do with her sporadic work.

She won a Golden Globe for Cactus Flower (pic with Goldie Hawn).

She was middle-aged in the sixties, a decade where pop culture was all about youth!

There just weren't a lot of good roles for mature women then, as any "Feud" watcher knows.

She's always underdiscussed on Datalounge. She was such a huge star in the 40s--she was considered not only a great beauty, but an enormous talent. She was enormously envied by other actresses, despite her thick accent, which is left almost entirely explained in every American movie she ever did, except "Casablanca" and "Murder on the Orient Express."

R2 Goldie was the globe winner. Ingrid just nominated. Lost to Patty Duke.

Notorious she was supposed to be German, I Saratoga Trunk - I think French Creole, For Whom the Bell Tolls - Spanish, Bells of St. Mary's - I think she might have said she was born in Stockholm, but she did mention skiing in Minnesota, A Woman called Golda - Israeli (a decent role for her last movie).

She usually played a character who was born somewhere else, although even though it is different nationalities, she pretty much always used her normal Swedish accent. Still, I think she was great and her movies have aged well.

I saw Cactus Flower recently (she and Goldie do elevate that movie a bit). She is about 50 and looks great, but unlike today, she is not trying to look like a hot 25. She is just aging gracefully, although both she and Goldie deserved better than the Walter M. character.

For some reason I thought she did more stage work than that. I think this pic might be backstage at one of her stage productions. From the interviews I have seen with Isabella and Pia, while she was a flawed mother and made mistakes, they really seem fond of her (and she left Pia and did not see her from about age 12 to 18). I think she was hones and owned her maternal shortcomings and they understood her need to work and enjoyed the time they did spend with her.

R6 she looks great in that photo and is that her son? He's really handsome.

Roberto Rosselini Jr. dated Grace Kelly's daughter Caroline. I love his hair.

[quote] she did mention skiing in Minnesota,

Which is very odd, given there are no mountains in Minnesota. It was all shaved flat by glaciers during the Ice Age.

Maybe it was cross-country skiing?

[quote] Saratoga Trunk - I think French Creole, For Whom the Bell Tolls - Spanish,

And in Under Capricorn she is supposed to be Irish.

It goes without saying that she sounds about as far from French Creole, Spanish, and Irish as possible.

[quote]Which is very odd, given there are no mountains in Minnesota. It was all shaved flat by glaciers during the Ice Age. Maybe it was cross-country skiing?

There are a fair number of down hill ski resorts, although if you are experienced with skiing in the mountains they would seem pretty inconsequential (Lutsen along the north short of Lake Superior does have some nice views though and probably have the longest runs in the state. There are a lot of cross-country ski trails.

R7 - that is her son at R6.

One of her twin daughters had spinal surgery in the 1960s; it was the type of surgery that required the patient to have a full body cast and no movement

She was a lot like Elizabeth Taylor in that her children adored her but realized very early on she was an inadequate mother. But apparently she was such a sweet woman that it was very hard for anyone not to like her (much like Taylor).

I once heard Isabella Rossellini and her fraternal twin Ingrid speak at Princeton for a film studies program on the centenary of their father Roberto Rossellini (Ingrid taught at Princeton for years as a lecturer in Italian--I am not sure if she still does). What was interesting about seeing them together is that Ingrid is a dead ringer for her mother (and thus has as beautiful a face as does Isabella), and yet since Isabella is wealthier and from a more glamorous occupation, she was dressed to the nines in couture and had flawless makeup, whereas Ingrid had almost none (as academic women rarely do) and was dressed very dowdily in comparison. Yet they clearly liked each other very much, and were so proud of their father's accomplishments.

Apparently all the children get along, including Pia Lindstrom... although the latter was infamously overheard saying to a friend when she left the critics' screening of "Death Becomes Her, "I see that yet again my sister played the weirdo..."

She was beautiful indeed and in the last decade of her life it was sad to see her looks so clearly ravaged by cancer. She didn’t stop working until right at the end but she carried on like that for a good ten years. Whenever I see interviews of her from the 70s and it’s clear that the illness is taking its toll on her - physically and otherwise - it’s pretty depressing.

I love her , she is one of my favourite actresses and has a body of work that includes several classic movies (unlike, for instance, Joan Crawford). She also sounds like a wonderful Woman(and her accepTance oh her oscar for Murder in the Orient Express is a class act).

Love Ingrid, but her GASLIGHT Oscar was a gift.

I always thought Notorious was her best 40's Hollywood role and she was not even nominated for it. 'The scene at Gaslight near the end where she pretend to be crazy to a tied up Boyer was good, but if I would have given her one Oscar from that era it would have been Notorious.

