Greer Garson

She's almost intolerable in "Pride and Prejudice," with one eyebrow constantly going up like Mr. Spock's. But she could be quite effective--as annoying as the smug bourgeois Minivers are in "Mrs. Miniver," she's quite moving in some scenes--not at Stanwyck or Davis level, but still very good.

As much as I’d like to dislike her in Miniver, I agree that she is moving, and that scene with the German soldier works quite well, in no small part because of her.

I think Garson never sustained her popularity because she just isn’t as much fun as the other Golden Age actresses. She didn’t play a Tracy Lord, a Phyllis Dietrichson, a Leslie Crosbie or a Mildred Pierce. It was a lot of noble suffering, and that doesn’t age all that well.

Norma Shearer was the Grande Dame of MGM, and when she retired in '42, Greer Garson inherited the great lady roles that Crawford coveted. But there was a "sameness" to her performances, and with the war over, she was no longer a top box office draw. She was replaced at MGM by Deborah Kerr, who gave more memorable and varied performances.

Deborah Kerr--it rhymes with "star!"

Greer Garson--it rhymes with "parson!"

[quote]I think Garson never sustained her popularity because she just isn’t as much fun as the other Golden Age actresses. She didn’t play a Tracy Lord, a Phyllis Dietrichson, a Leslie Crosbie or a Mildred Pierce. It was a lot of noble suffering, and that doesn’t age all that well.

Greer did get to play a fun role on Broadway when she took over for Rosalind Russell in "Auntie Mame."

Greer Garson married a very rich oil man named Buddy Fogelson and retired.

Garson took over Norma Shearer' s mantle at MGM, not Crawford's. Lana Turner took up the types of roles Crawford played.

What the hell kind of name is Greer

A surname.

Her persona was far to mannered and prissy for post World War II audiences:

The "Grand Lady" persona was trendy at the time but hasn't worn well, and it was really all she could do. Joan's scrappy jazz baby/shopgirl who makes good and Bette's range of performances all have wider appeal today.

Garson didn’t have much quality work after the war, it’s true. When she made “Adventure “ with Clark Gable, the tag line was “Gable’s back and Garson’s got ‘im!” Her nobility didn’t gibe with Gable’s toughness — one critic said, “ Gable’s back and Garson scratches it.” And Joan Blondell walked off with what few good notices there were.

Just finished watching Madame Curie (1943). Greer is fine but damn is her acting all in her nostrils and eyebrows!

I like what few performances of hers I've seen (she's funny and charming in When Ladies Meet) but she seemed rather limited. I was amused by a review of her in Pride And Prejudice which said "she glides through the film as if she's on casters."

Greer take over JOAN's throne?!?! HA! Never. Greer was a dud and certainly no where near as beautiful, in any decade or any lifetime.

After Norma Shearer retired, Greer Garson replaced her. Norma Shearer turned down “Mrs. Miniver”, because she didn’t want to portray the mother of an older teenager. Garson played all the Norma Shearer roles. She was very lucky, too, to be in the right place at the right time, World War ll.

Hedy Lamarr was possibly Greta Garbo’s replacement. Yet, she didn’t have the appeal and the talent of Garbo. Lamarr only lasted 5 years at MGM. She wasn’t a talented actress, but she was breathtakingly beautiful.

Lana Turner was Joan Crawford’s replacement. Lana took over Joan’s glamour roles. Lana, too, replaced Jean Harlow.

Of course, the musical roles went to Judy Garland. Joan Crawford was too old and certainly didn’t have Garland’s talent.

Essentially, MGM lost interest in Crawford. Her last great MGM role was in “A Woman’s Face.” She was excellent in it, and she could’ve nabbed an Oscar nomination. MGM didn’t support her. Yet, in spite of terrible movies in 1942 and 1943, she could still bring in some money because of her fan base. Joan left MGM for Warner Brothers. Ironically, Joan was Bette Davis’s replacement at Warner Brothers, for the women’s pictures.

Greer Garson was nowhere near as beautiful as Crawford.

Not even close.

I gjess a dozen or so here are 90. They remember, they bitch,

I would have liked to see her try something that required her to be a bit less noble, like a femme fatale role.

