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As Time Goes By: The Life of Ingrid Bergman
Cover different than shown. Strong spine has one crease. Bright clean cover has slight edge wear. Text is perfect. Same day shipping first class.
- GenresBiographyNonfictionFilm
510 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
192 people want to read
About the author
Laurence Leamer
36 books269 followersLaurence Leamer is an award-winning journalist and historian who has written eighteen books including five New York Times bestsellers. He has worked in a factory in France, a coal mine in West Virginia and as a Peace Corps volunteer in a remote village in Nepal two days from a road. He has written two novels and an off Broadway play but is primarily known for his nonfiction. His most recent book, Capote's Women, is being made into an eight-part series starring Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Calista Flockhart, and Demi Moore.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 25, 2011
I like Ingrid Bergman but I never knew too much about her, and am by no stretch her biggest fan. I bought this book because it was a dime in the used section of my local library, and I happen to enjoy old Hollywood, and classic films, and therefore love to submerge myself in anything related. Luckily, this book ended up being quite wonderful and I couldn't be happier that I came upon it. The author, Laurence Leamer, is obviously an admirer of Ms. Bergman but he never panders to her fans by constantly portraying in any sort of angelic light. He even does a nice job showing the contrast between the public perception of Ingrid Bergman and the real woman by deeply exploring, and often alluding to her obsession with Joan of Arc and her strong desire to play Joan.
Bergman was a complicated a woman who at times lived only within herself or within her art. She seems like a woman you could get easily mad at, or irritated with for being so selfish, or unaware of her surroundings, but really, a lot of the time I felt very sorry for her, seeing as that loneliness and confusion seemed to be two major themes throughout her life and this book. Also, like one reviewer said, it is very fortunate that this was written in the late 80s when most that knew Bergman were still alive. The author seemed to interview every possible person he could, and everyone is handled fairly. With the interviews we get a very balance perception of the actress.
I haven't read Ingrid Bergman's 'autobiography', but I don't think i really need to. As Time Goes By, feels to me, to be the most honest and subjective text anyone could hope to get on this talented and complicated woman.
Bergman was a complicated a woman who at times lived only within herself or within her art. She seems like a woman you could get easily mad at, or irritated with for being so selfish, or unaware of her surroundings, but really, a lot of the time I felt very sorry for her, seeing as that loneliness and confusion seemed to be two major themes throughout her life and this book. Also, like one reviewer said, it is very fortunate that this was written in the late 80s when most that knew Bergman were still alive. The author seemed to interview every possible person he could, and everyone is handled fairly. With the interviews we get a very balance perception of the actress.
I haven't read Ingrid Bergman's 'autobiography', but I don't think i really need to. As Time Goes By, feels to me, to be the most honest and subjective text anyone could hope to get on this talented and complicated woman.
August 12, 2011
Laurence Leamer extensively interviewed Bergman’s first husband, Petter Lindstrom for the book. Leamer must have giddily thought “Ooh - a scoop!” and printed just about every inconsequential insult and unkind accusation ol’ Lindstrom still had left in him. Throughout the biography, Leamer also boasts Lindstrom’s supposed good character traits (thank goodness this book informs us on what a “charming, gracious conversationalist” Petter was “who brought the same perceptions and insight to his social life as he did to counseling his patients”) and seems to believe everything Lindstrom told him to be nothing but the truth.
Leamer made many comments on what a "bad" mother Ingrid was that he had no authority to make, and even suggested she was something along the lines of a Nazi sympathizer. In particular, Leamer stressed the fact in 1952 Pia (Ingrid’s first child) testified saying “I don’t love my mother. I like her. I don’t want to go to Italy to be with her” when the custody battle of Pia began. Either the interview yet hadn't been released yet, or Leamer conveniently forgot the fact Pia Lindstrom later said “My father won custody of me in Los Angeles - with my cooperation. He was desperate. I felt I was all he had left.”
What really makes me mad about this book is it continues to vilify Ingrid for leaving her daughter and husband (whom she was no longer in love with) to work with Roberto Rossellini (whom she would eventually fall in love with). Or when people vilify women for -SHOCK HORROR!!!- valuing something above family in general. Especially when books like this continue to prompt people to dismiss Bergman as a "horny slut".
