Ingrid Bergman

Actress

  • Born: August 29, 1915
  • Birthplace: Stockholm, Sweden
  • Died: August 29, 1982
  • Place of death: London, England

Swedish actor

Bergman was an international star of film, theater, and television, acting in fifty films, eleven plays, and five television dramas. Her performances won her three Oscars, two Emmys, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and other prizes. She reached stardom in the United States and soon became an icon. She is considered one of the greatest actresses from Hollywood’s golden era.

Areas of achievement Film, television, theater and entertainment

Early Life

Ingrid Bergman (BURG-mihn) was born to Swedish photography-shop owner Justus Bergman and to Friedel Adler Bergman, who was German. The couple had three children. The first two children died shortly after birth. Ingrid was born seven years later. Friedel died when Bergman was just three years old. An aunt came to live with them and offered a hand in raising Ingrid. Aunt Ellen would quickly win the little girl’s affection. Ingrid’s father, however, was the pillar of love, strength, and acceptance in young Ingrid’s life. She adored him. He insisted on exposing his daughter to all art forms. The feelings of serenity and peacefulness she enjoyed while with her father were interrupted every summer when she stayed with her maternal grandparents in Germany. There, Bergman faced discipline and sternness. Despite her resistance to her grandparents, Ingrid learned from them the discipline and perfectionism that she would apply to her acting.

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From a young age Bergman enjoyed imitating others: persons, animals, and things. She would alter her voice, imitate motion, maintain posture, and change facial expressions. It was surprising that she could do this because everyone knew her to be shy. However, everything changed when Bergman played out a role. The evening Bergman’s father took her to see her first play was the first time when she knew what she wanted to become: an actor.

Tragedy struck the Bergman family again. At the age of twelve, Bergman lost her father to stomach cancer. Six months later, Aunt Ellen died of a heart attack. Orphaned, Bergman had no choice but to live with her Uncle Otto and Aunt Hulda.

Life’s Work

Bergman was accepted to the prestigious Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm in the fall of 1933. After completing her first year, she set out to look for a summer job. With the help of a personal connection she met and interviewed with Gustav Molander, a famous Swedish filmmaker. It was Molander who first recognized the rare and original talent in Bergman. She was offered the part of Elsa in a film called Munkbrogreven (1934). After this first film, it was clear to all that this young woman had tremendous potential. That autumn, Bergman returned to school to inform them of her decision to leave her formal studies for a career in film.

Bergman continued to make several films a year, including, in 1936, Intermezzo, a film written and directed by Molander. Bergman plays a piano teacher who has an affair with a famous violinist. The film caught the eye of Hollywood and American film producer David O. Selznick, who bought the rights to remake the film and invited Bergman to take the leading role.

Intermezzo: A Love Story was released to the American public in 1939. The response was astounding. At five feet, ten inches, Bergman became one of the tallest leading ladies in Hollywood. She possessed an angelic, natural beauty that did not depend on makeup. Her performances were delivered to perfection. Her roles in subsequent films, such as Adam Had Four Sons (1941) and Rage in Heaven (1941), continued to portray her as a pure and wholesome woman. When Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) was cast, Bergman insisted on switching her part from the “good girl” to the barmaid. She was testing the extent of her own talent. Concurrent with this film, she moved to the stage, with debuts on Broadway in Liliom (1940) and Anna Christie (1941).

Bergman married Petter Lindström in 1937. Lindström, a Swedish dentist, later became a neurosurgeon in the United States. The couple had a daughter, Pia (who became a journalist), in 1938. Their marriage started out strong. Lindström, who was older and had more business sense than Bergman, made all family and business decisions. He acted as Bergman’s agent in negotiating contracts and terms with Hollywood. He overlooked all financial transactions for the family, but his role would eventually evolve to include being Bergman’s personal critic. He had insisted, at times, that she had gained too much weight, and he admonished her for having said too much at a press interview. This negativity would eventually chip away at their marriage, and they divorced in 1950.