There were many films in which Garson was great. WHEN LADIES MEET isn't very good, but she steals the film from Crawford. And in her first film at MGM, GOODBYE MR. CHIPS, she's wonderful, and you see why she became a movie star. But my favorite film of hers is still RANDOM HARVEST. If you haven't seen it, check it out.

[quote]But my favorite film of hers is still RANDOM HARVEST. If you haven't seen it, check it out.

Memorably parodied by Carol Burnett.

Yeah, I dug her in Pride and Prejudice. She always radiated warmth in general, and was a believable actress. Never bothered me.

Her nickname in Hollywood was Career Garson

[quote] Her persona was far to mannered and prissy for post World War II audiences:

That's not true at all. She was very popular in the forties with film audiences, or MGM would not have given her so many big roles.

Garson received seven Academy Award nominations, including a record-tying (with Bette Davis) five consecutive nominations (1941–1945) in the actress category, winning for her performance in the title role of the 1942 film Mrs. Miniver.

Her nominations were for: Goodbye Mr. Chips, Blossoms in the Dust, Mrs. Miniver, Madame Curie, Mrs. Parkington, The Valley of Decision, and Sunrise at Campobello (for which she won the Golden Globe Award).

Back to the kids' table with you r18.

If classic films are of no interest to you, why are you here?

I bet you're all the shit on TicTok.

Now leave the interesting people alone. We won't miss you.

And while you don't type fat, you do type stupid.

There were countless Datalounge threads about her over the years.

Random Harvest is my favorite movie of hers

“Oh, Smithy!”

[quote] There were countless Datalounge threads about her over the years.

That's nice. But nothing shows up on the current search function at the top of the page, and it's not my job to avoid repeating any subject ever touched on before in the entire history of Datalounge.

Just a song and dance girl...

Greer & Fred

I never warmed up to Greer Garson, Kerr, and that league. Crawford, Garbo, Davis , etc., are who I consider stars. The others were just as good, but their star quality shimmers a bit less.

Greer Garson was the cousin of Jamie Dornan's grandmother.

[quote]Lamarr only lasted 5 years at MGM.

Wasn't it a little longer? Her first movie for them was 1939 and her last was 1947. Anyway, her biggest film was ahead of her - for DeMille-Paramount, Samson And Delilah (1949).

Greer Garson was always improving as a film actress, in my opinion. He postwar MGM career was a disaster, but a lot of the performances were better than her earlier ones. The Miniver Story (the sequel to Mrs. Miniver) isn't great, but she's great (as Mrs. Miniver, now dying of cancer). She's also great in That Forsyte Woman. These are really fine, subtle performances. She also did The Little Foxes on TV in the 50s - and got great reviews.

[quote]It was a lot of noble suffering, and that doesn’t age all that well.

I don't think this was the case with Mrs. Parkington, she played a spunky character. I wouldn't say The Valley Of Decision was about noble suffering, either. Julia Misbehaves was a comedy. Etc.

interview

By the way, she made her Hollywood debut at age 35 so that's one reason her career seemed on the short side. IMDB says she played in a few TV movies in England (TV having happened there before the war, unlike here) - though very few people saw her in them. Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) was really her first film. It was and is unusual for a leading actress to start in movies in the mid-30s.

I thought the Pride & Pred. w. Greer, Olivier, Mary Boland, Edna May, Maureen Sullivan, Edmund Gwenn the best of all. Alth. ot true to Austen all the others have been absolute dreck. Larry was at his handsomest & so elegant. Yum

She didn't want to make fun of herself...

OP, you said "Garson is nearly completely forgotten on Datalounge". That's what I was replying to, dear. Calm down.

She was good with Walter Pidgeon, who made her look like a better actress. And MGM always gave her their best leading men like Gable or Robert Taylor or Gregory Peck, she never had to suffer as Crawford did and carry the whole picture opposite a David Bryan or Dennis Morgan or Kent Smith. Garson did have the mega-bomb Desire Me opposite Mitchum, which was released with no director credit.

She was a registered Republican, but donated some of her millions to theatre arts facilities near where she had homes.

