Young Greta Garbo and the lion - how the legendary photo appeared
Hollywood has been attracting ambitious and assertive people who dream of fame, money and self-realization for more than a century. Someone is waiting for failure, someone gets everything at once, and the path of some turns out to be difficult and even dangerous. As an example of what aspiring actors go to for their career, one can cite a picture in which a young and unknown Greta Garbo poses next to a lion.
Born in Stockholm, Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, known to the world as the legendary Greta Garbo, arrived in Hollywood in 1925. She already had the experience of filming in several Swedish films, but it was difficult to call it successful. An accident helped Greta move to the USA. Louis Mayer, the founder of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio, saw one of the paintings with a young actress, and she seemed promising to him.
At Mayer's invitation, 19-year-old Greta came to Los Angeles. But it was not easy to promote an unknown Swedish actress. It was necessary to come up with something memorable that would amaze the audience. So Louis Mayer came up with the idea of capturing a starlet with a recognizable symbol of the film studio - a lion. I must say that in the history of the MGM studio, five different animals were filmed for the screensaver. Greta Garbo had the honor to pose for one photo of the second lion named Jackie.
Despite the fact that Jackie was a fairly peaceful animal, there was still a risk. They decided to shoot on a lion ranch, and sports photographer Don Gillum undertook to do the job. The task was not easy for all participants of the photo shoot, and this is clearly seen in the picture. Garbo was frightened by the company of a large predator. The photographer also took such a picture for the first time, but the lion did not understand very well what all these people wanted from him.
Although the shooting was nervous, the result impressed everyone. The picture turned out to be very emotional and was immediately sold in newspapers and magazines. It cannot be said that the talented actress became famous thanks to him. Greta Garbo's star rose rapidly and she became a legend of the "Golden Age of Hollywood". Her last film, the comedy Two-Faced Woman, was released in 1941.
Nevertheless, the picture of a young actress with a huge lion went down in history. He is an example of what young talents have to go through to start a career.