Casablanca (1942) is the most famous Bergman film, where she played opposite Humphrey Bogart in a wartime romance. Despite the difficulties on the set, this film was a box-office hit and helped Bergman reach superstardom. Casablanca remains one of the most-loved romantic classics in the history of American film. Bergman went on to accept the role of Maria in For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), a film based on a novel written by Ernest Hemingway. Her first Oscar for Best Actress came in 1944 for her role as Paula Alquist in the film Gaslight. The following year she came out with three films: Saratoga Trunk, Spellbound, and The Bells of St. Mary. The 1946 film Notorious is believed by many to be the film in which she gave her finest performance.

In 1949, Bergman wrote a letter to Italian director Roberto Rossellini, offering to loan her famous name to one of his films to help boost his fame. She had seen two of his films and could not understand why his work was not more appreciated. He wrote back, and she left for Italy to star in his film Stromboli (1950). During the making of this film, Bergman and Rossellini had an affair, which the press sensationalized and made into a great scandal. In response to this affair, the American public was outraged. Their “wholesome” girl had tragically turned bad. Hollywood producers and their lawyers threatened to drop her from their castings lists and keep her from working if she did not return home.

The scandal escalated when Bergman became pregnant and gave birth to a son, Robertino Rossellini. She knew that she could not return to the United States, so she remained in seclusion in Italy for six years. During that time she made another five films with Rossellini, none of which was internationally acclaimed. In 1952, she gave birth to twin girls, Isabella (who also became a star actor) and Isotta Rossellini (a scholar). The isolation in Italy caused Bergman great misery: Her relationship with her daughter Pia suffered, her career and fame had declined to nothingness, and her marriage to Rossellini was in trouble.

In 1956, French director Jean Renoir cast Bergman as the star of his film Elena et les hommes, a role that lifted her fading career. After her performance in Elena et les hommes, Hollywood was again interested in her, casting her in the starring role in Anastasia (1956). She won her second Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in Anastasia.

Bergman divorced Rossellini in 1957. By 1958, she had met and married Lars Schmidt, a theatrical producer from Sweden. Professionally, her career was taking off again. Offers continuously poured in for film, television, and stage. She won an Emmy Award in 1959 for the television miniseries The Turn of the Screw, based on Henry James’s novel. She made her debut on the London stage in 1965 with A Month in the Country. Her third and last Oscar, this time for Best Supporting Actress, recognized her performance in Murder on the Orient Express (1974). By 1975, her third marriage ended in a divorce.

Bergman continued to work until the end of her life. Her final role was that of Golda Meir in the television miniseries A Woman Called Golda (1982). She won an Emmy Award for her performance. The award was accepted posthumously by her daughter, Pia. On August 29, 1982, in her London apartment, Bergman died in her sleep from complications related to breast cancer.

Significance

Bergman lived intense dramas on and off the stage. Her roles had elements of love, betrayal, and death. Her personal life was similar. Through it all, she was strong, hardworking, and, most important, true to herself in the face of public outrage and accusations. Bergman will be remembered as an outstanding actor who performed to perfection. Many of her films are classic and timeless, and they will win the hearts and adoration of new and young fans alike.

Bibliography

Bergman, Ingrid, and Alan Burgess. Ingrid Bergman, My Story. New York: Delacorte Press, 1980. An autobiography of Bergman offering stories, memories, events, and personal thoughts.

Chandler, Charlotte. Ingrid: Ingrid Bergman, A Personal Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007. This book tells a very human story of the life of Bergman from her youth and her parents to being an actress. It presents personal information gathered from interviews.

Spoto, Donald. Notorious: The Life of Ingrid Bergman. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2001. Indexed by years, this work, first published in 1997, recounts much of Bergman’s professional and personal life.

1901-1940: 1934-1935: Hitchcock Becomes Synonymous with Suspense.

1941-1970: November 26, 1942: Casablanca Marks the Artistic Apex of 1940’s War-Themed Films.