Notorious: The Life of Ingrid Bergman

by Donald Spoto

Book Overview

The life of Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982) is as compelling as that of any of the women she portrayed in dozens of unforgettable movies and plays--a list that includes Casablanca, Intermezzo, Gaslight,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060187026
• ISBN13: 9780060187026
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 474 Pages
• Weight: 2.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.8" x 6.5" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Reading this will make you want to go back and rent all Berman's films

Ingrid Bergman was an actress who acted on stage, screen and television in five languages . . . doing so, she won three Academy Awards, a Tony and an Emmy . . . and she lived a fascinating life, as depicted in NOTORIOUS by Donald Spoto. This is one of the best biographies that I have read in quite some time . . . reading it made me feel as if I got to know Bergman and what made her tick. If you're a movie fan like me, you'll enjoy the behind-the-scenes stories about her career, such as this one account of how she came upon her screen name: * The first meeting between Ingrid and David (Selznick), over cold lamb and whiskey, continued as he returned to the subject of her name, which he said was too German. What about renaming her Ingrid Berryman? "Bergman is a good name and I like it," she replied. "If I fail in American, I can go back to Sweden and still be Ingrid Bergman." I also liked reading about her take on acting: * I haven't read many of those books about acting. I think instinctively, and even the first time I read a script I know exactly how the woman is. That is why I turn down many things I don't understand. I must understand the character completely; I mean, there must be something inside me that is that person, and then immediately I feel it. It is more a feeling than a technique. And though there were a lot of names used throughout the book, I did not feel that Spoto was mean-spirited in what he had to say about Bergman or her many lovers . . . after all she was, to quote the book's title, somewhat notorious . . . and she did leave her first husband and daughter to have both an affair and child out of wedlock with Italian director Roberto Rosselini. Yet it was Spoto's account of her non-affair with Alfred Hitchcock that I found particularly moving: * But Hitchcock's immediate response that warm September afternoon in his office was to remind Ingrid of the final scene in SPELLBOUND between her and Michael Chekov, who had played her mentor. "It is very sad to love and lose somebody," Hitchcock quoted, repeating the dialogue of Dr. Brulov as he embraced the weeping Dr. Peterson, who fears she has lost her lover forever. "But in a while you will forget and you will take up the threads of your life where you left it not long ago. And you will work hard. There is lots of happiness in working hard--maybe the most." The speech now had a different application. Ingrid at once recognized the words, and her eyes filled with tears. Hitchcock had offered her com fort with the same words he spoke for himself: what other refuge had they, these two lovers, but the work that lay before them? She might not have Capa, but she had her work, and now her work was with him; as for Hitchcock, he knew all too poignantly that yes, indeed, her work was with him, but her heart was not--or rather her heart was with him as a daughter and friend. They were both, in a way, lost souls. That quiet afternoon, they sat--allies in dist

So St. Ingrid she wasn't...

...so have you never made a mistake? We can thank her money-grubbing first husband Petter Lindstrom for her "indiscretions" with Roberto Rossolini and others---if he had spent more time as a loving mate instead of a calculating business manager who belittled Ingrid and put her on a paltry allowance, then maybe none of the nonsense which haunted her for so long would have happened at all. He played the boss, but she was the bread winner, and the shame of it is she let him get away with it!!She had the same emotional needs as any other woman OR man. But only under the moralistic hyprocrisy of the U.S. at the time could such a woman (I doubt if a man would) have been so pilloried---the rest of the planet was not so hung up as we on attempting to be the guardian of world morals, especially when we had more than enough of our own dirty laundry we kept trying to hide.No matter, because her beauty, wit and talent counted for more, and in the end she won anyway. She knew her craft well (who else would have felt secure enough to suggest script changes to Hitchcock, and have him acquiesce??) and lived it not at all for money or fame, but rather for the sake of the craft itself. And what she left to stage and screen through the body of her work, through her very presence, will forever be her only true legacy.

She really was notorious

I was a young adult when Ingrid died and I was not aware of her fame and reputation as a film star. I saw her occasionally in old movies and was fascinated by her glowing beauty and talent. I was appalled by her appearance in her role as Golda Meir; she had changed so much, but now I know why. Spoto's biography about Ingrid revealed her intimately -- from her childhood to her death, throughout her marriages and affairs, the successes of her career, and relationships with friends and family. I didn't know that she had been banned from America for her "sins", and I didn't know she had other children besides Isabella Rosselini. In spite of her foibles, Ingrid still seems like a great woman, thanks to the passionate -- and compassionate -- telling of her life story by Spoto. The audio version of the book was completely compelling to listen to, enhanced by the reader, C.M. Herbert, whose voice had a quality similar to Ingrid's, and therefore made Ingrid come even more to life.

A woman called Ingrid.

Spellbound, Notorious, Anastasia & many other films come to mind when one thinks of Bergman.This is a detail packed book covering her personal & professional life.If you want to learn about her relationships, romantic & professional, how she developed & utilized her talent as an actress, & why people the world over admired, loved her & for a brief time despised her, then this is the book for you.A wonderful collection of photographs is included, as well as an excellent Bibliography & collection of notes.This is the story of an actress whose performances on screen & her life off the screen changed peoples ideas of what it was to be a woman, & is a must read for Movie fans.

Well-researched, affectionate, even-handed and moving.

"Notorious" is well-written and deeply moving. Thebare facts of Bergman's life indicate that she was ambitious,impulsive, and not a little selfish. And of course we all know that she was beautiful and incomparably compelling. Spoto makes a good case for Bergman as passionate artist, as well, and while the pursuit of Truth does not automatically excuse all bad behavior, it certainly explains a great deal. Ingrid Bergman has gone from saint to sinner to martyr. Donald Spoto restores her humanity.