Want to know the best Greta Garbo movies? How about the worst Greta Garbo movies? Curious about Greta Garbo’s box office grosses or which Greta Garbo movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Greta Garbo movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Recently I decided to do a movie page on each person on the Top 50 Screen Legends of All-Time according to the American Film Institute. So I have now reached the 5th greatest actress of all-time Greta Garbo. I think I am a pretty knowledgeable person when it comes to the subject of movies, but I must admit that I really did not know very much about Greta Garbo (1905-1990) when I started writing this hub. Prior to writing this movie page I had seen one of her movies, Grand Hotel, and had really only heard of 3 or 4 of her movies.
After appearing in a few Swedish films, Greta Garbo received a contract from MGM and moved to the United States in 1925. Over the next 15 years, Garbo would appear in 24 movies and become one of the most famous people in the world. After appearing in 1941’s Two-Faced Woman she stopped making movies, moved to New York City and pretty much stopped appearing in public….she passed away in 1990.
Her IMDb page shows 32 acting credits from 1920-1941. This page will rank Greta Garbo movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Her eight movies made in Sweden are not included in the rankings…not because I do not like Swedish films….but because the movies never got released in North America.
Greta Garbo Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Greta Garbo Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Greta Garbo movies by co-stars of her movies
- Sort Greta Garbo movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Greta Garbo movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Greta Garbo movies by how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Greta Garbo movie received.
- Sort Greta Garbo movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Greta Garbo Adjusted World Wide Box Office Grosses
Possibly Interesting Facts About Greta Garbo
1. Greta Garbo was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson in Stockholm, Sweden. She went from a department store model to appearing in Swedish movies to signing a contract with MGM by the time she was 20. On her arrival in the United States the general consensus was MGM had made a mistake because she was “not extraordinary and could be safely disregarded”.
2. Greta Garbo’s big break occured when Monta Bell(a director) stumbled across her screen test that was accidently included in a reel of torrential rain storms that he was watching for research in his upcoming movie. Bell saw Garbo and immediately put her in his movie…1926’s Torrent.
3 Greta Garbo could not speak any English when she first arrived, that was not a problem as all of her first films were silent films. In 1930 she appeared in her first “talkie”, Anna Christie, ….the publicity for the movie was the famous line….”Garbo talks”….as the public loved her heavy Swedish voice as well as her looks.
4. Greta Garbo was nominated 4 times for a Best Actress Oscar® ….those movies were 1930’s Anna Christie, 1931’s Romance, 1936’s Camille and 1939’s Ninotchka. Garbo actually made Anna Christie twice….once in English and the other time in German….the German versus did not make the page.
5. Greta Garbo never married, never had children and lived alone. Her last years of her life were spent in absolute seclusion. She almost did marry actor and co-star John Gilbert in 1927 but left him at the alter when she got cold feet.
6. Greta Garbo was Adolph Hitler’s favorite actress. When she learned that Hitler had watched 1936’s Camille 7 times and wanted to meet her….Garbo actually considered meeting with Hitler…the catch? she wanted to bring a knife and end his life.
7. Greta Garbo wanted to keep working after 1941’s Two-Faced Women….but all the projects she was interested in making all fell apart due to financial reasons. By 1949 she had given up the thought of returning to the big screen.
8. Greta Garbo turned down these roles over the years: I Remember Mama, Airport 1975, Out of Africa, The Paradine Case, Red Dust, Sunset Boulevard, and My Cousin Rachel.
9. Greta Garbo’s nicknames were The Face, Garbo and The Swedish Sphinx. She was also very famous for being very frugal. When she passed away she left her niece over 32 million dollars.
10. Check out Greta Garbo‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
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For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.
Thanks for your hard work. A few more interesting facts about Garbo (which there are so many)
She was once designated the most beautiful woman who ever lived by the Guinness Book of World Records.
A few more of her nicknames were La Divina (the divine garbo) and her pseudonym, Harriet Brown.
A friend called her a ‘hermit about town.’
Hey Audrey. Thanks for the kind words about my page. After many updates…I am pretty happy with this page. I appreciate the additional facts about Garbo. Being listed the most beautiful woman who ever lived is pretty darn impressive. Mmmmm. Harriet Brown just does not seem exotic enough for her. Thanks for stopping by and commenting….both are greatly appreciated.
I love the work you’ve done here! A bit disappointed you don’t have a Norma Shearer page, but this one is great. Very useful information about her movie rankings that I hadn’t realized. If you plan to watch her, you’re in for a real treat!
Hey Jaclyn…thanks for the compliment. As for Norma Shearer I have been looking at doing a page on her. I think I have most of her “talkies” in my database already….her silent films are the ones I am missing. I will give her career another look…thanks for the suggestion.
Hi, Cogerson – when I was a teenager, I was a complete old movie nut and just loved Greta Garbo. She had a fascinating screen presence and was some beautiful woman. Lately, I have been so wanting to check out some old movies and now I know why – I’ve been reading your pages
Hey Dolores….thanks for sharing those memories. Glad my pages get you motivated to check out some older classic movies…that has to be a good thing.
I think I completely struck out here. I must have seen at least one of these but nothing comes to mind. Regardless, your work here is exceptional. You have the makings of a book in progress
Hey Mentalist acer….first of all Happy Belated Birthday….and thanks for such a nice compliment about my hub. Can you imagine how history would have changed if Greta Garbo would have taken out Adolph Hitler in 1930’s….it makes one’s mind spin
Hi Bruce; Garbo seems to be one of those names that movie fans are familiar with but most have never actually seen her films. She’s someone we SHOULD know about but don’t. I love old films but I’ve only seen a handful of Garbo’s work. “Grand Hotel” (Where her famous “I want to be alone” line comes from) is one of her best. “Ninotchka” was probably her best work, because she got to show her humorous side.
Another informative page,
Rob
Hey Rob…I agree I am sure many movie buffs are aware of the name Greta Garbo but really do not know much about her career….I know I fall into that category. And judging by the early results of this hub….maybe even the name is starting to fade away into history…her last movie was made in 1941…71 years ago….I will be checking out Ninotchka very soon. Thanks for checking out my Garbo it is greatly appreciated