MGM, in that way that they tried to make everybody do a little bit of everything and rotate their non-musical stars through every possible genre (military/war, western, various historical periods, biopics, hospital, academic, 'women's picture' etc.) tried a time or two to get Greer into out and out comedies, the 40s and 50s versions of the leading lady romcoms of today, but no one wanted to see The Law and the Lady; Julia Misbehaves made a little money, but it's still not one for the ages.

She's good in Campobello behind all the makeup, and against heavy odds she's also rather good in the tv version of Little Foxes.

Greer's Birdie...

^

[quote]Greer & Fred

I was expecting Fred Astaire.

[quote] What the hell kind of name is Greer

It's a recognition of the Cockney pronunciation and corruption of the name 'Greta'.

Cockneys can't pronounce the 't' so it becomes 'Gre-a'.

She was a foreigner.

I've never heard of her.

I like blue

The Meryl Streep of her time. I think in ~30 years, Meryl will be remembered exactly like Greer.

I think that might be a good analogy but otoh Meryl Streep has had a much longer run that Greer Garson as a box office movie star.

I'm kind of surprised at the negative opinions of her here. I thought she was pretty well liked in general.

*than

R49 I’m not talking about their box office run, I’m talking about their impact on film through the quality of their work.

Meryl will maybe be remembered as a trailblazer for older women re: box office success, but as an artist will be seen exactly like GG - mostly boring as all get out in both performances and choice of films.

R51 Meryl has made very few films of quality and next to nothing that future generations will have an interest in.

She will only be remember as some actress who received the most Oscar nominations and that is only if the Oscars survive which is looking for doubtful as the years go on.

If you are going to tell me Greer Garson was better looking than Joan Crawford, OP, select another photograph with which to make your argument.

Because the one at the top of this thread does its subject no very large favors.

Greer Garson was very homely.

[quote] her acting all in her nostrils

I hate Garson's nostrils; they are as ugly as Gladys Cooper's.

R35 I enjoyed that interview and extemporised speech.

At 17.00 she talks about her concern for current morals and decency.

I think it's a little suss choosing a husband TWELVE years her junior.

I honestly always found her a bit white-bread. Although I tend to have short patience for actors who do a lot of eyebrow raising & nostril flaring.

She had a nice run for her limited skill set, and I will concede that she definitely had enough presence to carry those crowdpleasing, wartime pictures. But not a spectacular talent or a memorable performer to me, and very same-y.

Especially for r38. Drawing by Hilary Knight of Kay Thompson and Roger Edens performing "The Great Lady Has An Interview" for Greer Garson. A nervous Vincente Minnelli can tell Garson HATES it.

This is among the gayest works of art ever posted on Datalounge.

R59, thank you for sharing that! I think Greer should have lightened up and done the parody in the film herself. Prove to us that she didn’t take herself seriously and that she could do more than play Important Ladies

Yes, thank you, r59!

[quote]Meryl will maybe be remembered as a trailblazer for older women re: box office success, but as an artist will be seen exactly like GG - mostly boring as all get out in both performances and choice of films.

What about Marie Dressler? I'm not even kidding. Older woman, very popular, box office success - that was her. Meryl is not a trailblazer in that area.

I agree Meryl is boring - to me Garson is at least attractive. Also, she really didn't choose her films. I don't find her boring, if anything she was a bit hammy at times, that might be my main fault, with her. But just because she didn't play film noir murderesses or hookers doesn't make her boring.

R39 Where is stated that the "Great Lady gives An Interview' is supposed to be satirising Garson?

Surely it was just an excuse for the Minnellis to camp it up.

Garson's red hair was the most obvious thing to satirise.

R63 It was originally intended for her to perform, to satirize herself and her biographical films of great women, Blossoms In The Dust, and Madame Curie.

We might think that the skit was intended to satirize herself but that talk at R35 shows she was desperate not to antagonise her bosses who wanted her in those Great Lady roles

I think MGM wanted her to satirize herself, r65. r60 is correct. They figured much as Bette Davis joshing her Queen of Warners image while croaking "They're Either Too Young or Too Old" in THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS (1943) became the hit of that film, Garson could do the same in ZIEGFELD FOLLIES.

You're welcome, r60, r38! My pleasure.

Garson received seven Academy Award nominations, including a record-tying (with Bette Davis) five consecutive nominations (1941–1945)

Garson only real achievement was giving the longest acceptance speech in Academy Award history - it went on for over an hour...