Leamer made many comments on what a "bad" mother Ingrid was that he had no authority to make, and even suggested she was something along the lines of a Nazi sympathizer. In particular, Leamer stressed the fact in 1952 Pia (Ingrid’s first child) testified saying “I don’t love my mother. I like her. I don’t want to go to Italy to be with her” when the custody battle of Pia began. Either the interview yet hadn't been released yet, or Leamer conveniently forgot the fact Pia Lindstrom later said “My father won custody of me in Los Angeles - with my cooperation. He was desperate. I felt I was all he had left.”
What really makes me mad about this book is it continues to vilify Ingrid for leaving her daughter and husband (whom she was no longer in love with) to work with Roberto Rossellini (whom she would eventually fall in love with). Or when people vilify women for -SHOCK HORROR!!!- valuing something above family in general. Especially when books like this continue to prompt people to dismiss Bergman as a "horny slut".
August 9, 2016
It's a pity that a book with such an extensive bibliography aims so low. The bar is set from the first page, when out of the 6 selected quotes regarding Ingrid, 2 refer to her sex life. Then the author takes pleasure in distorting every little fact of her life in a negative direction. All the interpretations of her actions are only in Mr. Leamer's mind, they don't derive from the facts themselves. He has taken a lot of time portraying this woman, who apparently didn't have many artistic or human merits, and one wonders why.
Only the end of the book is less bitter. I assume not much of scandalous or sexual nature could be said of a woman who was slowly dying of cancer, while she was still determined to do the thing she liked the most, acting.
Ingrid Bergman was not a saint, she was a human being, with qualities and flaws. And her place in the history of cinema is not endangered, even by a malevolent biography.
Only the end of the book is less bitter. I assume not much of scandalous or sexual nature could be said of a woman who was slowly dying of cancer, while she was still determined to do the thing she liked the most, acting.
Ingrid Bergman was not a saint, she was a human being, with qualities and flaws. And her place in the history of cinema is not endangered, even by a malevolent biography.
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November 21, 2025Mommyn henkilökohtaisen elämän sädekehää tehokkaasti himmensi tää mutta silti goat näyttelijä
May 26, 2017
This is a deceptively long book—but that’s not a complaint. The font is tiny and there’s a lot packed onto every page. It’s better than Spoto’s Notorious because it gives a sense of the whole person and how she wanted what she couldn’t ever find. Leamer seems less enamored of his subject than other authors, although the book never becomes sleazy. If anything, there's a lot of sadness here: not tragedy, not heartbreak, but sadness. Recommended.
May 27, 2008
Fortunately, this book was published in 1986, when many of Bergman's friends, family members and associates were still living. This is an excellent, well-balanced biography of a very complex woman. Great actress; lousy mother. I couldn't put it down!
July 29, 2021
I used to think I admired Ingrid Bergman. I loved Casablanca, Gaslight, Notorious, Indiscreet, Cactus Flower...I named my calico cat after her because I had another one named Sophie (Sophia Loren)...but after reading this I'm somewhat disappointed.
I wasn't even born when the Rossolini debaucle occurred so all I knew was the original Hollywood legend and then how she'd portrayed Golda Meier so she seemed so mythical. Unfortunately this bio, even from the opening chapters as she attends the dramatic academy in Sweden, doesn't portray her in a very flattering light, already establishing her as overly ambitious and somewhat conceited. She seems to have no shame in her affairs with co-stars and directors, no interest in her children, and despite beauty and talent, she seems one-dimensional and self-absorbed. This may or may not be a true estimate of the real person, and I can still appreciate her films, but Ingrid Bergman's story is more tragic than glamorous to me now.
I wasn't even born when the Rossolini debaucle occurred so all I knew was the original Hollywood legend and then how she'd portrayed Golda Meier so she seemed so mythical. Unfortunately this bio, even from the opening chapters as she attends the dramatic academy in Sweden, doesn't portray her in a very flattering light, already establishing her as overly ambitious and somewhat conceited. She seems to have no shame in her affairs with co-stars and directors, no interest in her children, and despite beauty and talent, she seems one-dimensional and self-absorbed. This may or may not be a true estimate of the real person, and I can still appreciate her films, but Ingrid Bergman's story is more tragic than glamorous to me now.
