Outlaw Marriages (18 page)

Spending so much time with de Acosta did more for Garbo than give her someone to love. The daughter of dirt-poor Swedish laborers learned a great deal from a woman whose family had, when de Acosta was a girl, routinely socialized with such bluebloods as the Astors and the Vanderbilts. As one Garbo biographer put it, “Greta recognized immediately that her new lover was the perfect social coach for a newly rich Hollywood star. Mercedes was a walking workshop in good manners, upper-class proprieties, and a knowing style.”
30

First on the list of changes was how the star spoke. Because de Acosta had been educated in elite private schools, she spoke impeccable English. And so, now that she was with Garbo every day, the star lifted herself to a new level of diction. Director George Cukor later credited the highly cultured Latina with teaching Garbo what he called “the beautiful English” she was speaking by the mid-1930s.
31

Next on the list of changes was how the star dressed. The Swedish beauty had previously told a reporter, “I care nothing about clothes,” but her new partner said this attitude worked against her success. De Acosta coached Garbo to create a signature look by becoming one of the earliest Hollywood actresses to wear trousers in public. The impact of de Acosta's fashion advice was visible in the first film Garbo made after the women began their outlaw marriage. Among the outfits the star wore in
Mata Hari
was a backless lamé gown with metallic leggings—an outfit that de Acosta had designed.
32

Yet another area of the star's personal style that her partner shaped was the kind of house she lived in. By the time the women met, MGM was paying Garbo well, and therefore she could afford to live in luxury. And yet, her house was so dark and so sparsely furnished that de Acosta described it as “gloomy and unlived in.” And so, Garbo's style-conscious partner persuaded
the actress to move to a house that was bright and had a lush garden and terrace—perfect for the couple to sunbathe in the nude.
33

Once Garbo had relocated to the home that was more appropriate to her stature as a major movie star, de Acosta set about decorating it. The actress left all the details in her partner's hands, not seeing any of de Acosta's choices until they were in place. When that moment came, Garbo approved of every change her lover had made, which included having the rooms painted in tasteful, understated colors such as pale rose and light gray.
34

When the women became a couple, Garbo was so disenchanted with Hollywood that she was seriously considering the possibility of shifting to a stage career in Sweden.
35

De Acosta opposed the idea, insisting that her partner's unhappiness wasn't with the movie business but with the roles she'd been forced to play. So when Garbo's contract expired in 1932, de Acosta had her sign a new one that gave her the right to reject parts she didn't like. De Acosta also persuaded Garbo to demand that she be paid $250,000 per film.
36

The first movie MGM offered the star under her new contract was
Grand Hotel
. It was a risky project because the film broke from the standard formula of being built around a single story line. Instead, it wove together several independent plots, each involving a guest living at the storied Berlin residence. Garbo's proposed role would be dicey, too, as she would play—at the youthful age of twenty-six—a Russian ballerina at the end of her career.
37

When Garbo read the script for the first time, she didn't like it. But when her partner read it, she was ecstatic. The ballerina was a great role, de Acosta insisted, because she wasn't a temptress, the character type Garbo previously had been pigeonholed into. After pressuring from her partner, the actress agreed to appear in the movie.
38

Grand Hotel
was a triumph. It was enormously successful both financially and critically, with reviewers raving, in particular, about how poignantly Garbo had delivered the line that ultimately became the most famous one she'd ever speak: “I want to be alone.” There's no question that her performance was the strongest one in the film and that it played a major part in the movie winning the Academy Award for best picture of the year.
39

Garbo's strong-willed partner was an even more significant force in the next film the actress starred in, as she was the person who proposed to the studio that it make a historical drama based on the life of a European queen from the seventeenth century. The film would be ideal for Garbo, de Acosta argued, because of two similarities between the actress and Queen Christina—they both were Swedish and they both had independent natures. She
also pointed out that the film would do well in the European market because of the national heritage that the star and the leading character shared.
40

De Acosta's influence on
Queen Christina
didn't end with MGM agreeing to make the movie, as she gave the director several lines of dialogue she said should be spoken by certain characters. Among her suggestions that made it onto celluloid was having the queen's closest adviser beg her to produce an heir by saying, “You can't die an old maid,” and then having Garbo respond, “I have no intention of doing that. I shall die a
bachelor
.”
41

Although it's not clear exactly which pieces of dialogue in Garbo's later films came from her partner's creative mind, there's no question that there were many. During the 1930s, de Acosta worked under contract as a screenwriter for MGM, which meant she helped craft any number of the lines that came out of Garbo's perfectly shaped mouth.
42

Despite the enormous influence de Acosta had on Garbo, the vast majority of movie fans didn't know that the screenwriter even existed, while most Hollywood insiders thought the two women were merely friends. When Garbo was asked about her romantic life during the rare interview she granted, she responded in a firm voice, “I cannot say. That is a personal thing. We like to keep some things to ourselves.”
43

In fact, though, the women were spending every night together. When Garbo traveled, de Acosta generally came along, with their destinations including New York City and Sweden in 1932, Yosemite National Park in 1933, and Sweden again in 1935. They went on so many trips together, in fact, that the
Los Angeles Times
ran a story—on page one—describing de Acosta as the star's “close friend” and “traveling companion.”
44

By the middle of the decade, Garbo's insistence on keeping her same-sex love a secret led to friction between the women. On one occasion when the star was planning a trip and said she wanted to travel alone this time, de Acosta accused her of acting out of fear that a reporter might accuse the women, if they were seen together too often, of being lovers. In an unguarded moment, Garbo impulsively snapped back, “You're right!”
45

