Greta & Cecil

by Diana Souhami

Think of Greta Garbo: imagine aloofness, eyelashes, huskiness, naturalness, "the smell of freshly mown hay." Think of Cecil Beaton: imagine camp foppery, narcissism, extravagance, artifice, "a snotty peacock." The two met once in 1932, then not again for 14 years, at which point they became embroiled in a thrillingly uneven relationship marked by projection, mismatched desire, and masochism. So what was the "terrible homosexualist" society photographer doing with "the divine" actress? Amateur psychologists, sharpen your pencils. Diana Souhami wisely does not allow herself to extemporize too wildly, despite the understandable allure of such an alliance. Along with the Scandinavian shoulders and paddle feet, Garbo also possessed a Nordic cold melancholy, rendering her screen portrayals attractively distant and her own self frustratingly absent. The truth was that she did not seem to possess a character to match her undoubted grace and beauty. Beaton, on the other hand, was instinctively bright and bursting with desire to be adored. He matched her indolence with bustling industry. At times, particularly in the recounting of his early days, his obnoxiousness borders on the unbearable, and Souhami barely conceals her disgusted glee. But she is superb at reining in such characters, as she showed in Gertrude and Alice, and she thrives on the challenge of eliciting respect for the sheer indomitable life force of such individuals. Beaton pursued the artificial throughout his life, and nothing could be more superficial than the hollow idealized self he saw in Garbo.

Absence--physical, emotional, and sexual--pervades every aspect of this book. Souhami's sympathetic and shrewd attentions coax a tragic and complicatedly familiar story from two masters of illusion who are united, then estranged, by their lonely natures--uncomfortable in their own skins but ultimately unable to live within each other's. --David Vincent, Amazon.co.uk

Genres: Biography, Film, LGBT

272 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1994

About the author

Diana Souhami was brought up in London and studied philosophy at Hull University. She worked in the publications department of the BBC before turning to biography. In 1986 she was approached by Pandora Press and received a commission to write a biography of Hannah Gluckstein. Souhami became a full-time writer publishing biographies which mostly explore the most influential and intriguing of 20th century lesbian and gay lives.

She is the author of 12 critically acclaimed nonfiction and biography books, including Selkirk’s Island (winner of the Whitbread Biography Award), The Trials of Radclyffe Hall (winner of the Lambda Literary Award and shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Biography), the bestselling Mrs. Keppel and Her Daughter (winner of the Lambda Literary Award and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year), Gertrude and Alice, and Wild Girls: Paris, Sappho, and Art. She lives in London.

Reviews

[Pascale · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read, in the best sense of the term. Souhami gives a blow by blow account of the tortuous relationship between Garbo and Cecil Beaton, the social climber who extracted a fortune and a knighthood out of his rather limited talent for making rich people look beautiful. Inevitably, we see more of Beaton's side of the story, because he was an inveterate gossip and diarist, whereas Garbo talked little and wrote less. Beaton's fascination for the wealthy and famous seems to be the only reason he latched on to Garbo and for years tried to convince himself, her and the world that he was deeply in love with her. Based on the evidence collected by Souhami, Garbo never believed a word of it, but was as a rule so bored and depressed that Beaton's company was, at times, the right tonic for her. Souhami gives the impression that it is a shame Garbo made enough money with just 2 dozen films to last a lifetime. Her phenomenal success turned into a kind of curse. It's such a waste that for 50 years Garbo wandered around the globe feeling blue without anybody being really able to engage her, and yet reading this book made me more curious than ever about her.

[Gayle (OutsmartYourShelf) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Neither of the main players in this account of the on/off relationship between Greta Garbo & Cecil Beaton come across as very nice people. Garbo, well-known as reclusive, seems also quite selfish & rude & dismissive of her fans, whilst Beaton seems like a bit of a flibbertigibbet. They meet, then don't meet for fifteen years, meet again & have a brief affair, which Beaton thinks will lead to marriage. When it doesn't, Beaton commits the ultimate betrayal in Garbo's eyes - he talks to the press.

There's an LGBTQ+ slant to the book as both Garbo & Beaton had affairs with both men & women, & both liked to wear clothes typically worn by the opposite sex at the time. Ultimately their personalities were too different to have ever made a go of things as a couple. Overall it was quite interesting as I didn't know a lot about either of them, but really, not much happened & it was very slow at times.

TW: racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, & misogynist phrases in the period quotations.

[Herman Plasmans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite interesting. How hopeless was Cecil !

[Cynthia Bemis Abrams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice compilation and detailed documentation of an important relationship of Greta Garbo's very private world.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This poorly written and ultra boring biography further demonstrates that Cecil Beaton was simply a star$#@!er who was only interested in Garbo the actress and not Garbo the person--then constantly ponders why she is so boring and unlike her screen persona in real life.

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Souhami's books. She always has a relaxed chatty way of presenting all the research she's obviously done, and she writes about people I find fascinating.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting part of Cecil Beaton's life with a good piece on Stephen Tennant.