I also figured Bells of St. Mary's was probably a gift nomination, but the scene where she she it told she is being transferred and she realizes it is not to another teach position and slowly realizes Bing is behind it was a nice subtle transition in facial expression and tone of voice from surprise, to trying to sound hopeful, to sadness, to realization, to wanting to shoot lasers out of her eyes to Bing while maintaining some composure and outward politeness to Father Crosby,

I have always wanted to see her performances in Dr. Jeckyl and Saratoga Trunk, but they are harder to find without actually having to buy the DVD.

While her Orient Express speech is classy, I also love the clip for Diane Ladd's expression when she loses.

Ingrid one of the rare actresses to win the Oscar (three), Emmy and Tony

Only one of six actresses to win the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress Oscar. As well as one of the handful of actresses to be a double Best Actress Oscar winner

Another classic oscar-moment.

In "Gaslight," there's a scene where she's on her honeymoon with Boyer, and she very effectively evokes the happiness of a well-fucked woman. I love her in the movie, but she's such a big healthy girl that it's hard to imagine her terrorized by slight Charlie.

That's the thing about gaslighting, your size doesn't matter.

NOTORIOUS is one of my all-time favorite movies. Those quick fade-to-black cuts Alma used were extremely effective.

She did all that while acting in a foreign language, R19. Let's not forget that.

Don't ever forget both Bergmans collaboating on Autumn Sonata

R24 It's my favorite Bergman, it's a masterpiece.

Swedish interview.

She was in the original, Swedish "A Woman's Face," for which the make up was harsher than In the remake. Cukor directed that, then a little later, "Gaslight."

"Saratoga Trunk" is a bit of a mess, and hugely entertaining.

R26, thank you. I always loved Ingrid Bergman. from her performances in Notorious and The Bells of St. Mary's through her comeback in Anastasia to her later roles. She was talented and beautiful. It's hard to imagine today that she was condemned in the US Senate and the Vatican for her affair with Rossellini.

But that 1960 interview shows her also as very intelligent. It's hard to imagine any actor today fluent in so many languages (Swedish, English, French, and possibly Norwegian).

One of her best roles was in Murder on the Orient Express (the original 1974 version, which IMHO will never be surpassed).

I remember seeing Gregory Peck on the Tonight Show in the 80's or 90's where he was discussing his career and he talked about her very fondly, still clearly enamored with her. They were not a bad looking couple. Spellbound is not bad, but it is a bit more dated than some of her other work from that time.

I saw Spellbound at the cinema about 10 years ago and I remember that a lot of the audience laughed throughout the movie, which made me even more aware of how outdated it is. They ruined it a little for me.

I hate it when audiences laugh at old movies. They're trying to show how clever they are. I'm sure their fashions and mores would seem pretty funny to future grnerations.

Her murder on the orient express win cost the oscar for autumn sonata which has been cited as one of her best if not best screen performance. Had she not won 4 years before, I think she would’ve easily sailed to a third best actress oscar.

Spellbound is a lot of fun and preposterous. Funny how different it is from her Notorious, which is profoundly moving in its examination of relationships, including that of Rains and his gangster mother. (I think the two actors were about the same age.) Regarding that lengthy kissing/nibbling scene of Grant and Bergman, while he's on the phone, IIRC, Hitchcock said he was inspired by catching sight, from a train, of a young couple who kept holding hands while the guy was peeing.

I like her a lot, particularly her acting style. She always seemed so casual, natural, spontaneous.Very modern or timeless, I guess, not at all "actory" or theatrical, unlike some of her peers. She had a great warmth and humanity on screen.

I’m curious about this, particularly as my mother just revealed to me quite offhand that once in the mid-late ‘60s (she’s forgotten the year exactly) my late grandfather - an electrician by trade and photographer by profession - had the privilege of flying Bergman from Nairobi to Mombasa in his plane. The story goes that the man who was supposed fly her originally and his associates got so drunk at the Aero Club that my grandfather was the only pilot sober enough to get Ingrid where she needed.

As far as I’m aware Bergman wasn’t filming any projects in Africa in the ‘60s, so perhaps she was just visiting or holidaying. I’m going to try and get more details on the story from my living grandmother (who was drinking back at the AC, presumably).

I LOVE The Visit (1964)! Older Ingrid was beautiful, and I've often wanted to kill Anthony Quinn.

She was a genuine actress unlike 95% of Hollywood trash.

He list of achievements should include this 1963 TV movie.

It starts off like a melancholy, cheap-looking, unglamorous, tedious Scandinavian chore but as it progresses you can enjoy the interplay between quartet of stars and appreciate Ingrid's keen intelligence as her character gets stronger and more and more manipulative.

