Ingrid Bergman

Swedish-American actress who won Oscars for "Gaslight," 1945 and "Anastasia," 1957. She won a Tony for "Joan of Lorraine," 1946 and an Emmy for "Turn of the Screw," 1959. Throughout her career, she received a total of seven Oscar nominations. Her dad, Justus, a frustrated artist, ran a camera shop in Stockholm. When she was three, her mom died at 33. From that time on she was raised by a confusing succession of prim Lutheran aunts, rich Nazi aunts and her dad's young mistress. From the time she was a kid, she insisted on the theater, taking classes at the Royal Dramatic School in Stockholm, and made a debut at 18 in legitimate theater. Her first love was the play's leading man, Edvin Adolphson. He was unavailable, married with a family, so she married, instead, eight-year-older dentist Peter Lindstrom, 1937 They had a daughter, Pia, who was greatly neglected during the formative years of the Bergman legend. In 1934, Bergman made a film debut. By her second film, reviews reached American and Variety magazine. In 1939, Bergman sailed for New York on the Queen Mary. "I could not live in Sweden," she said, "It is too far from the rest of the world psychologically." She was, nonetheless, Swedish to the core, from her appearance to her romantic notions, from her earthy forthrightness to her emotional strength. In Donald Spoto's book, "The Life of Ingrid Bergman," Harper-Collins, 1997, he writes about her romance with Gary Cooper and characterizes a period in her life when she had affairs with photographer Robert Capa, composer Larry Adler and director Victor Fleming, all of whom were guides and mentors to facets of her creativity. Her illicit affair with Roberto Rossellini shocked the world, giving rise to a huge scandal when she left her husband and child to join her lover in Italy. In 1950, she had a baby boy, two years before they married. She was effectively exiled from the U.S. by a torrent of abuse and vile denunciation, becoming the whipping girl of outraged morality. Actually, leaving her husband and Hollywood for Rossellini freed her from a confining marriage and a limiting career. Her last two films had been "Arch of Triumph" and "Joan of Arc," both flops, and she was frustrated with playing two-dimensional virtuous roles. The neo-Italian realism movement which revolutionized world cinema after the war represented everything Bergman believed in professionally; truth, realism, naturalism, and Rossellini represented the earthiness and spontaneity which she so badly needed on a personal level. In 1948 she first wrote to Rossellini, "If you ever need a Swedish actress..." and he responded eagerly. They arranged a meeting on 9/26/48 in Paris. The discussed the love story on the island of Stromboli they would make, the expression of their passion and art. Back in Hollywood, she and Lindstrom talked about having another child, which she greatly wanted. Preparing a nursery absorbed her, though she was drinking heavily, and depressed, hating Hollywood and the sugar-coated films that she was offered. Rossellini offered her artistic truth, creative vision, danger and excitement. He offered more than that, bragging to his friends that he intended to cuckold Dr. Lindstrom, "Swedish women are easy to impress as they have such cold husbands." In January 1949, Rossellini left Magnani and traveled to America. He accepted the New York Film Critics Award for "Paisan" as Best Foreign Film of the Year. He wired Bergman, "I just arrive friendly." She replied, "Waiting for you in the Wild West." He stayed in their guest house as he and Bergman spoke to Hollywood backers about financing their movie. They made a production deal with Howard Hughes that would make Bergman a wealthy woman if the film proved a commercial success. On 2/27/1949, the evening before he left, Rossellini promised Lindstrom that he would take care of Bergman in Italy, protecting her from gossip. On 3/09/1949, she said goodbye to America and to her husband, and flew to Rome. The magic began. Less than two weeks later, she wrote to Lindstrom, asking for a divorce. In May, she got pregnant. Robertino was born on 2/02/1950. Bergman obtained a divorce in Mexico and a proxy marriage was arranged on 5/24/1950, 10:30 AM, Mexico City. The life of an Italian housewife was difficult for Bergman's adaptation. She picked up the language well enough, but was always a step behind the tempo and the subtleties of Italian humor, social exchange and everyday living. They had continual money problems as Rossellini spent money with total disregard. Bergman had never been comfortable with extravagance or waste. He would not let her work for any other director, with whom she could have made a much greater income. On 11/01/1950, the Lindstrom divorce was granted in Los Angeles, CA. They began work on their second film together, "Europa '51" in October 1951. During the filming, Ingrid became pregnant again, this time with twins. She became so large that she entered the nursing home for the last weeks of her pregnancy, and delivered two husky baby girls, Isabella, 7 lbs 3 oz, and Isotta, 8 lbs 5 oz, on 6/18/1952. Domesticity did not wear well. The Rossellini family fights became regular and dramatic, and Bergman returned to drinking heavily. It took years to discover that Rossellini had returned to his old, womanizing ways. By 1957, Rossellini's affair with the Indian actress Sonali Gupta created fresh scandal, while Bergman developed a close friendship with playwright Robert Anderson. When they separated, Bergman kept the children, though later she sent them to live with their father. In 1958, she married the Swedish producer Lars Schmidt, who, by 1970, had fallen in love with a young Parisian woman. He and Bergman remained friends. Her Hollywood ostracism was now over and she made a number of films in the late '50s and early '60s, including "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness," and "The Yellow Rolls-Royce." In June 1977, while starring in a play, "Waters of the Moon," Bergman received word that Rossellini had died of a heart attack at 71. The following day, Lars Schmidt called to say that his lover had given birth to a baby boy. The cycle of life went on. Bergman died of cancer on 8/29/1982, London. Link to Wikipedia biography