Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca

Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca

Ingrid Bergman is an actress who enjoyed a career that spanned fifty years and saw her star in movies such as Casablanca and pick up three Oscars.

Bergman received a scholarship to the Royal Dramatic Theatre School in Stockholm when she was just seventeen and it wasn't long before she was on the stage.

But she didn't stay at the school for longer than a year as she landed her first film role in 1935 in Munkbrogreven and, after that, she started working full time.

In a handful of years working in Swedish cinema her American break came in 1939 when she landed a part in Intermezzo: A Love Story.

The movie was an American remake of the Swedish film Intermezzo and producer thought that Bergman would be right for the movie - despite the fact that she could not speak English.

Bergman left her husband and young daughter in Sweden as she went to work on the picture in 1939 - expecting to return after her work was done.

But Intermezzo: A Love Story was a huge hit and the film cemented Bergman as a new and exciting talent and the roles in American movies started to flood in.

Her most famous part came in 1942 as she teamed up with Humphrey Bogart for World War II drama Casablanca.

The movie was directed by Michael Curtiz and was based on Everybody Come To Rick's by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison.

Casablanca was a big hit and went on to be nominated for eight Oscars, winning three including Best Picture.

And Casablanca has endured over the years to become not only one of the greatest love stories of all time but also one of the best movies of all time - in just a couple of years in the U.S. Bergman had cemented her place in film history.

1943 saw Bergman make her first colour movie as she starred in For Whom The Bell Tolls the movie also saw her receive her first Oscar nominated for Best Actress.

While she missed out on picking up the most coveted prize in film she didn't have to wait long before she got her hands on the prize as she won the next year for Gaslight.

She received a third consecutive Best Actress nominated the very next year for her performance in The Bells of St Mary's - but she missed out.

By now Bergman was one of the most recognisable faces on the big screen and she went on to team up with Alfred Hitchcock throughout the middle and end of the forties as they worked on three projects together; Spellbound, Notorious and Under Capricorn.

Another Oscar nomination came her way in 1948 for her central role of Joan of Arc in 1948 before her personal life had a huge impact on her professional life.

Bergman began an affair with director Roberto Rossellini when they were working on Stromboli and she fell pregnant.

This caused a huge scandal in American and she left for Italy where, after divorcing her first husband, Bergman and Rossellini were married.

It wasn't until 1956 and the movie Anastasia that Bergman made a triumphant return to American cinema and she was welcomed back as she won her second BEst Actress Oscar for her performance in the movie.

She won her third and final Oscar, this time for Best Supporting Actress, for Murder on the Orient Express in 1974.

She made her final acting role came in 1982 with TV series  A Woman Called Golda. That same year at the age of sixty seven she lost her battle with breast cancer.

Ingrid Bergman was one of the brightest stars that shined on the big screen throughout the forties and fifties and remains one of this industry's greatest talents.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw


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