There was a good documentary about her a couple years ago, called "In Her Own Words." All four of her children participated and they clearly adored her, even though she was often an absentee mother.

She won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for the mini series A Woman Called Golda. She was excellent.

I've never heard any bad gossip about her.

I know she made foolish decisions in the 60s.

But I wonder if she was a pushy pain-in-the-neck in the 40s taking roles from Lana Turner and Vera Zorina?

She had every right to take roles from Lana Turner and Vera Zorina, R42, she was 100x the actress they were.

She was appearing in Water From the Moon (?) in London when I was there are we had tickets for a matinee performance. Unfortunately, she was ill that day so we crossed the street to see Glynnis Johns in Cause Celebre. Would have preferred seeing Ingrid. And Wendy Hiller was in it I think. Oh well.

Ingrid Bergman is not mentioned frequently on DL because she lacks “camp” appeal unlike Joan Crawford or Bette Davis.

R45, Stanwyck has little to no camp either.

I often wonder if Ingrid Bergman and Greta Garbo knew each other. Acting wise, they were worlds apart from each other, but they do have in common both being from Sweden and becoming huge Hollywood stars.

^ Yes, I'd love to know if there was any fellowship between Greta and Ingrid.

I guess poor Greta realised by '39 that her time in alien Hollywood and talkies was coming to an end.

Ingrid was obviously a pushy woman and like all Swedes was justifiably patriotic.

Ingrid night have given Greta speech therapy, dancing lessons and grooming hints.

Greta was obviously somewhat of a beached whale in the fast-talking Forties Hollywood. She wouldn't take starring roles because she couldn't bear the scrutiny. But she would adorned that feature role in The Paradine Case that Selznick offered to her.

She was a whore, darlin'. Truly.

I will never forgive her for running off with that Italian gigolo director and leaving behind her husband (who was a doctor!) and daughter Pia. What a tramp! An instrument of evil!

American housewives took 6 years to forgive Ingrid; they will take 5 years to forgive Kevin.

Ingrid was never forgiven. Whore!

She was involved in one of the major Hollywood scandals. She left her first husband and their daughter to run off with the director Roberto Rossellini. She was pregnant with his child before they married. She was condemned in Congress as an example of unbridled immorality. Her career suffered but she same back and won an Oscar for "Anastasia." She had three children with Rossellini, a son and twin girls. She was what you'd call an attentive mother; she was a Hollywood star and as self-absorbed as any other actress. She and Rossellini teamed up to do movies together but none of them were a success. The great love affair between them wore out. Rossellini would seek out prostitutes; someone asked him why he did that when he was married to one of the world's most beautiful women. He reportedly said "because she won't do the things a prostitute will do."

You have a hard heart R53. Didn't you see how she saved all those brown babies and all those yellow babies?

R38 You must be a man of taste. 'The Visit' (1964) is a very powerful black-and-white movie which really packs a punch (I won't reveal the shocking details).

Ingrid is 49 but looks much younger, like Silvana Mangano. And I agree with you that her co-star is perfect casting as the leader of the peasants!

What babies did Ingrid save, other than the ones she didn't abort?

R57 Murder on the Orient Express (1974) reference, darling.

[R57] Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958) reference, darling.

[R57] The third episode of The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964) reference, darling.

She had affairs with Spencer Tracy and Gary Cooper. She did a movie with the 17 years younger Anthony Perkins. Before their first kissing scene she called Perkins into her dressing room. In her "most professional voice" she said to him "It'll take time, the kissing. We'll get it wrong. Let's practice kissing."

So she was a whore, darlin'.

R61 She was a professional. The character she was playing didn't want to have an affair with the younger man who was obviously screwy.

It's not some mere TV movie, r39, it's Hedda Fuckin' Gabler!

Dear Mr Ibsen (R64), you should be grateful that your gloomy 19th century plays are still being performed in the US.

We like color and movement to appeal to our short attention spans.

Screweth you, Gaga.

No, R66, that clip has the wrong title. Glenda ISN'T Hedda.

Ingrid IS Hedda

R18, Saratoga Trunk is on TMC off and on. I watched it month or two ago. Bergman and Cooper are very good in it, but it also has a really good supporting cast of character actors. Florence Bates is particularly good as a fraud of a society doyenne.

You say that, R54, like we don't know it. I hate lecturers.

There isn't a way to make Hedda remotely sympathetic. Ingrid has the ability to at least make her luminous.

R68 I've never been able to see Saratoga Trunk. Doesn't Flora play a darkie and Ingrid play a whore?

Ingrid was no Carol Lawrence!