December 3, 2025
Over 40 years after her death, many of the details seem irrelevant to me. And some are difficult to put in context, for example that Ingrid Bergman got 25 000 dollars for "Casablanca" in 1942. Seven years later filming "Stromboli" in Italy she gets 17 500 dollars per week. Is that more or less than other movie stars at the time? How does it compare today, adjusted for inflation?
But there are excellent parts where Lerner gives a summary of what was most important to Ingrid and how other people perceived her. He makes it clear how hard she worked to succeed, it was not only beauty and charisma.
If Ingrid Bergman hade been a male movie star, she would not have been examined in such detail when leaving her first family in the US. And maybe less also if this book was written today.
But there are excellent parts where Lerner gives a summary of what was most important to Ingrid and how other people perceived her. He makes it clear how hard she worked to succeed, it was not only beauty and charisma.
If Ingrid Bergman hade been a male movie star, she would not have been examined in such detail when leaving her first family in the US. And maybe less also if this book was written today.
July 23, 2017
That this has a current Goodreads composite rating of just 3.14, rather middling, is perhaps a function more of the person the biography is about, than the quality of the biography written by Leamer.
She comes across as something of a shallow, career- and image- obsessed actress and a bit less interesting as a person in and of herself. But Leamer has incorporated a huge amount of research and drawn rather neatly from both sides in Bergman's several marriages so this seems to be a pretty balanced account, and reasonably well written at that. The problem is that our heroine was at times a boring workaholic and a shit to her family (as well as an accomplished actress).
She comes across as something of a shallow, career- and image- obsessed actress and a bit less interesting as a person in and of herself. But Leamer has incorporated a huge amount of research and drawn rather neatly from both sides in Bergman's several marriages so this seems to be a pretty balanced account, and reasonably well written at that. The problem is that our heroine was at times a boring workaholic and a shit to her family (as well as an accomplished actress).
March 27, 2018
The book started out a little slow but gradually made its way into my heart. Ingrid Bergman was quite the character in her roles as well as in her personal life. I don't believe that Laurence Leamer was overtly harsh on his portrayal of Ingrid. She spent so much time and effort on her career that she didn't know how to give it up nor share herself for her children's sake.....we can't all be Oscar winning Stars!
February 12, 2013
Huldigung einer gefühlskalten Dilettantin
Eine Art Gegenentwurf zu Ingrid Bergmanns „Autobiographie“, der sich aber darauf beschränkt die darstellerischen und charakterlichen Defizite der Leinwandgöttin aufzuzeigen. Eine ganze Reihe von mehr oder minder prominenten Liebhabern wird aufgezählt und wurde, so weit am Leben, auch vom Autor befragt. Folgt man Leamers Darstellung dann Ingrid Bergmann nicht besonders gut im Bett und auch sonst eine schrecklich egoistische Frau, die entsprechend kurzsichtige Entscheidungen fällte und in späteren Jahren mit ihren Sonderwünschen in Sachen Besetzung schon mal ganze Filme ruinierte. Ihr Unvermögen sich den dunklen Seiten zu Stellen und selbige, falls für die Rolle erforderlich, auch ins eigene Spiel einzubringen, führte zu weiteren ruinierten Filmen.
Bei aller Kritik an den Schwächen einer Frau, die anscheinend nicht mehr konnte, als gut vor der Kamera auszusehen, verfällt Leamon doch immer wieder der Magie seiner geschmähten Göttin, verfehlt es aber zu beschreiben, worin in den gelungenen Filmen, ihre Magie besteht, bzw. wie sie von Regisseuren oder Kameraleuten in Szene gesetzt wurde.
