Ingrid Bergman
photographer unknown
After her American film debut in the film
Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939), co-starring
Leslie Howard,
Hollywood saw her as a unique actress who was completely natural in style and without need of makeup. Film critic
James Agee
wrote that she "not only bears a startling resemblance to an imaginable
human being; she really knows how to act, in a blend of poetic grace
with quiet realism."
Before becoming a star in American films, Bergman had been a leading actress in Swedish films. Her first film, Munkbrogreven (1935), was at age 19.
Munkbrogreven - 1935
14 years old
Bergman admired two films by Italian
director Roberto Rossellini
that she had seen in the United States and in 1949, Bergman wrote to
Rossellini, expressing this admiration and suggesting that she make a
film with him. This led to her being cast in his film
Stromboli (1950). This was the first film of hers I saw when my mom took me when I was nine or ten so my recollection of it is a bit vague.
During production, Bergman fell in love with Rossellini, and
they began an affair. Bergman became pregnant with their son, Renato
Roberto Ranaldo Giusto Giuseppe ("Robin") Rossellini (born February 2,
1950).
This affair caused a huge scandal in the United States, where it led to Bergman being denounced on the floor of the
United States Senate.
Ed Sullivan chose not to have her on his show, despite a poll indicating that the public wanted her to appear. However,
Steve Allen,
whose show was equally popular, did have her as a guest, later
explaining "the danger of trying to judge artistic activity through the
prism of one's personal life."

photographer unknown
Bergman and Rossellini were married on the 24th of May, 1950. In addition to Renato, they had twin daughters (born 18 June 1952):
Isabella Rossellini, who became an actress and model, and Isotta Ingrid Rossellini, who became a professor of
Italian literature.
Bergman once said, "I was the shyest human ever invented, but I had a lion inside me that wouldn't shut up!"
Bergman died on 29 August 1982 on her 67th birthday in
London, of
breast cancer. Her body was cremated at
Kensal Green Cemetery,
London, and her ashes taken to
Sweden. Most of them were scattered in
the sea around the islet of Dannholmen off the fishing village of
Fjällbacka in
Bohuslän, on the west coast of
Sweden, where she spent most of the summers from 1958 until her death in 1982. The rest were placed next to her parents' ashes in
Norra Begravningsplatsen (Northern Cemetery),
Stockholm,
Sweden. Her headstone reads simply, "Ingrid 1915 - 1982"
Viewfinder links:
Golden Globe Award
Miklós Rózsa ~ Spellbound
Gregory Peck ~ Mr Suave
Net links:
The Guardian ~ Isabella Rossellini on Ingrid Bergman
LA Times obit
New York Times obit
YouTube links:
A&E ~ A Passionate Life
Ingrid Bergman Interview
Spellbound (1945) complete movie (2 hours)
If you took acting away from me, I'd stop breathing.