R61, Tony Perkins was SO GAY in that movies it was laughable.

R70 You have used the 'mot juste'.

Ingrid is luminous regardless of whether she's playing a prostitute, a gaslit-madwoman, a venomous bitch or a fool in love with a gay Perkins, a peasant Quinn, an effeminate Henreid, a desultory Sanders, a dreary Crosby or a geriatric Bogart.,

She signed my program after a performance of The Constant Wife, r75. She was kind of luminous in person. Beautiful skin.

Her first triumph in Hollywood was resisting all the changes David O Selznick wanted to make after he went to the trouble of importing her from Sweden.

These included changing her name from Bergman which he felt was "too German" for Americans fearing the Nazi Peril of the late 1930s. And giving her face the Hollywood makeover - she was the first actress in the 1930s to sport unplucked eyebrows and wear a natural- looking makeup.

I had no friendship or rivalry with Bette Davis or Joan Crawford.

Was The Farmer's Daughter written as a vehicle for Ingrid Bergman? I've never been sure.

Due to the Hedy Lamarr thread, I watched Algiers. Casablanca was a rewrite of Algiers and originally a project for Hedy. What do you guys think? Algiers or Casablanca? Hedy or Ingrid?

Bergman once outed Cary Grant to a reporter.

Later, she said she was just kidding.

It was strange watching that Oscar clip and hearing “ and the WINNER is....”.

"Due to the Hedy Lamarr thread, I watched Algiers. Casablanca was a rewrite of Algiers and originally a project for Hedy. What do you guys think? Algiers or Casablanca? Hedy or Ingrid? "

R79, "Casablanca" and "Algiers" are very different films, the only similarity is they're about a foreigner in a north African city who meets an old girlfriend. Other than that, they're completely different; one is about a man who decides that fighting the Nazis is more important than love, the other is about a man being driven nuts by exile.

"Casablanca" is a much better film.

Yes, Casablanca is a much more entertaining film. It has two dreary male leads but it has the LUMINOUS Ingrid as well as three fascinating supporting actors (two of whom were gay) as well as a witty script.

I bet Ingrid had a mammoth bush.

Link, R80? I never heard of that and doubt Ingrid would out anyone. The most I ever heard her say is that Grant was very serious and nothing like his on screen personality.

They threw her out of Hollywood, and should have kept her out. Ingrid was a tramp.

Wow, Ingrid and Isabella barely look like sisters, much less twins.

Here's a picture of the twin sisters, slightly older.

Their facial structure is actually very similar.

R88 - Ingrid (or Isotta) resembles her father and Isabella resembles her mother.

I actually think there's quite a bit of her father in Isabella's looks as well - but vocally she really resembles her mother. She sure looks stunning in that pic at R87. Her brother Roberto Jr was quite a looker as well. Swedish and Italian was a good mix in this case.

Whatever became of the brother, Roberto?

Isabella doesn't actually look much like her mother, her coloring, nose, chin, and eyes are all different. But since they're both very beautiful, people think they look alike.

I heard an interview with Rossellini, where she said that she never understood why people said she looked like her mother. But then she caught a glimpse of herself in a store mirror and hadn't realized it was a mirror, she said she thought she'd seen a woman who reminded her of her mother. She realized that it was herself, and that even if her facial features were different, she was built like her mother and moved like her.

Does anyone else agree that Nastassia Kinski looked like a young Ingrid Bergman?

And WEHT?

R88 Ingrid Rossellini looks like a mash up of Charlotte Ramping & Susan Sontag.

R85 "I fell in love with Cary Grant…He did not reciprocate the emotion, and that disappointed me. Then I spoke with one of his ex-wives, whom I prefer not to name, and she revealed that he is not prone to falling in love with, let us say, actresses."

Did you get her innuendo?

She was even more explicit in another interview, which I can't find now, in which she said she would have loved to have an affair with Grant, "but everyone knows he preferred boys." She then said she was just kidding.

^ A genuine 'historian' doesn't retail gossip without documentation.

Eh, we knew she was a cheating whore. So Cary wasn't interested for whatever reason.

Thanks, R95, but that hardly outs him.

If no link for the alleged boys "comment," no deal.

I always felt bad for Pia...Ingrid was a lousy mother to her. But she did admit that at least.

Don't feel bad, R100. Pia had a job as a movie review for WNBC, and it by her performance, it seemed she had never seen a movie.

'Pia' is such an ugly name.

My favourite actress. She managed to portray a lovely natural charm while possessing incredible beauty. Bergman suffered humiliation and was exiled from Hollywoodand because she left her husband and daughter for Rossellini. It was an enormous scandal.