Auf der anderen Seite fehlt jede Würdigung der Qualitäten von Filmen wie „Viaggio in Italia“ für die weitere Entwicklung des Films, auch wenn der Hauptdarstellerin Ingrid Bergmann der Sinn dafür vollkommen abging. In der Sache Rosselini nimmt Leamon entschieden Partei gegen den Verführer der zeitweiligen Nationalheiligen, die ja schon mehrere Verhältnisse laufen hatte, ehe Frauenheld Roberto sein Vorhaben, die Bergmann binnen zwei Wochen flachzulegen, umsetzte. Der Beginn der Affaire gerät zur Geiselnahme einer willenlosen Frau, dabei zeigt Leamon sonst bei jeder Gelegeneheit, mit welchem Ehrgeiz die Bergmann sonst ihren Willen gegen jede Vernunft durchsetzte, auch bei Leuten, die es besser wissen mussten.
An der in einem anderen Post geäußerte Vermutung, Leamon sei vom ersten Ehemann Petter Lindström, der in der „Autobiographie“ von IB entsprechend schlecht wegkam, entsprechend munitioniert worden, ist sicher was dran, zumal der Autor bei den letzten Jahren eher in Verehrung verfällt, sofern es sich nicht um den letzten Betrug am armen Petter handelte,
der, wieder mal als Letzter mitbekam, dass ihn seine Ex mal wieder ausgetrickst hatte und ihren Biographen, den er eifrigst beliefert hatte, zum Ghostwriter ihrer Autobiographie umfunktioniert hatte.
Eine Art Gegenentwurf zu Ingrid Bergmanns „Autobiographie“, der sich aber darauf beschränkt die darstellerischen und charakterlichen Defizite der Leinwandgöttin aufzuzeigen. Eine ganze Reihe von mehr oder minder prominenten Liebhabern wird aufgezählt und wurde, so weit am Leben, auch vom Autor befragt. Folgt man Leamers Darstellung dann Ingrid Bergmann nicht besonders gut im Bett und auch sonst eine schrecklich egoistische Frau, die entsprechend kurzsichtige Entscheidungen fällte und in späteren Jahren mit ihren Sonderwünschen in Sachen Besetzung schon mal ganze Filme ruinierte. Ihr Unvermögen sich den dunklen Seiten zu Stellen und selbige, falls für die Rolle erforderlich, auch ins eigene Spiel einzubringen, führte zu weiteren ruinierten Filmen.
Bei aller Kritik an den Schwächen einer Frau, die anscheinend nicht mehr konnte, als gut vor der Kamera auszusehen, verfällt Leamon doch immer wieder der Magie seiner geschmähten Göttin, verfehlt es aber zu beschreiben, worin in den gelungenen Filmen, ihre Magie besteht, bzw. wie sie von Regisseuren oder Kameraleuten in Szene gesetzt wurde.
Auf der anderen Seite fehlt jede Würdigung der Qualitäten von Filmen wie „Viaggio in Italia“ für die weitere Entwicklung des Films, auch wenn der Hauptdarstellerin Ingrid Bergmann der Sinn dafür vollkommen abging. In der Sache Rosselini nimmt Leamon entschieden Partei gegen den Verführer der zeitweiligen Nationalheiligen, die ja schon mehrere Verhältnisse laufen hatte, ehe Frauenheld Roberto sein Vorhaben, die Bergmann binnen zwei Wochen flachzulegen, umsetzte. Der Beginn der Affaire gerät zur Geiselnahme einer willenlosen Frau, dabei zeigt Leamon sonst bei jeder Gelegeneheit, mit welchem Ehrgeiz die Bergmann sonst ihren Willen gegen jede Vernunft durchsetzte, auch bei Leuten, die es besser wissen mussten.
An der in einem anderen Post geäußerte Vermutung, Leamon sei vom ersten Ehemann Petter Lindström, der in der „Autobiographie“ von IB entsprechend schlecht wegkam, entsprechend munitioniert worden, ist sicher was dran, zumal der Autor bei den letzten Jahren eher in Verehrung verfällt, sofern es sich nicht um den letzten Betrug am armen Petter handelte,
der, wieder mal als Letzter mitbekam, dass ihn seine Ex mal wieder ausgetrickst hatte und ihren Biographen, den er eifrigst beliefert hatte, zum Ghostwriter ihrer Autobiographie umfunktioniert hatte.