A fact which Garson vehemently denied for the remainder of her life - though she would grudgingly admit that she might have lost track of time during her "remarks".

That's it - apart from the fact that she married the actor who played her son in "Mrs. Miniver".

^ In other words, she was an employee. And she wasn't a bitch.

LOVE that, R59!

R67 - the "over an hour" Oscar acceptance speech is exaggerated -- in reality, it was about six minutes long which is normal today but at the time probably seemed interminable.

Listen to her speech at R35.

There are technical hiccups at the start. Her hair looks terrible. She messes up and then later gets in the rhythm of extemporising a speech which last around 15 minutes. She explores the different facets of the situation in which she was placed.

She's obviously very comfortable in using the English language.

I started watching the tape with scepticism but she drew me in with her ideas.

Here's Lana Turner (with dark hair) doing A Great Lady Gives an Interview

Oh honey, that number absolutely cries out for tap!

They just prove how great Judy was.

I had never seen Mrs. Miniver so this thread pushed me to watch it.

It's a lovely film and a good performance. Its not my cup of tea - it is so fucking pretentious and in that Hollywood way where you can see there is class analysis and some socialist critique, and funny quiet jabs, but the entire conception validates the bourgeois anyway. Still, I enjoyed it and it is cosy and I like that sort of studied elegance.

Once on the Emmy or some such Awards - for some reason Walter Pigeon and Greer Garson were giving out an award....they came out to okay applause....Walter spoke first and then when Greer started talking Walter said something like: "Settle down, folks, now you're in for it."

Greer laughed and said: "Shut up, you!"

The Great Lady Has An Interview has got to be the dreariest number ever, and none of the actresses who did it were able to make it interesting, but Ann Miller at least gave it some life. Judy was acceptable but it's still lousy, and poor Lana's way out of her element.

I don't think the question is, so much, why was Greer Garson forgotten? (or Norma Shearer, or Irene Dunne, or so many others), but why is Joan Crawford so strongly, fondly, (and unfondly), remembered - decades after she deceased. Biggest reason: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Her larger-than-life, over-the-top performances on film and in real life. Mildred Pierce is now more of a camp classic, and of course, her portrayal in Mommie Dearest.

The same can be said of Bette Davis.

Mildred Pierce is probably one of the most family noirs and among the most studied, too. Most people with a general film education now it. It's always around.

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane offers a camp viewing but it's also a sensational horror film with legendary performances.

One reason Crawford has endured is because she made a number of film noirs, a genre that's managed to last and not become creaky like 1930s and 40s historical epics, biopics and romantic costume pictures, which Garson and Shearer made quite a few of.

I typed "most family noirs"?? I mean most famous noirs! Of course it is a perverted "family noir"! Who are your people?

Some enduring movie stars lucked out by starring in one or two films that have stood the test of time and have become classics. Others created larger-than-life personas that transcend their movie characters and filmographies and stand out in our memories. We remember Chaplin's The Tramp persona but hardly remember Harold Lloyd's characterizations. We remember Bette Davis as her fierce Margo Channing persona or demented Baby Jane persona, but hardly remember Kay Francis or Miriam Hopkins as anything. I think the same goes for Crawford. Whether as Mildred Pierce, Blanche Hudson, or her characterization in "Mommie Dearest," the Joan Crawford persona is unmistakeable and unforgettable.

Cannot stand Greer Garson. The Judi Dench of her day; her acting was all about her eyebrows and nostrils. Hack.

[quote]it is so fucking pretentious and in that Hollywood way where you can see there is class analysis and some socialist critique, and funny quiet jabs, but the entire conception validates the bourgeois anyway.

Yeah well see there was a little war going on, they weren't going to make a movie criticizing Britain, the class system, and anyway. it's MGM, a conservative studio politically.

[quote]Cannot stand Greer Garson. The Judi Dench of her day; her acting was all about her eyebrows and nostrils. Hack.

Are you the same person who already said this, or someone else? I'm not sure what it means. How did she act on radio with just her eyebrows and her nostrils? She made talking pictures, she had a beautiful voice. How do other actors act, with their toenails and navels? No idea what you're talking about.