To make matters worse, Rossellini proved to be a selfish prick who also wanted custody of the kids when she left him. I recommend her autobiography where she covers this tumultuous period of her life with clarity and without a shred of self pity. The war photographer Robert Capa was also another great love. Needless to say, he proved a flop as well.

Imagine possessing such beauty only to find yourself struggling to be loved.

R76 I'm so envious you saw Bergman on stage in 'The Constant Wife'.

Was it that production which had Sigourney Weaver as an understudy?

This video has Isabella demonstrating so much poise and sounding very much like her mother!

R18 You mention Ingrid's 'subtle transition in facial expression'. She did that a lot.

Smiling through tears. Judy did it as well. I suspect George Cukor told her to keep it in check.

R93 Yes, Kinski has the same philtrum as the divine Bergman. And so does Messing and Patty Duke. But these broads should not be compared with the divine Bergman.

R1 I've never heard of her appearance in 'Auguste' (1961) and 'Stimulantia' (1967). Can you recommend them?

[quote]Yes, Casablanca is a much more entertaining film. It has two dreary male leads but it has the LUMINOUS Ingrid as well as three fascinating supporting actors (two of whom were gay) as well as a witty script.

Claude Rains was great in that as well (as he was with Bergman in Notorious). The whole supporting cast was pretty good. The use of variations of Times Goes By throughout the movie was also well done. The score in the background fits and for some reason seems less dated than other old movies.

R106 You say it seems less dated than other old movies. And I wonder why.

I hate pseudo-macho Bogart and all his tough-guy movies. And I think I heard Ann Sheridan was supposed to star in it.

But Ingrid is so utterly credible that she lifts the whole movie up from the usual Warner Bros. trash.

It is still an old-school movie and probably would seem dated to a lot of people, but I think as you mentioned Bergman and much of the cast bring the movie up a level (the plot is pretty B level). She had a natural style for the time which I think has helped a number of her movies age better. It is also directed and framed well with the angle of the shots, use of shadows etc. It is a great looking film. The script in the hands of other actors and a different director could have very well produced a B movie that was long forgotten.

Your right, R108. She had a natural style which seems so modern. And her determination to leave hidebound Hollywood to join the independent producers in European New Wave is another sign of her modernity.

R107 , sorry you feel the Studio of Bette Davis and Bogart classics was trash. Not every movie can be a pastel Judy classic with the rude midget Rooney Along for the ride.

Bergman and Davis don't belong in the same sentence.

One was disciplined; the other not.

Are you serious, r111?

Was Bette Davis not considered disciplined? I assume you meant her?

Ingrid, on one hand, may have been 'modern' or ahead of her time, R109, but on the other hand she was very much of her time.

She objected that young Romeo showed his buttocks in the 1967 Zeffirelli movie.

She had womanly poise, she knew how to smile and use her feminine charms in this situation where she was obviously angry that the critics criticised her NY stage show's first night—

^ Her hands are shaking with anger yet, still, she smiles at her critic.

Objecting to Leonard Whiting's ass, but acting like a slut in her real life? Pass.

"Does anyone else agree that Nastassia Kinski looked like a young Ingrid Bergman?

And WEHT?"

I don't think she looked like Bergman. Berman had a more refined beauty; Kinski's features were overblown, especially her mouth. As for WEHT...well, Roman Polanski tried to make a star out of her by starring her in his movie "Tess." They became lovers when she was 15 and he was 43. She later denied it saying all they had was a "flirtation" buy Polanski speaks openly of their affair in his memoir. Despite making a splash in "Tess" her movie career didn't do much, primarily because although the was stunning looking she had no talent. She married an Egyptian filmmaker, had two kids with him and divorced him; she lived with Quincy Jones for a while and had a child with him. She's always seemed kind of "off", maybe due to heredity. She's the daughter of the very crazy German actor Klaus Kinski. It's strange; Kinski was hideous but his children were beautiful.

Kinski was 'the only free man on the train! Lickspittle!"

The white haired critic in the clip at r115 is Elliot Norton, who was the steemed drama critic of The Boston Herald for many decades, including all of those years when Boston was a major stop for Broadway shows on their way to NYC. He often had helpful criticism in his reviews which was sometimes accepted and incorporated into the staging.

I took two classes with him in the early 1970s in Modern Drama dn Shakespeare. Briiliant man!

*** esteemed!

Well, Ingrid chastened the esteemed critic in the nicest way.

I thought Algiers, which I've never seen, was a remake of Pepe Le Moko one of Gabin's great films.

R121 I've never understood the appeal of Jean Gabin. I guess that's because I've only seen 2 of his movies but both Ingrid (seen here with him and Renoir) and Marlene were keen on him.

