Ingrid Bergman

Actor

About

Birth Place

Sweden

Born

August 29, 1915

Died

August 29, 1982

Cause of Death

Cancer

Biography

Filmography

Bacall On Bogart (1988)

Autumn Sonata (1978)

Charlotte

A Matter of Time (1976)

Contessa

Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1973)

A Walk in the Spring Rain (1970)

Libby Meredith

Photos & Videos

View All

Intermezzo (1936) -- (Movie Clip) She's Magnificent

Intermezzo (1936) -- (Movie Clip) What Are You Teaching My Daughter?

Family & Companions

Petter Lindstrom

Husband

Dentist. Married on June 10, 1937; divorced in 1949; remarried in 1954; died at age 93 on May 24, 2000 in Sonoma, California.

Robert Capa

Companion

Photographer. Bergman detailed their relationship in her memoirs.

Roberto Rossellini

Husband

Director. Married on May 1950; separated in 1956; marriage annulled in 1957; was separated from Anna Magnani when he began relationship with Bergman.

Lars Schmidt

Husband

Impresario. Married in December 1958.

Bibliography

"As Time Goes By: The Life of Ingrid Bergman"

Laurence Leamer, Harper & Row (1986)

"Ingrid Bergman--My Story"

Ingrid Bergman and Alan Burgess, Sphere (1981)

"Ingrid Bergman--An Intimate Portrait"

Joseph Steele Henry, W.H. Allen & Co. (1960)

Biography

A highly popular actress known for her fresh, radiant beauty, Ingrid Bergman was a natural for virtuous roles but equally adept at playing notorious women. Either way, she had few peers when it came to expressing the subtleties of romantic tension. In 1933, fresh out of high school, she enrolled in the Royal Dramatic Theater and made her film debut the following year, soon becoming Sweden's most promising young actress. Her breakthrough film was Gustaf Molander's "Intermezzo" (1936), in which she played a pianist who has a love affair with a celebrated--and married--violinist. The film garnered the attention of American producer David O. Selznick, who invited her to Hollywood to do a remake. In 1939 she co-starred with Leslie Howard in that film, which the public loved, leading to a seven-year contract with Selznick.

Selznick promoted Bergman's wholesomeness from the beginning. He loaned her to other studios for "Adam Had Four Sons," "Rage in Heaven" and "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (all 1941). In the latter film, Bergman's insistence on playing the role of the prostitute rather than the good fiancee proved a shrewd move. She then starred with Humphrey Bogart in "Casablanca" (1942), perhaps her most popular film, and was also featured with Gary Cooper in "For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)." She won her first Oscar for her portrayal of a wife nearly driven mad by Charles Boyer in "Gaslight" (1944).

The following year, Bergman had starring roles as a New Orleans vixen with Cooper in "Saratoga Trunk," a psychiatrist opposite Gregory Peck in Alfred Hitchcock's "Spellbound" and a nun opposite Bing Crosby's priest in "The Bells of St. Mary's." Bergman's last picture under contract to Selznick, and probably her finest work, was Hitchcock's "Notorious" (1946), an emotionally complex espionage film in which she played a woman bent on self-destruction until redeemed by the love of a federal agent, played by Cary Grant.

Bergman then went freelance, first playing a prostitute in "Arch of Triumph" and then the constrasting "Joan of Arc" (both 1948), a role she had played to great acclaim on Broadway in 1946. Her final film for Hitchcock was the 1949 period piece, "Under Capricorn." These last three films, however, failed at the boxoffice and were hardly representative of her finest acting, serving as an unusual harbinger of the turn of the tide to follow.

Bergman's personal and professional life went into a tailspin in 1949 after she left her husband, Dr. Petter Lindstrom, for Italian director Roberto Rossellini, by whom she was pregnant. She married Rossellini, a union which produced three children and six films of varying artistic merit, beginning with "Stromboli" (1949) and achieving its finest moments in "Voyage in Italy" (1953). The international scandal (she was even denounced in Congress) tarnished her innocent image and, extraordinarily, led to her being barred from American films for 7 years.

Bergman's career began to recover with her appearance in Jean Renoir's "Paris Does Strange Things" (1956). She made a triumphant return to Hollywood with "Anastasia" (1956), for which she won her second Oscar, a sign that her sins had been officially forgiven. In 1957, her marriage to Rossellini was annulled and the following year she married theatrical producer Lars Schmidt.

