She had great self possession. She requested that no one come on the set while she was filming. She had an idea, a notion of illusion that went very far and she didn’t want to break it. People around shattered this illusion—and then she didn’t want gawkers to see her “unguarded” while she worked. Thought if they wanted to see her they should go to her pictures.
She never saw rushes because they always fell short of what she thought she could do—of what she imagined. A great perfectionist—to the extreme. … She had a talent that few actresses or actors possess. In close-ups she gave the impression, the illusion of great movement. She would move her head just a little bit and the whole screen would come alive—like a strong breeze that made itself felt. … She know how to act for the camera… for the camera. … The plastique of her body was marvelous. She doesn’t move like a ballerina acting—but like an actress acting. It is not dance but acting. This is an important point. She moves like an actress.
It is hard to talk about Garbo, really, for she says everything when she appears on the screen. That is GARBO—and all you say is just so much chit-chat. There she is on the screen. How she achieves those effects may or may not be interesting. She is what she is; and that is a very creative actress who thinks a great deal and has a very personal way of acting.
I think all you have to know about Garbo is what you see on the screen. How she achieves what she does is a mystique… —George Cukor [x]
“Her true genius was as a listener, I have frequently observed that the opposite of talking is not listening, but waiting. Garbo reversed this. She actually preferred to listen. She had the ability to concentrate totally on what you were saying, as if nothing else in the world mattered. All else vanished, all that existed was you, and what you were telling her. And I believe that somewhere in that area lies the whole secret of her greatness as a screen actress: the ability to exclude everything but the moment, to exist only for right now, before the camera, or before whomever had captured her interest.”
“I don’t know how it happened – it was almost imperceptible. It was about three weeks into the picture – the end of the day – I had one more shot, was sitting at the dressing table in the portable dressing room combing my hair. Bogie came in to bid me good night. He was standing behind me – we were joking as usual – when suddenly he leaned over, put his hand under my chin, and kissed me. It was impulsive – he was a bit shy – no lunging wolf tactics. He took a worn out package of matches out of his pocket and asked me to put my number on the back. I did”. – Lauren Bacall on how her relationship with Humphrey Bogart started [x]
— Katharine Hepburn
— Ingrid Bergman