** ahem, excusez moi **

Gabin is one of the all time greats. He's made quite a few wonderful films. Also a singer.

But Gabin refused to deign to appear in more than one movie using the English language.

Ingrid knew how to appeal to the masses. Jean was exclusive.

Ingrid was especially talented in languages. Not all great talents are. Maybe Gabin was simply not comfortable acting in a language other than French. He's still one of the giants of the cinema.

Imagine K. Hepburn, Bogart or Davis acting in languages other than English.

I've gone to IMDB and it tells me Gabin and Michele Morgan were both in the US in the war years. He did one US film for Fritz Lang and another for Jean Duvivier.

Wiki says "Gabin was a difficult personality; he did serious damage to his Hollywood career while working for RKO Pictures. Scheduled to star in an RKO film, at the last minute he demanded Dietrich [with whom he was romancing] be given the co-starring role. The studio refused. After Gabin remained steadfast in his demand".. and the film was aborted.

(BTW I think it's interesting in the early 30s when studios in England and Germany were making duplicate pictures in different languages and sometimes with different actors.)

Ingrid Bergman's first American film was Intermezzo in 1939 which was a remake of the same film she made in Sweden in 1936. That was the film that caught Selznick's eye and caused him to bring Ingrid to Hollywood.

Actually, I believe the eye it caught was that of Selznick's longtime assistant and talent scout Kay Brown. Brown sounds like such a fascinating figure of old Hollywood, as she seemed to be the driving force of so much that was great about Selznick. Does anyone know if there was ever a book about her or if she wrote an autobiography? I've searched but haven't found anything.

Dear R127, you said 'Jean Duvivier' but I think you mean Julien Duvivier.

Duvivier directed Jean Gabin in 'Pepe Le Moko', R121, and also Vivien in 'Anna Karenina'.

And here is this clip from that film which has the wonderful music score full of yearning and the tolling bells of doom for Anna.

Ingrid might have made a more interesting Anna. She would have been more assertive and much taller than her Vronsky.

But I guess pretty Vivien conveys Anna's foolishness; Anna foolishly married an unlovable rich man and then she foolishly gave it away for the pleasures of carnal desire.

Ingrid would have made a more tragic Anna than silly Vivien.

When I see Vivien in that ugly picture at R129 I just want to snap that little minx's neck.

"Nobody's Girl Friday: The Women Who Ran Hollywood" by J. E. Smyth, seems to be a history of women in positions of power in 1930s to 50s Hollywood, Kay Brown among them.

Ingrid came off as overwhelmingly sensible, we would never believe that she'd throw everything away on a worthless man.

Vivien Leigh was a very believable Anna Karenina, Ingrid would not have been.

Wasn't that one of the criticisms of Gaslight was that it was harder to believe she would have been so easily victimized by Boyer (who was great in the role)?

R133, R134 Yes, Ingrid was overwhelmingly sensible! She had a big physique so much so that I reckon she can be described as masculine.

And that's one of the reasons that I adore her. And I suspect that's why Cary Grant also adored her.

Ingrid was frequently cast as a highly intelligent professional woman, a psychiatrist, a nurse, an actress, a mother superior, etc., in an era when the leading lady rarely had a job more demanding than someone's personal secretary.

The one exception to her portrayal of intelligent career women was in "Notorious", where she played a drunken floozy (turned highly intelligent secret agent). Was she believable as an alcoholic slut?

[quote]Was she believable as an alcoholic slut?

She was great playing someone with some self-esteem issues and being a bit messed up by her father. One of her best golden Hollywood roles.

Grant was good as well. His character was pretty messed up and one of the few times he played someone with an actual dark side. There characters were a truly dysfunctional couple with great chemistry.

Claude Rains - most sympathetic Nazi ever.

'Notorious' was a lot of fun with those 3 great stars.

Grant was keen to Ingrid back to do a film but unfortunately the vehicle Donen and they chose was a rather boring talk-fest which was obviously taken from a stage play.

(I think it was the first film I noticed where she was allowed to stand at full height and her co-star didn't stand in a trench. Because, after all, she was a giantess!)

I think these shoes Bogart wore in 'Casablanca' are hilarious.

They typify the fact that Hollywood is all about fakery and deception.

She said in an 1971 interview—

'Bogart and Charles Boyer and Claude Rains, [were] all smaller than me. I always took my shoes off for them but they still had to stand on boxes.

When I started shooting 'Anastasia' I met Yul Brynner on the set and realized at once that he was shorter. I suggested putting a little block under him. He turned round and said to me: 'You think I want to play it standing on a box. I will show the world what a big horse you are.'

