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01
On their last meeting, Alfred Hitchcock was in tears, terrified of his impending death. Suffering from cancer, Bergman told him, But of course you are going to die sometime, Hitch, we are all going to die. She later recalled that the comment seemed to bring him peace; it was a bittersweet goodbye. Hitchcock died in 1980, followed by Bergman in 1982.
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02
Author Ernest Hemingway was a good friend of Bergman; she called him Papa and he called her Daughter.
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03
Her daughter Pia Lindström accepted her Best Leading Actress Emmy for A Woman Called Golda posthumously. Bergman died three weeks prior to the ceremony, after the ballots were cast.
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04
According to her daughter, whenever anyone complimented Bergman on Casablanca, she would look at them as if she didn’t know what they were talking about.
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05
Cary Grant, her great friend, accepted her Anastasia Oscar at the 29th Annual Academy Awards in 1957.
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06
She received a fan letter from James Stewart on his way to combat duty during World War II in 1943.
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07
No relation to Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, although his wife was also a Swedish actress named Ingrid Bergman, which confused matters greatly.
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08
On the first anniversary of her death, stars, friends, and family gathered at the Venice Film Festival to honor her. Among the many guests were Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, Charlton Heston, Roger Moore, Claudette Colbert, Olivia de Havilland, and Prince Albert of Monaco.
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09
Her famous love affair with war photographer Robert Capa was the basis for Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window 1954.
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10
Bergman was effectively blacklisted in 1949 for having an affair with director Roberto Rossellini and having a child out of wedlock. She lived with Rossellini in Italy, abandoning Hollywood films until their marriage ended. Her comeback movie Anastasia 1956 earned her an Oscar.
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11
Anthony Quinn said of her, ‘Sometimes in motion pictures you love someone so much, but it doesn’t work on the screen. And you don’t like somebody and you’re wonderful on the screen. The two greatest talents I worked with were Ingrid and Anna Magnani. But I would prefer to work with Magnani, whom I didn’t like, than Ingrid, whom I loved..
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12
When Hollywood producers tried to change her name in 1939, with possibilities like Ingrid Berriman or Ingrid Lindstrom, Bergman refused, saying she had worked too hard to establish herself in Europe.
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13
She inadvertently helped break down the studio contract system by insisting on her own choices.
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14
She was portrayed by her daughter Isabella Rossellini in the tribute film My Dad Is 100 Years Old 2005 about director Roberto Rossellini.
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15
Bergman was the favorite actress of First Lady Bess Truman and visited the White House on Bess Truman’s 61st birthday in 1946.
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16
She was fluent in English, Swedish, French, German, and Italian.
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17
She was originally offered the role of Princess Dragonmiroff in Murder on the Orient Express 1974 but ended up playing Greta Ohlsson, a role that won her an Oscar almost entirely in a single continuous five-minute scene.
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18
She considered herself awkward due to her height. For Anastasia, she suggested a box for Yul Brynner, but he refused, saying, ‘I’ll show the world what a big horse you are!.
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19
In 1960, she became the third performer to win the Triple Crown of Acting: Oscars for Gaslight, Anastasia, and Murder on the Orient Express; a Tony for Joan of Lorraine 1947; and Emmys in 1960 and 1982.
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20
She was sitting in a Paris bathtub in 1957, listening to the Oscars broadcast, when Cary Grant accepted her Best Actress award. Grant also introduced her return to the Oscars in 1959, where she received a thunderous standing ovation.
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21
When David O. Selznick told his prospective new 23-year-old star that they would have to change her name, cap her teeth, and pluck her eyebrows, she threatened to return to Sweden.
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22
Cary Grant was one of her favorite co-stars because he was comfortable with his stature, so no lifts or barefoot scenes were needed.
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23
She had a reputation as a tough negotiator. David O. Selznick said, Her angelic nature is not above being tarnished by matters of mere money..
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24
At dinner parties at Alfred Hitchcock’s home, she never seemed to notice that Hitchcock was sulking because of his crush on her.
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25
Cary Grant remembered a morning when Bergman was out of sorts; after several bad takes, she finally came around, and Hitchcock simply said, Good morning, Ingrid..
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26
She is one of five Swedish actresses nominated for an Academy Award, alongside Greta Garbo, Lena Olin, Ann-Margret, and Alicia Vikander.
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27
Her luck was remarkable: a Swedish couple praised her film to their son, an elevator operator in the building where a talent scout lived. Six months later, she was on her way to Hollywood. She said, I owe my whole career to that elevator boy..
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28
One day at the studio, she hooked bumpers with another car and was seen tugging and heaving. A studio policeman remarked, ‘Darndest thing I ever saw. First film star I ever knew that didn’t mind getting her hands dirty..
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29
On August 20, 2015, nine days before the 100th anniversary of her birth, the USA and Sweden jointly issued three commemorative postage stamps in her honor: a US forever stamp and two Swedish 14-krona stamps.
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30
Early in her Swedish film career, her nickname was Betterlater because she often said, ‘I’ll be better later..
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31
Bergman was a naturalized US citizen holding dual citizenship with Sweden.
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32
Her ashes were scattered at sea off the coast of Sweden.
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33
She was the former mother-in-law of director Martin Scorsese.
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34
At the Cannes Film Festival in 1973, where she was jury president, she received a standing ovation every night at the evening screenings—a unique occurrence according to jury secretary Christiane Guespin.
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35
When Ernest Hemingway told her she would have to cut her hair for the role of Maria in For Whom the Bell Tolls, she shot back, ‘To get that part, I’d cut my head off! She would rehearse tirelessly until any hour.
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36
Industrialist Howard Hughes once bought every available seat from New York to Los Angeles to ensure she would accept a ride in his private plane.
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37
A type of rose is named after her, called the Ingrid Bergman rose.
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38
She took a $7,000 pay cut to appear in Casablanca 1942; David O. Selznick gave her the role without an option to refuse.
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39
Swedes are proud of Bergman; they have an Ingrid Bergman Square with a bust overlooking the water where her ashes were scattered.
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40
During Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart’s wife Mayo Methot constantly accused him of an affair with Bergman, causing him to come to set in a rage.
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41
To prepare for her role as Golda Meir in A Woman Called Golda 1982, she traveled around Israel and interviewed those who knew Golda, studying old newsreels to master her mannerisms.
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42
Many of her shorter co-stars, like Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains, wore lifts to appear taller next to her 5’9 frame.
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43
She received a 1939 telegram from Greta Garbo: I would like to see you when I am free, if you would be willing..
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44
At her funeral at Saint Martin-in-the-Fields, a violin played As Time Goes By.
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45
Her son Roberto Robertino Rossellini was engaged to Princess Caroline of Monaco in 1983.
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46
During the making of Goodbye Again, co-star Anthony Perkins, who had an overwhelming fear of girls, insisted on not being alone with Bergman when rehearsing love scenes.
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47
She was not nominated for Best Actress for Casablanca but was nominated for For Whom the Bell Tolls, losing to her close friend Jennifer Jones. Bergman told Jones, Your Bernadette was better than my Maria..
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48
Her 1980 autobiography My Story was a best-seller.
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49
She enjoyed working with Gary Cooper because she did not have to take off her shoes.
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50
Her mother died when she was 3 and her father when she was 13.