R85 just because you don’t know what I mean, doesn’t make it wrong. I was referring to her onscreen acting. I don’t know what anyone else wrote. I don’t care for her or Dame Dench’s style of acting.

R86 I assume you've seen her in 3 movies and never seen her on stage.

As a little gayling, I would confuse Greer Garson with Gretchen Wyler. Something about their first names...

[quote]just because you don’t know what I mean, doesn’t make it wrong.

No, it doesn't. But it's also wrong.

I totally confuse them with each other, r88.

R87 I haven't seen Greer Garson on stage either. Tell us all about it.

I don’t care for Mrs. Miniver, though directed by my favorite director William Wyler, who called it propaganda. I do love Pride and Prejudice, which is nearly perfect, even if it isn’t the authentic version of the novel.

GG didn’t do comedy well, which may have been her downfall. But the same could be said of Joan and Bette.

[quote] What the hell kind of name is Greer

It is a surname used as a Christian name.

[quote] GG didn’t do comedy well

Did GG appear in a comedy?

She says in that interview above that she would would say 'No' to many roles offered to her.

I think she was MGMs biggest female star (most profitable) of the 1940s.

^ That's because Norma and Greta retired.

[quote]Did GG appear in a comedy?

I wouldn't call Pride And Prejudice heavy drama. As already stated she was also in Julia Misbehaves and replaced Rosalind Russell on Broadway in Auntie Mame. She also did comedy on TV sometimes, as on her guest stint on The Smothers Brothers show.

So you saw her in Auntie Mame?

R99 The poster I quoted asked if she appeared in a comedy. What did you misunderstand? Maybe I can clarify.

I'm not R99 but I would be envious if you saw her in 'Mame'.

No, I didn't see her in Auntie Mame, you guys are putting me on I guess.

Joan Crawford is remembered primarily because of her daughter's book and Faye Dunaway's performance.

R103, sadly true. It was a bit stunning to me, when Alyssa Edwards did Joan on Drag Race Snatchgame, it wasn’t Joan at all. It was Faye as Joan. But I understood, that no one would recognize an impression of the real Joan.

Greer could do charming, which is something Bette could never do (nor Joan).

Greer during Auntie Mame...

Does "charming bitch" exist? I seem to remember Joan doing that in several pictures.

I think I read somewhere that "Madame Curie" was Louis B. Mayer's personal favorite among all the films made at MGM. Perfect in every way and an example of what prestige a movie could confer on all concerned, even as it educated the world. Just because Mayer ran the greatest of all the studios didn't mean he really knew that much about movies.

R106 Movie stars using fake voices embarrass me.

R106 She talks so much at the end she has to be kicked off the set.

Walter Pidgeon was the first star to suck Scotty Bowers' cock.

R103 Prove it.

[quote]I think I read somewhere that "Madame Curie" was Louis B. Mayer's personal favorite among all the films made at MGM. Perfect in every way and an example of what prestige a movie could confer on all concerned, even as it educated the world. Just because Mayer ran the greatest of all the studios didn't mean he really knew that much about movies.

Sorry, but aren't you contradicting yourself? What do you think made it the greatest of all studios? Its movies (like Madame Curie).

I forgot about her marrying Richard Ney, her son in Mrs Miniver. She's kissing him at every opportunity in the movie. Supposedly after they were married and he got tired of her, he would call her OLD.

I love most WWII movies and loved Mrs Miniver even though it was filmed completely in Hollywood.

Think they might have hit a snag trying to film around the Germans dropping bombs & V2 rockets?

[quote]I love most WWII movies and loved Mrs Miniver even though it was filmed completely in Hollywood.

What a rarity!

Hollywood didn't really film in Europe during World War II. Or Japan. Or anywhere else. Just combat footage.

R76 Pidgeon might have said that because Greer Garson notoriously gave the longest Oscar speech in history when she won for "Mrs. Miniver", reportedly clocking in at about 5 1/2 minutes, though seemingly going on around 45 minutes; I don't know what she talked about, but she apparently wouldn't shut up. Kind of like that guy who won the Emmy last year for directing "The Queen's Gambit, who arrogantly kept talking even with a few musical cues to get off the stage. I think Pidgeon thought a podium at an awards show might trigger Garson again.