After that unpleasant exchange, Garbo refused to see de Acosta for several days. Only when the actress was ready did she resume their intimate relationship. Several similar periods of separation followed later in the decade.
46

Garbo's concern about rumors regarding her sexual orientation was fueled by the fact that de Acosta was one of the country's few high-profile women who refused to hide her lesbianism. During the mid-1920s, she and former lover Eva Le Gallienne had been openly affectionate with each other while in public. In the words of one biographer, “Mercedes was a woman who stood up
courageously for her beliefs and values.”
47

Beginning with Garbo's first American film in 1926 and continuing through 1939, movie reviewers consistently praised her acting. The
New York Times
said she “merits nothing but the highest praise,” the
Los Angeles Times
pronounced her screen performances “triumphant—no one is able to take first honors from this star,” and the
New York Herald Tribune
gushed, “Never before has a woman so alluring, with a seductive grace that is far more potent than mere beauty, appeared on the screen.”
48

Garbo's fellow filmmakers also lauded her acting. She was nominated for Academy Awards on four occasions. In 1930, she received two nods, one for
Romance
and the other for
Anna Christie;
observers believe her double nomination worked against her by splitting her votes. In 1936, Garbo was nominated for
Camille
and in 1939 for
Ninotchka
, although she failed to take home the Oscar each time.
49

Although Garbo and de Acosta's outlaw marriage continued throughout these years, the Latina beauty had a second lover for several years. De Acosta met the German-born actress Marlene Dietrich in 1932, and their love affair began almost immediately. The women took care to keep their frequent liaisons out of the public eye, as de Acosta didn't want to jeopardize her relationship with Garbo. After several years passed, Dietrich found de Acosta's intensity to be exhausting and allowed the affair to fade. By 1938, Garbo was again the only woman in de Acosta's life.
50

In 1941, Garbo agreed to star in the film
Two-Faced Woman
. She had accepted the role during one of the interludes when she'd distanced herself from de Acosta. Once the women were communicating again, it was too late for the star to back out of the picture, despite the improbable plot: Garbo played a priggish ski instructor who poses as her sexy twin sister so she can seduce and win back her errant husband.
51

The film suffered from a pair of serious problems. First was the drubbing by reviewers, with the
Los Angeles Times
calling the movie “pallid” and the
Washington Post
dismissing it as “trivial.” Second was World War II, which destroyed the European market for American films—a huge segment of the audience that had supported the Swedish beauty's previous work.
52

Garbo wasn't willing to expend the energy that would have been required to counteract these negative forces. Nor was she up to the challenges that ageism posed for a thirty-six-year-old actress trying to maintain a movie career. So she made the statement that Mercedes de Acosta had talked her out of
making a decade earlier, “I will never act in another film.”
53

By this point, de Acosta was also frustrated with the movie industry, as her screenwriting career hadn't gone well. The nadir came when MGM production chief Irving Thalberg told her to write a subplot for a historical drama the studio was making about Rasputin. Specifically, Thalberg wanted to depict the Russian religious mystic as having seduced Princess Irene Yusupov. De Acosta refused to write the scenes, saying they would distort history because Rasputin and the princess had never even met. Thalberg then fired her.
54

In 1942, de Acosta and Garbo decided to relocate to New York City. The writer took a job as associate editor for a small magazine titled
Tomorrow
, a position that allowed her to write several articles related to her Spanish heritage. Garbo ceased working and moved into a large apartment in the Hotel Ritz Tower. De Acosta then rented—because the actress insisted they maintain separate residences—a much smaller unit in the same building.
55

By the time they went east, Garbo was unhappy with de Acosta not only for being too open about her sexuality but also for telling other people details about the actress's private life. “She's done me such harm, such mischief,” Garbo confided to a friend. “You can't shut her up.” For a woman who prized her privacy to the degree that Garbo did, de Acosta's willingness to share personal information was proving to be a fatal flaw.
56

Garbo's displeasure with her partner resulted in several more periods of separation during the 1940s. The women sometimes went for several weeks without having contact with each other except through letters that de Acosta sent.
57

Despite the disagreements, Garbo and de Acosta kept getting back together. One particularly pleasant reunion came in 1947 when they took a romantic trip to Paris. They stayed in a hotel near the Eiffel Tower, went for long walks in the Tuileries Gardens, and enjoyed leisurely dinners in several small cafés where Garbo wasn't recognized.
58

Garbo was, by this point, involved in a second relationship that ultimately became the longest one she ever had with a man. She met George Schlee in 1945 through his wife, the famous designer Valentina. The three of them initially socialized together, but soon Garbo and the businessman became a twosome. For almost two decades, they spent their summers together at Schlee's villa on the French Riviera. The unconventional relationship, which apparently didn't include a sexual dimension, continued until Schlee died in 1964.
59

By the 1950s, the life circumstances for Greta Garbo and Mercedes de Acosta
differed dramatically. Simply put, the actress was doing very well, but her partner was doing very poorly.

Garbo was a wealthy woman because of the real estate investments she'd made during her Hollywood years. In 1953, she purchased a luxury apartment on Manhattan's fashionable Upper East Side and decorated it with museum-quality antiques. A year later, members of the Motion Picture Academy honored the star with a special Oscar to recognize “her unforgettable screen performances,” even though Garbo refused to attend the awards ceremony.
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