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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ClassyCo" data-source="post: 340971" data-attributes="member: 7">A lot of actresses have been publicized over the years as being a successor to Greta Garbo. Luise Rainier and Hedy Lamarr were probably the most successful, while Signe Hasso typically slides right through the cracks. Signe Hasso first came to my attention when I saw an interview she gave for the made-for-TV documentary called HOLLYWOOD RIVALS, which profiled the relationship and alleged rivalry between Garbo and Marlene Dietrich. In the interview, she spoke of how director George Cukor spoke highly of Garbo as one of the finest actresses ever to grace the screen. Intrigued because I had never heard of Hasso before, I decided to do some digging. Just like Garbo, she was born in Stockholm, Sweden, but in 1915, ten years after Garbo. Her father and grandfather passed away when she was just four, leaving Hasso, her mother, grandmother, and siblings to share a one-room living space. Her mother, a former aspiring actress herself, worked to support the family as a waffle cook. Her acting career reportedly began by accident. When a young actress fell ill, Hasso’s mother was asked if she knew of anyone to replace her. Hasso later recalled that her mother petitioned the opportunity to both her and her sister. Their mother flipped a coin to see who she would suggest, and it was Hasso who won. She performed in Royal Dramatic Theatre productions beginning in 1927 when she was 12, and enrolled as the youngest acting student in its history when she was 16. Hasso performed on the stage and the screen while in Sweden. Her professional surname was derived from her marriage to director Harry Hasso, who she met and married in 1933. They would have one son together and ultimately divorced in 1941. The following year, she was noticed by American filmmaker Howard Hughes, who eventually persuaded her to come to the U.S. and sign a long-term option with his RKO Pictures. It was the RKO publicity department that touted her "the next Garbo" in the press. With her American movie career off to a slow start, she turned towards the stage to earn a living. According to the Internet Broadway Database, she appeared in five Broadway productions, beginning with GOLDEN WINGS (1941). Frustrated with RKO and their lack of career development, she moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (Garbo's old home studio) in the mid-1940s. Her first notable American screen role was in HEAVEN CAN WAIT (1943), starring Don Ameche and Gene Tierney. Some of her other noteworthy films of the era included the drama THE SEVENTH CROSS (1944), co-starring Spencer Tracy, and the film noirs JOHNNY ANGEL (1945) with George Raft and THE HOUSE ON 92nd STREET (1945) with William Eythe. Hasso later proclaimed her role in A DOUBLE LIFE (1947) with Ronald Colman to be her personal favorite. By the 1950s, however, her acting career had stalled. She spent the majority of her time acting on television, making few films, and working for Eva Le Galliene's American Repertory Company. During this time, she also befriended comedian Bob Hope, and was a frequent guest on his television shows and specials. Her only child was killed in a motorcycle accident in Santa Monica in 1957. She also appeared on such shows as BONANZA, THE OUTER LIMITS, STARSKY & HUTCH, and HART TO HART. She had a supporting role in the Grande Dame Guignol-style thriller PICTURE MOMMY DEAD (1966), and later appeared in the Oscar-nominated film I NEVER PROMISED YOU A ROSE GARDEN (1977). She continued acting on stage and the screen in both America and Sweden until she retired in the late-1990s. She also translated Swedish folk songs into English, releasing them as semi-autobiographical albums. She passed away in 2002, aged 86, from cancer. [ATTACH=full]40886[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

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