The Sphynx...."I want to be alone" ...

Garbo never said this now famous line, in her own words she said, " I never said, " I want to be alone". I only said, "I want to be left alone". There is all the difference".  She was the most famous star in the world in her day and the press were relentless in its pursuit of her. So, her comment makes sense in that context. However, it served to enhance her enigmatic beauty and preserve her legend

Greta Garbo is a unique and timeless beauty from Hollywood's Golden era. Today, few seem to know who she was. Her face is iconic as it is modern. Her face is , unlike her contemporaries, still beautiful in 2012.

Garbo is a fascinating woman to me because she actually was an original. A rare thing. Her path was not typical, she was determined to live an authentic life and lived by her intuition. She had a wonderful sense of her stardom and was very down to earth about it.

"Being a movie star, and this applies to all of them, means being looked  at from every possible direction.You are never left in peace, you're just fair game".

She retired from movies at the age of thirty six. She spent the  remainder of her life avoiding the press. I loved the fact that she walked away from her fame and sort a solitary path. She never succumbed to fame's addictive narcissism. That is what fascinates me about her besides her timeless beauty.

It was her independence of thought that I admired. As a woman in the 1930's she challenged societies rules for what life a woman should want. Marriage and raising a family were at the top of that list. However, this is what Garbo said of that institution and that expectation,

" Why haven't I got a husband and children?', mused Garbo to the Duchess of Windsor, " I never met a man I could marry".

" There are some who want to get married and others who don't. I have never had an impulse to go to the alter. I am a difficult person to lead."

" If you are blessed, you are blessed , whether you are married or single".

" You don't have to be married to have a good friend as your partner in life."

I have often wondered why people assume they must be married or in a relationship. I was intrigued that she chose a another way of life. She did not fall into the prescribed story of what is meant to fulfill us in life. I liked that she actually thought about it, and chose a 'path less trodden' for her time, particularly for a woman. As Garbo said, and I found my life offers a testimony to this fact, "there seems to be a law that governs all our actions, so I never make plans".

She once said ,"Anyone with a continuous smile on his face conceals a toughness that is almost frightening". That is true. I rather like and trust those who grimace, make mistakes, get mad and drop the 'cocktail party happy' face.

Ultimately am not here to write biography on Garbo, rather explain my reason for being intrigued by this woman over the years. A great beauty who let go of stardom, Hollywood, fame, and all the addictive validating aspects of it, and above all let go of her beauty and therefore her power in a secular world. I admired that courage and that whatever path she was on she honored that. She seemed to do it without regard for what society though of her. It was done methodically and without doubt. She is in many respects a very modern woman. She led and did not follow. I like those who are not in herds. I always felt she chose her story for her life and avoided falling into a prescribed life that we are told often is what we are meant to want and don't question. We are in truth alone in life no matter how much we try to avoid it. She struck me as being unique soul, if not a strange bird. I like strange birds.

Peace.