Garson was great in an important but relatively small role -- still the woman's lead in "Goodbye, Mr. Chips", but didn't she have a protector/mentor/lover at MGM among the higher ups, same arrangement sort of as Lucille Bremer? Garson was promoted to starring almost immediately. I guess Norma must have already planned her exit and saw Garson as continuing her template. Or someone else among the executives did. A late actor friends of mine had told me that he saw her on Broadway as Rosalind Russell's replacement as "Auntie Mame", and he said that she was terrific.

R119, Supposedly, Greer Garson was MGM casting director Benny Thau's mistress. When Garson scored her first of seven Oscar nominations in 1941 for "Blossoms in the Dust," while veteran MGM star Joan Crawford scored none for "A Woman's Face" (and a big zero throughout her tenure at MGM), Crawford blamed Thau.

Once Garson's star status was firmly established, Thau turned his attentions to Miss Nancy Davis.

A Woman's Face is such an odd film.

[quote] Is there no love here for the tangerine-haired beauty?

Technicolor didn't love Miss Garson.

She can wear as must harmonious green as she wants but she photographed BADLY in color.

She only did two, didn't she?

R121 It was a remake of a foreign film that starred Ingrid Bergman, btw. MGM sometimes did that - remaking a recent import in English. They did it with The Emperor's Candlesticks, as well (Wm Powell and Luise Rainer).

[quote]It was a remake of a foreign film that starred Ingrid Bergman, btw. MGM sometimes did that - remaking a recent import in English.

MGM's "Gaslight" (1944), also starring Ingrid Bergman, was a remake of a British film released in 1940, both based on a play that was performed on Broadway under the title "Angel Street." MGM tried to get all the copies of the earlier version destroyed.

Unlike Lucille Bremer though, Garson connected with audiences so she stayed around much longer.

Greer wasn’t so photogenic either…

I know, r123. Part of what made the Joan version odd was everything seemed so nordic (like the names) except for the actors, especially Joan. Also don't forget Intermezzo.

Intermezzo is interesting as it's the only film I can think of offhand for starring the same actress in both versions.

I can't think of any - I mean there was an English language version of The Blue Angel, with Dietrich - but that was made simultaneously (and is lost, I think).

R128, R129 Film scholars would tells that Hollywood and Britain were making multiple, simultaneous versions of the same film in the late silent years and early talking years. Sometimes they had different actors in the important roles.

I know this from looking at Hitchcock's and Garbo's early years.

She had an unusual laugh...very distinct, ha..ha...ha.. or a pronounced, Ha!

Who says she didn't look good in Technicolor?

Greer Garson was pure class. I knew that even I was a child. Crawford was a course broad putting on an act of being classy. I also knew that when I was a child.

[quote] Greer Garson was pure class

The characters may have been 'classy' if not frigid but too often she was dressed in unnecessary tight costumes to display her bust.

When I was a little girl in the early 70s my dad had racehorses for a while - he would make horse food in the dining room (he was a colorful guy) but most of our weekends were spent at the Santa Anita Race Track in Arcadia. In all of those old newsreels LB Mayer, Mickey Rooney etc we’re at Santa Anita. In the 70s KTTV ch 11 had the MGM Library - all week they ran I Love Lucy and late nights and weekends the old MGM movies. that was when the That’s Entertainment Movies were gearing up and the MGM stars were a big deal again. A vivid childhood memory was going to our car in the Parking lot at Santa Anita -it was really windy out. I looked up about 20 feet away a trim older woman in a white pantsuit and fur coat and thick curly bright red hair blowing in the wind was being escorted to her car. She was walking to little dogs on long leashes. It was Greer Garson looking rather glamorous!

Two little dogs - not to!

R135 What did her hair look like?

It looks like her hair was getting thin in the 1980s in that very long speech at R35.

[quote]36 Greer Garson Sexy Pictures Will Leave You Gasping For Her

Love the clickbait headline.

Greer's presenter style at the Oscars was flawless, super PHONY/GRANDE DAME, and to die for elegant. Not many people can combine Grande Dame phoniness and elegance.

[quote] Greer's presenter style at the Oscars was flawless

But she should have practiced with the microphones.

That's early, and she is winning, not presenting.