Ingrid's reputation for playing smart sensible women was exactly the reason America turned on her when she foolishly lost her senses and ran away pregnant with Roberto Rossellini. We could forgive Rita Hayworth for such nonsense but never Saint Ingrid.

r132, thank you so much for that book recommendation. Right up my alley and I'll definitely try and find it.

After Mary Poppins Julie Andrews went to bed with James Garner but it was ok because who wouldn't?

Who told you Andrews went to bed with Garner, R143?

This sounds like inane DL gossip.

Her best work was in Anastasia.

“Ahhh, Ingrid. So beautiful, so stupid.”

Talk and big feet= huge pussy.

Those platform shoes look ridiculous!

Like some homemade hillbilly nonsense.

How could Bogie walk in those things?

Poor Ingrid had a problem with one of her arms late in life.

It swelled up as a side effect of the cancer which she battled off and on for years. I read during the filming of Golda she had it suspended whenever she was not filming. She died about four months after filming completed.

"They typify the fact that Hollywood is all about fakery and deception."

Fantasy is more fun than reality.

I think this may have been the only time Ingrid Bergman talked about Greta Garbo. Like most actresses of that period, she was in awe of Garbo, and never wanted to be compared to her; Bergman wanted to come to Hollywood and do her own thing. It sounds like they met after Garbo retired from acting.

A great interview, overall, and I like how open and honest Bergman is throughout. The actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood -- e.g., Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman -- were always honest about the ups and downs of their career. So different from the actresses of today who are coached on how to do interviews and what questions to answer.

Che puttana!

R153 Miss Magnani, you would never been allowed to come to Hollywood if Ingrid had not made Hollywood realise what a vibrant cinema scene Italy had at the time!

R154 Don't be silly - La Magnani won Best Actress award from National Board of Review for "Rome, Open City" years before Bergman first set foot in Italy and stole poor Anna's man.

R155 It all happened simultaneously.

1. Ingrid was getting tired of Hollywood's expensive studio-fakery.

2. Italy was producing heartwarming movies outdoors using one camera.

3. Ingrid was getting stronger and getting ready to manage and produce her own movies.

4. Hollywood realised that Vittorio de Sica's cheap movies were effective— in fact it was announced that Cary Grant would star in de Sica's 'Bicycle Thieves' in '47 and Selznick gave Jennifer Jones and Monty Clift to star in Vittorio de Sica's ' Indiscretion of an American Wife' in '53.

R156 On what planet were Italian neorealist films "heartwarming"?!

I'm wondering if by heart-warming, r156 meant earthy?

Cary Grant in Bicycle Thieves? Why not Gregory Peck which would have made about as much sense.

Didn't you cry through the story of 'Umberto D' and his dog?

Didn't you love the honest simplicity of the family in 'Bicycle Thieves'?

De Sica said that these simple people who had endured the horror of poverty and war were like the peasants. He said 'peasants' lives are noble. They live in the temple of creation . They are in frequent contact with the life of animals, inexhaustible in its teachings, inflexible in its laws, which express without ceasing the the providence of God the Creator'.

De Sica was very sentimental.

In spite of both being Swedish and tall, I don't think anyone ever compared Bergman to Garbo or expected her to succeed in the same sort of roles. They were entirely different types. Actually, not types at all, but unique stars.

Nevertheless, MGM imported Hedy Lamarr to Hollywood to assume Garbo's place at the studio (exotic foreign femme fatale), much as Lana Turner did for Joan Crawford (shop girl makes good) and Greer Garson did for Norma Shearer (Queen of the Lot).

And later in the 1940s, I guess Ann Miller for Eleanor Powell and Jane Powell for Judy Garland. They had their types at MGM, alright.

R161 I heard Greer was used to take over Garbo's roles and Shearer's.

I think Garbo was originally announced for 'Madame Curie'.

[quote] HEARTWARMING /ˈhɑːrtˌwɔːr.mɪŋ/ seeming to be something positive and good and therefore causing feelings of pleasure and happiness

If Umberto D. caused you feelings of happiness, you need to schedule an appointment with your therapist.

"In spite of both being Swedish and tall, I don't think anyone ever compared Bergman to Garbo or expected her to succeed in the same sort of roles. They were entirely different types."

Vastly different. Garbo was a remote, almost goddess-like presence on film, while Ingrid seemed very real and down to earth.

If Garbo was what women wanted to be in their wildest dreams, Bergman was what they hoped to be in real life.

You're right R164. Kenneth Tynan (who was a professional bitch) said Garbo was as unreal as a mythic dream.