July 7, 2014
Ingrid Bergman was a legendary performer from the Golden Age of Hollywood, and her life was just as full and interesting as any of the films and plays in which she performed. This book is a reasonably well-written chronicle of that life, from her birth to her first forays into motion pictures in Sweden, her brief work in Germany, the wooing by Hollywood studios, her complicated family life, her three marriages, her four children, her scandals and affairs, and all the entertainment she helped to produce along the way. Thankfully, it does not dwell too long on each film and play, which are easily found in theatre and cinema books, but concentrates instead on what was going on behind the scenes, giving the human side to the story. The book was published in 1986, only four years after her death, and includes material from interviews with many of the people in Miss Bergman's life who have now also passed away. Obviously any posthumous biography does not allow its subject to give their own side to any controversy, but author Leamer is sometimes too inclined to take sides when there is some ambiguity in the morals of those he is writing about, and express a little tabloid outrage. He also misspelled the name of family chef and personal secretary Paavo Turtiainen as "Pavo"; trivial perhaps, but because getting names right in a biography is such a basic point, you start to wonder what other details he has reported incorrectly. Otherwise it is a readable account of a life lived like a traditional movie star, and I felt genuinely sad when he described her years battling cancer and her last weeks.
November 11, 2022
So Ingrid Bergman slept around. I pretty much knew that, seeing how she left her husband and young daughter to run off with Roberto Rossellini.
What I wasn't aware of was just how brazen and promiscuous she was, so unlike the ethereal, virginal persona that was captured by the camera. Rossellini too, was no love of her life, and your typical reader's sympathies (this one included) does not, cannot go out to Ingrid for having been so hasty in her judgment. Not that her first husband was any better, really. He has consistently refuted most everyone's testimonies or random observations of Ingrid. I think she was better off without the doctor, but she could have chosen someone else to run away with, definitely not Rossellini. Lars Schmidt proved the most stable of all three, never mind his little dalliances--nothing compared to her, certainly.
Ironic too, was how the movie that was to tide her over until she landed "the big one" would be the one movie that would catapult her and the rest of the cast and crew into movie history.
Overall, I think Ingrid Bergman was that consummate artist who lived for the camera and the stage. Nothing else really mattered. In this day and age she would have been right at home. She would not have been pressured to marry, to have children. She could have gone out with countless men (or women) and there would have been none of those histrionics from Italy to Washington.
Insightful book, but the writing could have been more developed and certain scenarios expounded on.
What I wasn't aware of was just how brazen and promiscuous she was, so unlike the ethereal, virginal persona that was captured by the camera. Rossellini too, was no love of her life, and your typical reader's sympathies (this one included) does not, cannot go out to Ingrid for having been so hasty in her judgment. Not that her first husband was any better, really. He has consistently refuted most everyone's testimonies or random observations of Ingrid. I think she was better off without the doctor, but she could have chosen someone else to run away with, definitely not Rossellini. Lars Schmidt proved the most stable of all three, never mind his little dalliances--nothing compared to her, certainly.
Ironic too, was how the movie that was to tide her over until she landed "the big one" would be the one movie that would catapult her and the rest of the cast and crew into movie history.
Overall, I think Ingrid Bergman was that consummate artist who lived for the camera and the stage. Nothing else really mattered. In this day and age she would have been right at home. She would not have been pressured to marry, to have children. She could have gone out with countless men (or women) and there would have been none of those histrionics from Italy to Washington.
Insightful book, but the writing could have been more developed and certain scenarios expounded on.
March 31, 2015
This is really a trash book. It is obvious that Leamer's aim was to destroy the good reputation of Ingrid Bergman with the help of her first husband Petter Lindstrom. Usually, i don't say anything about him out of respect for Pia but this book was written of his hatred for her ex-wife. Ingrid Bergman wasn't a saint - as none of us is - but she wasn't that evil promiscuous heavy drinker woman she is painted here either. It's clear that Lindstrom couldn't accept the fact the she left him which clearly states the kind of man he was. I finished the book just to be able to criticize it. And what really makes me smiles is that in the obituary of Lindstrom he is still mentioned as the man Ingrid Bergman left for Rossellini.
This so-called book is poorly written and is full of half truths and lies. Not recommend to anybody.
This so-called book is poorly written and is full of half truths and lies. Not recommend to anybody.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews