Ingrid Bergman was born on August 29, 1915 in Stockholm, Sweden, and was named after the princess of Sweden at the time. Bergman’s father encouraged her to be an opera star, paying for her voice lessons for three years. But Bergman knew from a young age that she wanted to be an actress. She’d often wear her mother’s clothes and hold plays in her father’s art studio. Both of Bergman’s parents died by the time she was 13, leaving her to live with relatives. During this time, she received a scholarship to the Royal Dramatic Theatre School (where Greta Garbo had previously studied). Within a few months, she got her first role in a new play, Ett Brott (A Crime). This was unusual at the time, as female students weren’t typically granted acting roles until they’d completed three years of study.
The summer after her first year, a Swedish film studio hired Bergman. So she left the school to work as a full-time actress. Bergman appeared as an extra in the 1932 film Landskamp and then had her first small part in the 1935 movie Munkbrogreven. In the coming years, Bergman appeared in another dozen Swedish films, as well as one in Germany.
Intermezzo was an instant hit that launched Bergman’s career in America. After making one more film in Sweden, she returned to America to film Adam Had Four Sons, Rage in Heaven and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
But Bergman’s next film would be her most memorable. In 1942, she co-starred in Casablanca opposite Humphrey Bogart. Despite the film’s popularity, Bergman always said it wasn’t one of her favorites. “I made so many films which were more important, but the only one people ever want to talk about is that one with Bogart.” Though she later admitted, “I feel about Casablanca that it has a life of its own. There is something mystical about it. It seems to have filled a need, a need that was there before the film, a need that the film filled.”
The following year, Bergman appeared in her first color film, For Whom the Bell Tolls, based on a novel by Earnest Hemingway. After seeing her performance in Intermezzo, Hemingway said she had to play the part. And after they met, he insisted, “You are Maria!” The film earned Bergman her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
In 1944, Bergman won the Academy Award for her performance in Gaslight. And the following year she earned her third consecutive nomination for her portrayal of a nun in The Bells of St. Mary’s opposite Bing Crosby. She then appeared in a string of Alfred Hitchcock films and Joan of Arc, a movie she’d pushed for since playing the role on Broadway.
Over four decades, Bergman amassed four Golden Globes, three Academy Awards, two Emmy’s, and a Tony. She acted in over 50 films in five different languages. Ingrid Bergman is, and forever will be, remembered as one of the most accomplished actresses of the 20th century.
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