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Series looking at photographs of ten icons. This edition reveals the extraordinary game of cat and mouse played out between Greta Garbo and the camera.

Greta Garbo was one of the most mysterious and secretive film stars of the 20th century - she cast a spell over Hollywood in the 1920s and 30s with her exotic looks and hypnotic presence. She was ferociously protective of her private life and detested being photographed off the movie set.

With her last screen appearance in 1941, she spent the next 50 years playing a game of cat and mouse with photographers. But the more she tried to hide from the camera, the more aggressively she was hunted down. One photographer stalked her around New York for the last ten years of her life - many of these photographs are revealed here for the first time.

Greta Garbo's life became a nightmare - a disturbing parable of the 20th-century obsession with celebrity.

29 minutes

Music Played

  • Yann Tiersen

    La Valse d'Amelie

  • Benny Goodman

    One O' Clock Jump

  • Lemon Jelly

    In The Bath

Credits

Role Contributor
Director Victoria Page
Series Producer Chris Granlund
Executive Producer Kim Thomas

Broadcasts