The celebrity quit Hollywood at age 36, spending the rest of her life in shuttered and fenced residence
Greta Garbo famously said “I wish to be let alone” about the silver screen — but her great-nephew insisted that in real life, the Hollywood recluse was not so isolated.
“I would not call her a recluse,” Derek Reisfield recently told Closer Weekly for its latest issue currently on newsstands.
“If you examine her date books, she is out and about, meeting people, going to parties, going to people’s houses for the weekend,” he shared. “She had been personal… but to get a recluse, she had a very active social life. I forget who mentioned it, but a person called her ‘hermit about city.'”
Reisfield’s mum, Gray Gustafson Reisfield, was the sole daughter of the celebrity’s brother Sven. She was the only heiress to her famous aunt’s estate along with a woman who had been a long-time companion into the late Swedish-born celebrity.
“After I moved into New York after college, I lived about five blocks away from her, therefore I’d see her a whole lot,” Reisfield recalled to the socket.” [Family and friends] would assemble at five for cocktails in her apartment, and [we would go] out to a play or whatever we were doing. This was a weekly event, and it was a lot of fun. She was a remarkable person. She was quite intuitive, very intelligent and incredibly funny.”
Garbo, one of Hollywood’s most sought-after stars of this’30s, went to what was a temporary retirement at age 36 after her last movie, 1941’s”Two-Faced Woman.” She previously starred in 26 films in 17 years. However, the New York Times noted that the actress never returned into the screen.
Garbo was famous for her performances in such classics like”Anna Christie,” ″Grand Hotel,” ″Queen Christina,” ″Anna Karenina,” ″Camille” and”Ninotchka.” She had a major influence on women’s styles, hair styles and makeup.
But even at the height of her career, Garbo was famous for her deep fear of reporters and strangers. Ironically, Garbo became among the most publicized women in the world while attempting to guard her privacy.
Her biographer John Bainbridge wrote in”Garbo,” that except at the onset of her profession, she”granted no interviews, signed no autographs, attended no premieres, answered no fan mail.”
Reisfield said when it came to her closest confidantes, Garbo had stories to tell.
“She would sometimes start talking about Hollywood in the old days and the people she met and hung out with,” he explained.” … She had a lot of significant relationships through time.”
Reisfield also insisted that Garbo”was pretty pleased” stepping away from Hollywood. His mother, specifically, developed a close relationship with Garbo.
“She viewed [Garbo] as truly a remarkable girl,” Reisfield told The Associated Press at the time of the matriarch’s death in 2017 at age 85. “I believe my mother really respected her because she’d accomplished so much, and she’d done it her way. She was very independent when girls weren’t, and I think this was a true lesson for my mom.”
At the moment, Reisfield stated he was about 12 when he recognized his great aunt was renowned after seeing a magazine that showed his mom along with Garbo vacationing together. Every spring, the girls would travel to the Caribbean.
“My mother was very near [Garbo] and could go into New York once a week to see her,” said Reisfield. “They were both very strong, very independent women, and I believe they bonded over that.”
After departing Hollywood, Garbo spent the remainder of her life in foreclosed homes in France, Switzerland and New York City. The celebrity never married and had no children, but instead chose her niece as a regular companion.
Garbo passed away in 1990 at age 84.