Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight, her first Academy Award-winning role.
Birth name:	Ingrid Bergman
Date of birth:	August 29 1915
Birth location:	Stockholm, Sweden
Date of death:	August 29 1982, age 67
Death location:	London, England
Academy Awards:	Best Actress 1944 Gaslight 1956 Anastasia Best Supporting Actress 1974 Murder on the Orient Express
Spouse:	Dr. Aron Petter Lindström (1937-1950) Roberto Rossellini (1950-1957) Lars Schmidt (1958-1975)

, (August 29 1915 – August 29 1982) was a three-time Academy Award-winning Swedish actress. In addition, she won two Emmy Awards and one Tony Award. She was ranked as the fourth greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute.

Biography

Early years: 1915-1938

Bergman was born on August 29 1915, in Stockholm, Sweden. When she was three years old, her mother died. Her father passed away when she was thirteen. She was then sent off to live with an aunt, who died of heart complications only six months later. Afterwards she was raised by another aunt and uncle, who had five children.

At the age of 17, Ingrid Bergman auditioned for and was accepted to the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. During her first summer break, she was hired at a Swedish film studio, which consequently led to her leaving the Royal Dramatic Theater to work in films full time, after having attended for only one year. Her first film role after leaving the Royal Dramatic Theater was a small part in 1935's Munkbrogreven (She had previously been an extra in the 1932 film Landskamp).

On July 10 1937, at the age of 21, she married a dentist, Petter Lindström (who would later become a doctor). On September 20 1938, she gave birth to a daughter, Pia Lindström.

After a dozen films in Sweden (including En kvinnas ansikte which would later be remade as A Woman's Face with Joan Crawford) and one in Germany, Bergman was signed by Hollywood producer David O. Selznick to star in the 1939 English language remake of her 1936 Swedish language film, Intermezzo. It was an enormous success and Bergman became a star, described as "Sweden's illustrious gift to Hollywood". Some things that set her apart from other female stars in Hollywood at that time were that she did not change her name, her appearance was entirely natural with little to no makeup, and that she was one of the tallest leading ladies.

Hollywood period: 1938-1949

Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in Notorious.

After completing one last film in Sweden and appearing in three moderately successful films in the United States, Bergman joined Humphrey Bogart in the 1942 classic film Casablanca, which remains her most recognizable role.

That same year, she received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), which was also her first color film. The following year she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Gaslight (1944). She received a third consecutive nomination for Best Actress with her performance as a nun in The Bells of St. Mary's (1945). Later, she would receive another Best Actress nomination for Joan of Arc (1948), an independent film produced by Walter Wanger and initially released through RKO, which Bergman had championed since her arrival in Hollywood and which she had previously acted in as a stage play. Partly because of the scandal with Rossellini, the film was not a big hit, and received disastrous reviews. It was subsequently shorn of 45 minutes, and it was not until its restoration to full length in 1998 and its 2004 appearance on DVD that later audiences could see it as it was intended to be shown.

She also starred in the Alfred Hitchcock films Spellbound (1945), Notorious (1946), and Under Capricorn (1949).

Between motion pictures, Bergman appeared in the stage plays Liliom, Anna Christie, and Joan of Lorraine. Furthermore, during a press conference in Washington, D.C. for the promotion of Joan of Lorraine, she protested segregation after seeing it first hand at the theater she was acting in. This led to a lot of publicity and some hate mail.

Ingrid Bergman also went to Alaska during World War II in order to entertain troops. Soon after the war ended, she also went to Europe for the same purpose, where she was able to see the devastation caused by the war. It was also during this time that she began a relationship with the famous photographer Robert Capa.

Italian period: 1949-1957

In 1949, Bergman met Italian director Roberto Rossellini in order to make the film Stromboli (1950), after having been a fan of two of his previous films that she had seen while in the United States. During the making of this movie, she fell in love with him and became pregnant with a son, Roberto Ingmar Rossellini (born February 7 1950).

The pregnancy caused a huge scandal in the United States. It even led to her being denounced on the floor of the U.S. Senate by Edwin C. Johnson, a Senator from Colorado, who referred to her as "a horrible example of womanhood and a powerful influence for evil." In addition, there was a floor vote, which resulted in her being made a persona non grata. The scandal forced Ingrid Bergman to exile herself to Italy, leaving her husband and daughter in the United States. Her husband, Dr. Petter Lindström, eventually sued for desertion and waged a custody battle for Pia Lindström.

Ingrid Bergman married Roberto Rossellini on May 24 1950. On June 18 1952, she gave birth to twin daughters, Isabella Rossellini, who is a famous actress and model, and Isotta Ingrid Rossellini. Over the next few years, she appeared in several Italian films for Rossellini, including Giovanna d'Arco al rogo (1954), a dramatic oratorio by Arthur Honegger about Joan of Arc. The Rossellini-Bergman marriage ended in divorce on November 7 1957.

After separating from Rossellini she starred in Jean Renoir's Elena and Her Men, a romantic comedy where she played a Polish princess caught in political intrigue. Although the film wasn't a success, it has since come to be regarded as one of her best performances.

During her time in Italy, anger over her private life in the United States had continued unabated, with Ed Sullivan at one point infamously polling his TV show audience as to whether she should be forgiven.