Wealthy Americans experienced 'happiness' (R163) and schadenfreude while watching the poor people in Italian neo-Realist films of De Sica, and Rossellini. It's what we now call 'poverty porn'.

R155 Wiki tells me Rossellini had Magnani in Rome, Open City in 1945 and was going to use her in Stromboli but gave it to Ingrid when she escaped in 1949.

Tynan also said, "What, when drunk, one sees in other women, one sees in Garbo sober."

^ Tynan wrote that back in 1954 when filmmakers were still begging her to return.

I would have loved to have seen her in The Paradine Case, a Max Ophuls film with James Mason, or Sunset Boulevard.

Ingrid would have ruined Sunset Boulevard.

I think he meant Garbo for Sunset. Ingrid was too young (and sane).

Garbo was much too restrained and perhaps even inhibited to be in Sunset. I doubt she would have allowed herself to show such open sexual lust for Holden the way Swanson does or to descend into complete madness at the end.

A few sites say 44 year old Garbo was first choice for Norma in Sunset Boulevard.

Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder wrote Ninotchka for Garbo and they wrote Sunset Boulevard.

It seems Garbo is mentioned in the script of Sunset Boulevard (but I've forgotten where it it). And Garbo's fellow-Swede Anna Q. Nilsson appears in it.

I agree with you R170 that she would have been more restrained (and less vulgar) than Swanson but I believe a master-craftsman like Wilder would have wrung every drop of pathos out of his big Swedish-star.

I first saw Spellbound back in the 80s and the audience had the same reaction.

I have a feeling that it was a bit ridiculous even at the time it was made. Curious about what the first reviews said. But not enough to look it up.

Norma references Garbo in the movie screening scene, saying they didn't need words in silent movies because they had faces then. She says the only face left was Garbo, being unaware that Garbo had stopped acting by the time of the movie.

Ingrid and Greta were both Scandinavian giantesses.

Yul Brynner said Ingrid was a horse and I judge that she had healthy breasts the size of big oranges while Ava Gardner tells us that Greta had breasts like small Chinese Gooseberries.

Greta had small breasts and big hips and feet but I reckon Wilder could have coaxed a modicum of 'lust' (R170) from her when Norma cracked-up playing Salome.

R152 Nancy Kwan's wearing a great bouffant hair-do in that video.

[quote]Due to the Hedy Lamarr thread, I watched Algiers. Casablanca was a rewrite of Algiers and originally a project for Hedy. What do you guys think? Algiers or Casablanca? Hedy or Ingrid?

Casablanca started out as an unproduced stage play called Everybody Goes to Rick's. Warners purchased it as a vehicle for Bogart although some of the early press releases mentioned either George Raft or Ronald Reagan as the lead with Ann Sheridan.

Ingrid was 5'9". How in the world could that be considered a "giantess"? Men were shrimps in those days, apparently. From this thread, I thought she'd be well over 6 feet tall.

Just rewatched NOTORIOUS yesterday. She and Cary Grant had the most intense closeups of any pair I can think of. The scene on the balcony and in the apartment with that poor uneaten chicken is astonishing, with Hitchcock directing them to be GLUED together and kissing one another for huge stretches of time, even through the phone call.

It's too bad that their reunion in Stanley Donen's INDISCREET was so lackluster. That film should have been much better than it was.

She should have win her 3rd Oscar for "Autumn Sonata" over Jane Fonda

I met in the 80’s a old theatre dresser , who was in his 70’s and still dressing in theatres and had all his life . When asked who his favourite actor was, without a pause “Ingrid Bergman” he said she was great fun talented could speak many languages , but it was her warmth and sense of fun and glamour (I think) he loved. He said during a theatre run she would invite the whole crew to parties in her hotel suite and not just the important people . A few years later I was with a relative and she was going for dinner with Larry Adler , I tagged along , he was a big name dropper and had many anecdotes about various Hollywood names . He did say how much he loved Ingrid and how when he asked her out , she laughed in his face and told him he was too much of a “cocky “ for her, he laughed and said “and you know , she was right, I was, but it meant I was smitten with her for being that straight” he basically said she was a free spirit who didn’t play the Hollywood game .

Why was she not nominated for Casablanca?

R182 - because she was nominated the same year for For Whom the Bell Toll which was a bigger, more prestigious production in which she had a seemingly flashier role - and it was one of those rare films to have actors nominated in all four categories. Only in retrospect it turned out Casablanca was the all time classic and not FWtBT and her turn in it the more memorable one. (Still, though outrageously miscast as the most nordic spanish peasant ever, Bergman was quite luminous in FWtBT, and she herself was very passionate about it while being rather confused about her turn in Casablanca).