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Greta Garbo, Greta GarboGarbo in a publicity still for Susan Lenox (1931)BornGreta Lovisa Gustafsson18 September 1905(1905-09-18)Stockholm, SwedenDied15 April 1990(1990-04-15) (aged 84)New York City, New York,United StatesOccupationActressYears active1920–1941Websitehttp://www.gretagarbo.com/Greta Lovisa Gustafsson (18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990), later known as Greta Garbo, was a Swedish actress primarily remembered for her work in the United States during Hollywoods silent film period and part of its subsequent Golden Age; in total she appeared in 27 movies.Born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, she moved to Los Angeles, California in 1925. She was a popular box-office attraction with John Gilbert. Garbo was one of the few silent movie actresses to successfully negotiate the transition to sound, which she achieved in Anna Christie (1930), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. Garbo talks, the MGM marketing tagline used for the film, became a catch-phrase during the 1930s. She appeared twice as Anna Karenina, once in silent film, Love (1927), and again with Anna Karenina (1935), for which she received the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress. In 1932 her popularity with audiences allowed her to dictate the terms of her contract, and she became increasingly choosy about her roles.She considered her performance as the courtesan Marguerite Gautier in Camille (1936) as her best performance and the role gained her a second Academy Award nomination. Towards the end of her career, MGM attempted to recast the somber and melancholy Garbo into a comic actress with Ninotchka (1939) and Two-Faced Woman (1941), both of which featured her in a comical mode. For Ninotchka, Garbo was again nominated for an Academy Award; Two-Faced Woman did well at the box office, but was a critical failure.After 1941 she retired to an apartment in New York City and became increasingly reclusive. Garbo received a 1954 Honorary Academy Award. A 1986 Sidney Lumet film, Garbo Talks, reflected the continuing popular obsession with the star. Until the end of her life, Garbo-watching became a sport among the paparazzi and the media, but she remained elusive. She died in 1990 at the age of 84 from pneumonia and renal failure.In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Garbo fifth on their list of greatest female stars of all time, after Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, and Ingrid Bergman.