R106, she's charming in that clip from What's My Line.

Any relation to Willie?

[quote] Greer's presenter style at the Oscars was flawless, super PHONY/GRANDE DAME, and to die for elegant. Not many people can combine Grande Dame phoniness and elegance.

Here she's presenting Best Actor (winner, Humphrey Bogart). She makes fun of the length of her own Oscar speech from 10 years ago. I don't think she seems like a phony or a grande dame. Do you expect her to curse, and scratch herself?

She's certainly loquacious here.

The interviewer gets to ask about 3 questions but she extemporises for ten minutes.

She mentions Norma Shearer in hot pants.

OP You think Greer Garson resembles Joan Crawford???

R144 her style and presentation is entirely put on. You don't seem to understand I like Greer but she is an artifice in her star persona. You know she very ambitiously educated herself in high-brow subjects and she is the personification of a successfulboot-strapper. That is why I say she is CHIC but artificial and its not easy.

[quote] I like Greer but…

I admit I have mixed feelings myself.

I was happy to ignore her in all those sanctimonious MGM movies but looking at these interview clips is making me re-evaluate her appeal.

I agree, r148. She's absolutely lovely in that interview at r145 and I absolutely believe her version of the Norma Shearer being offered Mrs. Miniver first legend.

Sunrise...

^ That movie has never been on TV that I've seen.

They're both wearing gigantic dentures.

R150 Sunrise At Campobello has been on TV a lot, for years. I first saw it on TV in Maine in the 70s. It's usually seen on TCM now. It's also on DVD.

[quote]her style and presentation is entirely put on. You don't seem to understand I like Greer but she is an artifice in her star persona. You know she very ambitiously educated herself in high-brow subjects and she is the personification of a successfulboot-strapper. That is why I say she is CHIC but artificial and its not easy.

I understand your point but you went off on her for being a grande dame - that's an older woman, kind of haughty and regal. The Oscar clip I linked to with Bogart shows her not old, having fun, being affectionate and playful with Bogie, and smiling a lot. If she educated herself and rose above her beginnings, that's different. I never assumed she was to the manor born just because she has a posh accent. Did you? (Many British actresses had that, then.)

It seems Greer took several public occasions (like the Bogie Oscar clip) to chide herself about her bloated Oscar speech and for that, I do love her.

I imagine when LB Mayer signed the young Deborah Kerr as a contract player for MGM, he thought of Kerr as an eventual replacement for Greer. I don't think Kerr stayed at MGM for very long....and she certainly proved to have a wider range than Greer was allowed to show at MGM.

Kerr had a lot of things that were wider than Greer's.

^Such as what?

One thing I know about Kerr — she was told to "soften" her posh accent, so that American audiences would respond. And she did.

Unlike Greer Garson, Kerr was capable of being earthy, as in The Sundowners And slutty, too, as in From Here to Eternity.

R157 I have no interest in 'female earthiness' but Garson was a committed Presbyterian and she says in the interviews above that she rejected parts that required it. So she had never had the opportunity to display that 'earthiness' you require.

It seems she had no children.

[quote]I have no interest in 'female earthiness' but Garson was a committed Presbyterian and she says in the interviews above that she rejected parts that required it. So she had never had the opportunity to display that 'earthiness' you require.

Yeah well I don't think the part of the Australian wife and mum in The Sundowners would have been against any actress's Presbyterian religion.

[quote]I don't think Kerr stayed at MGM for very long...

She had a seven year contract.. The first film she made for MGM was in England - Vacation From Marriage (1945) . Her second was a loan-out to Powell and Pressburger - Black Narcissus (the credits read that she appears "By arrangement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer") released in 1947. Her first film for MGM in Hollywood was The Hucksters (also 1947). She then made around 9 or 10 films for MGM (and one on loan-out to Paramount), her last ones being released in 1953.

Greer was no Arlene Dahl.

Greer was superior to Arlene Dahl.

Arlene Dahl was no Rhonda Fleming.

But they both...

How many of these gals had the pleasure to service the mega-cocks of Hollywood's Golden Age?

She was no Ray Milland.

I'm friends with Charles Busch on FB, and recently there was a FB poll where he was asked, "Who would you like to narrate your life (other than Morgan Freeman)?" and his response was "Greer Garson." I thought that was hilarious.