Later years: 1957-1982

With her starring role in 1956's Anastasia, Bergman made her post-scandal triumphant return to the American screen and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for a second time. This award was accepted for her by her friend Cary Grant. Bergman would not make her first post-scandal public appearance in Hollywood until the 1958 Academy Awards, when she was the presenter of the Academy Award for Best Picture. Furthermore, after being introduced by Cary Grant and walking out on stage to present, she was given a standing ovation.

Bergman would continue to alternate between performances in American and European films for the rest of her career and also made occasional appearances in television dramas such as a 1959 production of The Turn of the Screw for Startime for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress.

During this time, she also performed in several stage plays. In addition, she married the producer Lars Schmidt, a fellow Swede, on December 21 1958. This marriage ultimately led to divorce in 1975.

In 1972, Senator Charles H. Percy entered an apology into the Congressional Record for the attack made on her 22 years earlier by Edwin C. Johnson.

Bergman received her third Academy Award (and first for Best Supporting Actress) for her performance in Murder on the Orient Express (1974), but she publicly declared at the Academy Awards telecast that year that the award rightfully belonged to Italian actress Valentina Cortese for Day for Night by concluding her acceptance speech with "Please forgive me, Valentina. I didn't mean to."

In 1978, she played in Ingmar Bergman's Höstsonaten (Autumn Sonata) for which she received her seventh Academy Award nomination and made her final performance on the big screen. In the film, Bergman plays a celebrity pianist who returns to Sweden to visit her neglected daughter, played by Liv Ullman. The film was shot in Norway. It is considered by many to be among Ingrid's best performances.

Bergman was honored posthumously with her second Emmy Award for Best Actress in 1982 for the television mini-series A Woman Called Golda, about the late Israeli prime minister Golda Meir. It was her final acting role. One of her co-stars in this mini-series was Leonard Nimoy.

Death

Bergman died in 1982 on her 67th birthday in London, England, following a long battle with breast cancer. Her body was cremated in Sweden. Most of her ashes were scattered in the sea with the remainder being interred in the Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm next to her parents. She was honored posthumously by Ingmar Bergman.

Autobiography

In 1980, Bergman's autobiography was published under the title Ingrid Bergman: My Story and was written with the help of Alan Burgess. In the book, Ingrid tells about her childhood, her early career, her life during her time in Hollywood, the Rossellini Scandal, and subsequent events. The book was written after her children warned that she would only be known through rumors and interviews if she did not tell her own story. It was through this autobiography that her affair with Robert Capa became known.

Legacy

For her contributions to the motion picture industry, Ingrid Bergman has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6759 Hollywood Blvd. She continues to be a cultural icon - not only for her role in Casablanca, but for her career as a whole and for her innocent, natural beauty. In addition, she is considered by many to be one of the foremost actresses of the 20th century.

Trivia

Ingrid Bergman in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

.

• There is a hybrid tea rose named after her.
• She became a smoker after needing to smoke for her role in Arch of Triumph.
• She was the President of the Jury at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival.
• Bergman could speak Swedish (her native language), German (her second language), English (learned while in United States), Italian (developed while exiled in Italy), and French (originally learned in school) fluently. Fellow actor John Gielgud playfully mocked this ability when he remarked, "She speaks five languages and can't act in any of them."
• She was the topic of a Woody Guthrie song entitled "Ingrid Bergman," which was composed in the year 1950. At the request of Woody's daughter Nora Guthrie, English folk-rocker Billy Bragg and the southern-rock group Wilco set these lyrics to music and placed the song on the 1998 hit album "Mermaid Avenue."
• She hosted the AFI's Life Achievement Award Ceremony for Alfred Hitchcock in 1979.
• After losing to Ingrid Bergman for the 1944 Best Actress Academy Award, Barbara Stanwyck told the press she was a member of the Ingrid Bergman Fan Club, "I don't feel at all bad about the Award because my favorite actress won it and has earned it by all her performances."
• Ingrid Bergman was a student of the acting coach Michael Chekhov during the 1940's. Coincidentally, it was his role in Spellbound, of which she was a star, that he received his only nomination for an Academy Award.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Bergman, Ingrid and Burgess, Alan (1980). Ingrid Bergman: My Story. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 0-440032-99-7. 

• Leamer, Laurence (1986). As Time Goes By: The Life of Ingrid Bergman. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-060154-85-3. 

External links

• Ingrid Bergman website by her family
• Ingrid Bergman site run by CMG
• Ingrid Bergman Collection at Wesleyan University
• 1943 New York Times Interview
• Larry King transcript with Ingrid Bergman's daughters on the 60th anniversary of Casablanca
• Excerpt from Isabella Rossellini's Some of Me that describes Ingrid Bergman's passion for cleaning
• TCM Confidential: Ingrid Bergman
• The Complete Ingrid Bergman Page - A Fansite

Awards
Preceded by: Jennifer Jones for The Song of Bernadette	Academy Award for Best Actress 1944 for Gaslight	Succeeded by: Joan Crawford for Mildred Pierce
Preceded by: Anna Magnani for The Rose Tattoo	Academy Award for Best Actress 1956 for Anastasia	Succeeded by: Joanne Woodward for The Three Faces of Eve
Preceded by: Tatum O'Neal for Paper Moon	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress 1974 for Murder on the Orient Express	Succeeded by: Lee Grant for Shampoo
Preceded by: None	Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play 1947 for Joan of Lorraine (tied with Helen Hayes for Happy Birthday)	Succeeded by: Judith Anderson for Medea, Katharine Cornell for Antony and Cleopatra, and Jessica Tandy for A Streetcar Named Desire (tie)

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