Greer Garson


Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson was a British and American actress and singer. She was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer popularized during the Second World War for her portrayal of strong women on the homefront; listed by the Motion Picture Herald as one of America's top-ten box office draws from 1942 to 1946.
Garson received seven Academy Award nominations, including a record-tying five consecutive nominations in the Best Actress category, winning the award for her performance in the title role of the 1942 film Mrs. Miniver.

Early life

Greer Garson was born on 29 September 1904 in Manor Park, East Ham, the only child of Nina and George Garson, a commercial clerk in a London importing business. Her father was born in London to Scottish parents, and her mother was born at Drumalore, a townland near Belturbet in County Cavan, Ireland. The name Greer is a contraction of MacGregor, another family name.
Her maternal grandfather was David Greer from Kilrea, County Londonderry, an RIC sergeant stationed for a time in Castlewellan, County Down. In the 1870s or 1880s, he became a land steward to the Annesley family, wealthy landlords who built the town of Castlewellan. While in Castlewellan, David Greer lived in a large detached house built on the lower part of what was known as Pig Street, or locally known as the Back Way, near Shilliday's builder's yard. The house was called "Claremount", and today the street is named Claremount Avenue. It was often reported erroneously that Greer Garson was born in this house.
Garson was educated at King's College, London and the University of Grenoble, where she earned degrees in French and 18th-century literature. While aspiring to be an actress, she worked at an advertising agency as a company secretary along with George Sanders, who wrote in his autobiography that it was Garson who suggested he take up a career in acting.

Career

Garson's early professional appearances were on stage, starting at Birmingham Repertory Theatre in January 1932, when she was 27 years old. She appeared on television during its earliest years, most notably starring in a 30-minute production of an excerpt of Twelfth Night in May 1937, with Dorothy Black. These live transmissions were part of the BBC's experimental service from Alexandra Palace, and this is the first known instance of a Shakespeare play performed on television. In 1936, she appeared in the West End in Charles Bennett's play Page From a Diary.
Louis B. Mayer discovered Garson while he was in London looking for new talent. Garson was signed to a contract with MGM in late 1937, but did not begin work on her first film, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, until late 1938. She received her first Oscar nomination for the role but lost to Vivien Leigh for Gone with the Wind. She received critical acclaim the next year for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1940 film Pride and Prejudice.
Garson starred with Joan Crawford in When Ladies Meet, a 1941 poorly received and sanitized re-make of a Pre-Code version of the same name, which had starred Ann Harding and Myrna Loy. That same year, she became a major box-office star with the sentimental Technicolor drama Blossoms in the Dust, which brought her the second of five consecutive Best Actress Oscar nominations, tying Bette Davis's 1938–1942 record, which still stands.
Garson won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1942 for her role as a strong British wife and mother protecting the homefront during World War II in Mrs. Miniver. The Guinness Book of World Records credits her with the longest Oscar acceptance speech, at five minutes and 30 seconds, after which the Academy Awards instituted a time limit.
In 1942, Garson also co-starred in the powerful, dramatic film Random Harvest with Academy Award winner Ronald Colman. Set at the end of World War I, with Ronald Colman as an amnesiac soldier and Greer Garson as his love interest, Random Harvest received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. It lost to Mrs. Miniver, Garson's other major film that year. Colman was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Random Harvest, but Garson could not be nominated for hers as she was already nominated for her title role in Mrs. Miniver.
in The Miniver Story, a sequel to the successful award winning Mrs. Miniver
Garson also received Oscar nominations for her performances in the films Madame Curie, Mrs. Parkington, and The Valley of Decision. She frequently co-starred with Walter Pidgeon, ultimately making eight pictures with him: Blossoms in the Dust, Mrs. Miniver, Madame Curie, Mrs. Parkington, Julia Misbehaves, That Forsyte Woman, The Miniver Story, and Scandal at Scourie.
Garson was partnered with Clark Gable after his return from war service in Adventure. The film was advertised with the catch-phrase "Gable's back, and Garson's got him!". Gable argued for "He put the Arson in Garson"; she countered with "She put the Able in Gable!"; thereafter, the safer catchphrase was selected.
Garson's popularity declined somewhat in the late 1940s, but she remained a prominent film star until the mid-1950s. In 1951, she became a naturalised citizen of the United States. She made only a few films after her MGM contract expired in 1954. In 1958, she received a warm reception on Broadway in Auntie Mame, replacing Rosalind Russell, who had gone to Hollywood to make the film version. In 1960, Garson received her seventh and final Oscar nomination for Sunrise at Campobello in which she played Eleanor Roosevelt, this time losing to Elizabeth Taylor for BUtterfield 8.
Greer was special guest on an episode of the TV series Father Knows Best, playing herself. On 4 October 1956, Garson appeared with Reginald Gardiner as the first two guest stars of the series in the premiere of NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford. She on What's My Line on 25 October 1953 and on 6 April 1958 to promote her appearance on stage in Auntie Mame. She also served as a panelist rather than a guest on the What's My Line episode which aired on 12 May 1957.
She returned to MGM for a role in The Singing Nun starring Debbie Reynolds. Her last film, in 1967, was Walt Disney's The Happiest Millionaire, although she made infrequent television appearances afterwards. In 1968, she narrated the children's television special The Little Drummer Boy. Her final role for television was in a 1982 episode of The Love Boat.