[quote] Arlene Dahl was no Rhonda Fleming.

But Rhonda Fleming was no Rhonda Bates.

Rhonda Bates was no Barbara Bates. And Barbara Bates was no Debra Paget.

Debra Paget was no Norman Bates.

Norman Bates was no Kathy Bates.

Kathy Bates is no Kathy Baker

Debra Paget, who was a real beauty in the 50s, is still living at 89. She found Jesus years ago and retired from show biz to marry a rich Texan.

[quote]Debra Paget, who was a real beauty in the 50s, is still living at 89.

Good to know, R173. There are so few genuine starlets left. We lost Yvette Mimieux recently, and Pamela Tiffin about a year ago.

I fear Angie Dickinson will be leaving us soon.

I always thought she was a very good technician but not terribly genuine.

In all of her recent interviews (like the one she did with Mo Rocca on CBS Sunday Morning), Angie Dickinson strikes me as ready to go.

Kim Novak (contemporary to Marilyn, Audrey, Grace and Liz) seems to be healthy and holding on.

Eva Marie Saint is still around. I think Vera Miles is too.

Joanne Woodward, also (91).

Joanne Woodward is still around but apparently not in such great shape.

[quote] not in such great shape.

Glynis Johns, likewise.

Didn't Greer marry an actor who played her son in "Mrs. Miniver"?

Yes, R183. She married Richard Ney, who was 12 years younger than Greer. In the 1940s, that would have been considered pretty scandalous by many.

R184 Not many enough to hurt her career, apparently.

At least she didn't marry her own stepson like Gloria Grahame did.

[quote]R184 Not many enough to hurt her career, apparently.

Tell me about it. She's lucky she didn't have a bun in the oven before they got married, is all I can say.

R187 Haha!

Well the trouble people had with Bergman also was that she was already married and she had a daughter in the US she abandoned.

R184 - when Garson married Ney she was supposed to be 4 years younger than she really was - her "official" y.o.b. was 1908, not 1904. Therefore it was believed the gap was 8, not 12, years.

R188, And the husband she abandoned was a noted neurosurgeon, not some schmuck.

He never forgave Ingrid. While promoting her autobiography on Donahue in 1980, Ingrid admitted that Dr. Lindstrom wanted no relationship with her.

^^^I like Ingrid, but I cannot blame her husband.

I agree, although I think he was something of a hard-ass. But to just walk away as a mother and leave Pia was not good. I don't really care as much what she did to the husband. I still like her though and apparently her kids did, too.

^^^Reading one of her biographies, Ingrid was indifferent towards Pia. I think that she wanted to focus on her acting career and motherhood seemed to put restraints on her as far as she was concerned. Poor Pia. Is she still alive?

Yes, she's till alive, and was famous in her own right as a news anchor and TV movie/theatre critic on WNBC in NYC.

*still alive

I’d see her often in Dallas (we attended the same church — Unitarian). You always knew when she was there, as she sat it the front couple pews and you could see her flaming red hair from Mars.

Very nice, as I remember.

Her Turtle Creek condo had a separate “guest apartment” that went up for sale a few years ago. A ‘60s time capsule. Wish I had saved the pictures.

Did she have children?

A childhood friend(my first cock, actually) attended SMU on a Greer Garson scholarship.

Re: Ingrid Bergman, I always assumed Autumn Sonata had a bit of the biographical about it for her...

I will always love Pia after it was reported what she said to a friend after screening "Death Becomes her" in Manhattan: "I see my sister played the weirdo again..."

I never knew if she was/is actually close to her three half-siblings with Roberto Rossellini. I did my graduate work at Princeton in the early 90s where Isabella's fraternal twin Ingrid Rossellini worked for years as an Italian teacher--she was very nice, and a dead ringer for her mother, although she never ever looked glamorous (she used little makeup and never seemed to have her hair done professionally).

Of course I never saw her in person, but I never thought Ingrid Rossellini looked like Ingrid. Nor did Pia. Just Isabella.

R121, A Woman’s Face first starred Ingrid Bergman in Sweden.

Gweer Gawson was a reawwy gwamowous actwess. Awegend in Howwywood.