Robert Dance

Bruce Robertson

In her career, Louise photographed all the stars, contract players, and many of the hopefuls who passed through the studios' front gates. This book, which coincides with a traveling retrospective of Louise's work, is the first collection of her exquisite photos. 97 photos.

Ruth Harriet Louise and Hollywood Glamour Photography

From the late 1920s through the thirties, Greta Garbo (1905–1990) was the biggest star in Hollywood. She stopped making films in 1941, at only thirty-six, and thereafter sought a discreet private life. Still, her fame only increased as the public and press clamored for news of the former actress. At the time of her death, forty-nine years later, photographers continued to stalk her, and her death was reported on the front pages of newspapers worldwide. In The Savvy Sphinx: How Garbo Conquered Hollywood, Robert Dance traces the strategy a working-class Swedish teenager employed to enter motion pictures, find her way to America, and ultimately become Hollywood’s most glorious product. Brilliant tactics allowed her to reach Hollywood’s upper-most echelon and made her one of the last century’s most famous people. Garbo was discovered by director Mauritz Stiller, who saw promise in her nascent talent and insisted that she accompany him when he was lured to America by an MGM contract. By twenty she was a movie star and the epitome of glamour. Soon Garbo was among the highest-paid performers, and in many years she occupied the number one position. Unique among studio players, she quickly insisted on and was granted final authority over her scripts, costars, and directors. But Garbo never played the Hollywood game, and by the late twenties her unwillingness to grant interviews, attend premieres, or meet visiting dignitaries won her the sobriquet the Swedish Sphinx. The Savvy Sphinx, which includes over a hundred beautiful images, charts her rise and her long self-imposed exile as the queen who abdicated her Hollywood throne. Garbo was the paramount star produced by the Hollywood studio system, and by the time of her death her legendary status was assured.

How Garbo Conquered Hollywood

The Savvy Sphinx

Scott Reisfield

A collection of never-before-published photographs from the reclusive actress's own collection features tritone portraits by Clarence Bull, Arthur Genthe, Ruth Harriet Louise, and other notable photographers that capture the diverse dimensions of the star

Portraits from Her Private Collection

Garbo

"A silky monochrome selection of studio shots ranging from superbly natural (Betty Grable) to incredibly forced (George Bernard Shaw and Clark Gable). Shirley Temple says she stopped believing in Santa when he asked for her autograph; these sun-kissed ph

Robert Dance

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