Honours

Garson received an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, her late husband's alma mater, in 1991.
In 1993, Queen Elizabeth II recognised Garson's achievements by investing her as Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Garson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 8 February 1960 located at 1651 Vine Street in Los Angeles, CA.

Personal life

Garson was married three times. Her first marriage, on 28 September 1933, was to Edward Alec Abbot Snelson, later Sir Edward, a British civil servant who became a noted judge and expert in Indian affairs. After a honeymoon in Germany, he returned to his appointment at Nagpur, a town in central India, and she chose to return to her mother and the theatre in Britain. Sir Edward reportedly grieved at losing her and would watch multiple screenings of any film of hers that played in Nagpur. The marriage was not formally dissolved until 1943.
Her second marriage, on 24 July 1943, was to Richard Ney, a young actor who had played her son in Mrs. Miniver. The relationship was under constant scrutiny owing to their 12-year age difference. MGM tried to publicize that Garson was merely three years older than Ney and to portray the image of a happy couple, but the marriage was troubled. They divorced in 1947 after several attempts at reconciliation. Ney eventually became a stock-market analyst, financial consultant, and author.
Her third marriage in 1949, was to millionaire Texas oilman and horse breeder, E.E. "Buddy" Fogelson.
In 1967, the couple retired to their Forked Lightning Ranch in New Mexico. They purchased the US Hall of Fame champion Thoroughbred Ack Ack from the estate of Harry F. Guggenheim in 1971 and were successful as breeders. They also maintained a home in Dallas, where Garson funded the Greer Garson Theatre facility at Southern Methodist University.
She founded a permanent endowment for the Fogelson Honors Forum at Texas Christian University, Buddy Fogelson's alma mater, in nearby Fort Worth.
Garson was a registered Republican and in 1966 was asked to run for Congress on the Republican ticket against Democrat Earle Cabell but declined. She was a devout Presbyterian.
During her later years, Garson was recognised for her philanthropy and civic leadership. She donated several million dollars for the construction of the Greer Garson Theatre at both the Santa Fe University of Art and Design and at Southern Methodist University's Meadows School of the Arts on three conditions: 1) the stages be circular, 2) the premiere production be A Midsummer Night's Dream, and 3) they have large ladies' rooms.
The actress suffered a back injury during her first 18 months at MGM while waiting for a role Mayer deemed worthy of her, and was nearly released from her contract. Her back was injured again while filming Desire Me in Monterey on 26 April 1946 when a wave knocked her and co-star Richard Hart from the rocks where they were rehearsing. A local fisherman and extra in the film rescued Garson from the surf and potential undertow. She was bruised and in shock and required by doctors to rest for several days. The injury to her back would require several surgeries over the coming years.
Garson lived her final years in a penthouse suite at the Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, where she died from heart failure on 6 April 1996 at the age of 91. She is interred beside her husband in the Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Dallas.

Filmography

Box Office Ranking

YearUS RankUK Rank
19429th
19436th1st
19446th3rd
19453rd3rd
19467th4th

Television appearances

Radio appearances