Ingrid Bergman

When she was three years of age, her mother died. Her father, who was an artist and photographer, died when she was thirteen. In the years before he died, he wanted her to become an opera star, and had her take voice lessons for three years. But she always "knew from the beginning that she wanted to be an actress", sometimes wearing her mother's clothes and staging plays in her father's empty studio. Her father documented all her birthdays with a borrowed camera.

After his death, she was then sent to live with an aunt, who died of heart complications only six months later. She then moved in with her Aunt Hulda and Uncle Otto, who had five children. Another aunt she visited, Elsa Adler, first told Ingrid, when she was 11, that her mother may have "some Jewish blood", and that her father was aware of that fact long before they married. But her aunt also cautioned her about telling others about her possible ancestry as "there might be some difficult times coming." Read Less

Unable to speak English and uncertain about her acceptance by the American audience, she expected to complete this one film and return home to Sweden. Her husband, Petter, remained in Sweden with their daughter Pia. In the film she played the role of a young piano accompanist opposite Leslie Howard as a famous violin virtuoso.

She arrived in Los Angeles on 6 May 1939, and stayed at the Selznick home until she could find another residence. According to David Selznick's son Danny, who was a child at the time, his father had a few concerns about Ingrid: "She didn't speak English, she was too tall, her name sounded too German, and her eyebrows were too thick." However, Bergman was soon accepted without having to modify her looks or name, despite some early suggestions by Selznick. "He let her have her way", notes a story in Life Magazine. Selznick understood her fear of Hollywood make-up artists, who might turn her into someone she wouldn't recognize, and "instructed them to lay off." He was also aware that her natural good looks would compete successfully with Hollywood's "synthetic razzle-dazzle." Read Less

This led to her being cast in his film Stromboli (1950). During production, Bergman fell in love with Rossellini, and they began an affair. Bergman became pregnant with their son, Renato Roberto Ranaldo Giusto Giuseppe ("Robin") Rossellini (born 2 February 1950).

This affair caused a huge scandal in the United States, where it led to Bergman being denounced on the floor of the United States Senate. Ed Sullivan chose not to have her on his show, despite a poll indicating that the public wanted her to appear. However, Steve Allen, whose show was equally popular, did have her on, later explaining "the danger of trying to judge artistic activity through the prism of one's personal life." Spoto notes that Bergman had, by virtue of her roles and screen persona, placed herself "above all that". She had played a nun in The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) and a virgin saint in Joan of Arc (1948), and Bergman herself later acknowledged, "People saw me in Joan of Arc and declared me a saint. I'm not. I'm just a woman, another human being." Read Less

In the film, Bergman plays a celebrity pianist who travels to Norway to visit her neglected daughter, played by Liv Ullmann. The film was shot in Norway. It is considered by many to be among her best performances. Read Less