Thereafter, Bergman began branching out into TV and stage roles. The films of this later period of her career were of varying quality, but she gave a delightful performance in the adaptation of the Broadway comedy, "Cactus Flower" (1967). She received a third Academy Award for her supporting role in "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974) and won acclaim for her co-starring role with Liv Ullmann in Ingmar Bergman's "Autumn Sonata" (1978), an intense drama about a pianist and her daughter.

Bergman's health began to fail in the late 1970s, though she fought off cancer long enough to complete a TV-movie, "A Woman Called Golda" (1982), in which she portrayed Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. The performance earned her an Emmy, her final honor.

Filmography

Articles

Scorsese Screens - August 2021

By Martin Scorsese

July 28, 2021

“We would sigh or let out a great breath from the depths of our hearts, for what we felt was precisely this: can it be possible that there is such a woman in this world?” The novelist Shusaku Endo wrote those words about Setsuko Hara, who is remembered with a day-long tribute in TCM’s annual Summer Under the Stars program. And it strikes me that Endo’s words could apply equally to any number of women also being saluted this August (and men, for that matter).

Over the years, there has been a lot written about the phenomenon of movie stardom. What is it exactly? Acting ability? Good looks? Publicity campaigns? All true, but never any one factor alone. Hara was a remarkable actor, and so were Ingrid Bergman and Gloria Grahame, also being honored this month. They were beautiful, and they were well-publicized. But we can all think of brilliant actors who don’t really work onscreen and heavily promoted actors who were greeted with indifference and faded from view. These artists all developed a kind of magical call and response with the camera and then the viewer, continuing across the years on its own special wavelength.

Director Yasujirō Ozu once said of Hara that it was rare to find a Japanese actress who could play the daughter of a good family, which describes the majority of the work they did together. But Hara is just as compelling in the edgier films of Mikio Naruse, or as the Nastasya Filipovna character in Kurosawa’s The Idiot.

Grahame, alternatively, was “typed” as a “loose woman,” but that doesn’t begin to do justice to her work in, say, Crossfire, let alone the complex characters she played in In a Lonely Place or The Cobweb. (On the other hand, not many actresses of the time would have taken the dive right into the deep end of the pool the way she did in Odds Against Tomorrow—I’m thinking of that great moment when a shirtless Robert Ryan opens the door and she goes wide-eyed and says, “What’s going on in there, an orgy?”) Bergman never allowed herself to be typed, onscreen or off, and she is as believably ethereal in Gaslight as she is believably unnerved and rattled in Voyage to Italy.

Each of these artists was able to go so deep into the subtleties and nuances of their roles that they sometimes harmonized with their directors and took the whole film to a level that was breathtaking and impossible to describe, a level that could only be lived with by the viewer. Sometimes it was expressed in surprising line readings at key moments—Kyōko Kagawa’s question “Isn’t life disappointing?” and Hara’s smiling answer, “Yes, it is” in Tokyo Story; Bergman’s exclamation that “Life is so short” as she and George Sanders wander through the ruins of Pompeii in Voyage to Italy. But more often than not, these women practiced their art in the realm of light and shadow, rhythm, gesture and silence.

