Biography
Ingrid Bergman (29 August 1915 – 29 August 1982) was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films, television movies, and plays. With a career spanning five decades, she is often regarded as one of the most influential figures in cinematic history.
According to the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, upon her arrival in the U.S. Bergman quickly became "the ideal of American womanhood" and a contender for Hollywood's greatest leading actress. David O. Selznick once called her "the most completely conscientious actress" with whom he had ever worked. In 1999, the American Film Institute recognised Bergman as the fourth greatest female star of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
She won numerous accolades, including three Academy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, four Golden Globe Awards, BAFTA Award and a Volpi Cup. She is one of only four actresses to have received three acting Academy Awards (only Katharine Hepburn has four).
Born in Stockholm to a Swedish father and a German mother, Bergman began her acting career in Swedish and German films. She was introduced to American audiences in 1939 with Intermezzo, the English-language remake of the 1936 Swedish film of the same name. With a glamorous but gentle nature and a quiet sense of strength, she is best remembered for her portrayal of Ilsa Lund opposite Humphrey Bogart’s Rick Blaine in Casablanca (1942). Some of Bergman's most noteworthy performances from this period include For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), Gaslight (1944), The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), and Joan of Arc (1948), all of which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role; she won for Gaslight. She made three films with Alfred Hitchcock: Spellbound (1945), with Gregory Peck, Notorious (1946), opposite Cary Grant and Under Capricorn (1949), alongside Joseph Cotten.
In 1950, she starred in Stromboli, which released shortly after the revelation that she and Roberto Rossellini (who directed the film) were having an affair; this revelation combined with her pregnancy prior to their marriage created a scandal in the U.S. that prompted her to remain in Europe for the next few years. During this time she starred in Rossellini's Europa ‘51 (1951) and Journey to Italy (1954), the former of which won her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress. She returned to Hollywood in 1956 with the biographical film Anastasia, for which she won her second Academy Award for Best Actress. Two years later, she reunited with Cary Grant for the romantic comedy Indiscreet. In 1969, she starred alongside Walter Matthau and Goldie Hawn in the critically and financially successful romantic comedy Cactus Flower. Five years later, Bergman won her third Academy Award, this one for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, for her performance in Murder on the Orient Express. In 1978, she starred in Swedish director Ingmar Bergman's (no relation) Autumn Sonata, for which she received her sixth and final Best Actress nomination. Bergman spoke five languages – Swedish, English, German, Italian and French – and acted in each.
In her final role, she portrayed Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in the television miniseries A Woman Called Golda (1982) for which she posthumously won her second Emmy Award for Best Actress. In 1974, Bergman discovered she was suffering from breast cancer but continued to work until shortly before her death on her sixty-seventh birthday.