Scorsese Screens - August 2021

“We would sigh or let out a great breath from the depths of our hearts, for what we felt was precisely this: can it be possible that there is such a woman in this world?” The novelist Shusaku Endo wrote those words about Setsuko Hara, who is remembered with a day-long tribute in TCM’s annual Summer Under the Stars program. And it strikes me that Endo’s words could apply equally to any number of women also being saluted this August (and men, for that matter). Over the years, there has been a lot written about the phenomenon of movie stardom. What is it exactly? Acting ability? Good looks? Publicity campaigns? All true, but never any one factor alone. Hara was a remarkable actor, and so were Ingrid Bergman and Gloria Grahame, also being honored this month. They were beautiful, and they were well-publicized. But we can all think of brilliant actors who don’t really work onscreen and heavily promoted actors who were greeted with indifference and faded from view. These artists all developed a kind of magical call and response with the camera and then the viewer, continuing across the years on its own special wavelength. Director Yasujirō Ozu once said of Hara that it was rare to find a Japanese actress who could play the daughter of a good family, which describes the majority of the work they did together. But Hara is just as compelling in the edgier films of Mikio Naruse, or as the Nastasya Filipovna character in Kurosawa’s The Idiot. Grahame, alternatively, was “typed” as a “loose woman,” but that doesn’t begin to do justice to her work in, say, Crossfire, let alone the complex characters she played in In a Lonely Place or The Cobweb. (On the other hand, not many actresses of the time would have taken the dive right into the deep end of the pool the way she did in Odds Against Tomorrow—I’m thinking of that great moment when a shirtless Robert Ryan opens the door and she goes wide-eyed and says, “What’s going on in there, an orgy?”) Bergman never allowed herself to be typed, onscreen or off, and she is as believably ethereal in Gaslight as she is believably unnerved and rattled in Voyage to Italy. Each of these artists was able to go so deep into the subtleties and nuances of their roles that they sometimes harmonized with their directors and took the whole film to a level that was breathtaking and impossible to describe, a level that could only be lived with by the viewer. Sometimes it was expressed in surprising line readings at key moments—Kyōko Kagawa’s question “Isn’t life disappointing?” and Hara’s smiling answer, “Yes, it is” in Tokyo Story; Bergman’s exclamation that “Life is so short” as she and George Sanders wander through the ruins of Pompeii in Voyage to Italy. But more often than not, these women practiced their art in the realm of light and shadow, rhythm, gesture and silence.

Life Events

1935

Film acting debut in "Munkbrogreven/Count from Munkbro/The Count of the Monk's Bridge"

1939

In Hollywood; debut in "Intermezzo" (remake of earlier Swedish film (1936) which she also starred in)

1940

Broadway debut in "Liliom" (dir. Gregory Ratoff)

1950

Senator Edward C. Johnson attacked RKO for exploiting Bergman's behavior in ads for the Italian import "Stromboli" (1950) and denounced her as "a powerful influence for evil" in the US Senate on March 14; he also called for the licensing of filmmakers and stars, so that permits could be revoked if they were found guilty of mortal turpitude

1956

After Jean Renoir's "Elena et les hommes/Paris Does Strange Things" (France, 1955), returned to Hollywood for "Anastasia"

1959

US TV debut as Miss Giddens in John Frankenheimer's adaptation of "The Turn of the Screw"

Photo Collections

Gaslight - Behind-the-Scenes Photos

Here are a few behind-the-scenes photos taken during the making of Gaslight (1944), starring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer.

Indiscreet - Movie Poster

For Whom the Bell Tolls - Movie Poster

Notorious - Behind-the-Scenes Stills

Here are a few photos taken behind-the-scenes during production of RKO's Notorious (1946), starring Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant, and directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Spellbound - Lobby Card

Here is a Lobby Card from Spellbound (1945). Lobby Cards were 11" x 14" posters that came in sets of 8. As the name implies, they were most often displayed in movie theater lobbies, to advertise current or coming attractions.

The Bells of St. Mary's - Lobby Card Set

Here is a set of Lobby Cards from The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman. Lobby Cards were 11" x 14" posters that came in sets of 8. As the name implies, they were most often displayed in movie theater lobbies, to advertise current or coming attractions.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Kapralik Trade Ad

Here is a trade ad for MGM's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), starring Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner, and Ingrid Bergman. The art is by mixed-media caricaturist Jaques Kapralik. Trade Ads were placed by studios in industry magazines like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Publicity Stills

Here are a few Publicity Stills from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), Publicity stills were specially-posed photos, usually taken off the set, for purposes of publicity or reference for promotional artwork.

Saratoga Trunk - Wardrobe Stills

Here are a few wardrobe stills from Saratoga Trunk (1946). Such test stills were taken prior to principal photography to approve the look and design of costumes.

Notorious - Movie Poster

Here is an original-release half-sheet movie poster for Notorious (1946), starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Half-sheets measured 22 x 28 inches.

Casablanca (1942) - Production Documents

The following production materials from the film Casablanca (1942) include office memos, telegrams, sheet music, call sheets and other materials.

Gaslight - Movie Posters

Here is a group of American movie Posters from Gaslight (1944), starring Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, and Joseph Cotten.

Gaslight - Lobby Card

Here is a Lobby Card from Gaslight (1944). Lobby Cards were 11" x 14" posters that came in sets of 8. As the name implies, they were most often displayed in movie theater lobbies, to advertise current or coming attractions.