A Lover's Scandal! Ingrid Bergman: Influence of Evil

Welcome to 2013 - a year of scandals at A Person in the Dark. Yes, I love movies, but I confess I am a sucker for those juicy Hollywood scandals of old.

February's Scandal: Ingrid Bergman - from Saint to Whore

WTF?

It is hard to believe that this woman was once denounced on the US Senate floor as an "influence of evil." Her sin: falling in love and running off with a man not her husband. 

Now, this is Hollywood we are talking about. Let's look back: in the 1920s, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, both married to others, engaged in a hot extra-marital affair that tore both their marriages apart. They subsequently became the king and queen of Hollywood. Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier began their epic love affair when married to others and Humphrey Bogart was still married when he fell for the 19-year old Lauren Bacall. All three couples were much beloved. Their romances were seen as proof of the triumph of true love against all odds (even though 2 of the 3 divorced).

Enter Ingrid Bergman in 1939, the year the Swedish beauty was introduced to American audiences in "Intermezzo: A Love Story." Her natural, healthy beauty that radiated purity was an immediate hit with the public and soon her husband, Dr. Petter Lindstrom and infant daughter, Pia, joined her in a permanent residence in Hollywood. Ingrid could do no wrong. Her career was in high gear and her image was spotless.


The Ingrid Bergman the world fell in love with in "Intermezzo"

 Like most stars, Ingrid's image was at odds with her reality. Though she was portrayed as a happily married wife and mother, the truth was that Ingrid was one lusty lass and the good doctor did not like being known as Mr. Ingrid Bergman. At some point he made a decision to spend a great deal of his professional time in San Francisco and Ingrid was free to engage in affairs with Gary Cooper, Gregory Peck, harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler and photographer Robert Capa (to name just a few). Life was a breeze for Ingrid: she was a 100% Ivory Soap Pure Saint to her public (even though she was equally adept at playing bad girls), her career was on fire and she easily managed her husband, child and extra curricular affairs. 

Ingrid in 1948's "Joan of Arc" - her last appearance as a saint

In 1949, the new "It Boy" of cinema was Italian filmmaker, Roberto Rossellini. Rossellini, a notorious playboy, was riding high on the universal acclaim of his neo-realist classics "Open City" and "Paisan." Ingrid, like so many, was enthralled with Rossellini's bold new style. She was so taken with him that she penned a fan letter and offered her services:

If you need a Swedish actress who speaks English very well, who has not forgotten her German, who is not very understandable in French and who in Italian knows only "ti amo," I am ready to come make a film with you.

And so she did. Rossellini promptly dropped the 5 women he was seeing at the time (including his "Open City" star actress Anna Magnani) and fell for Ingrid's charms. For her part, Ingrid fell madly, passionately in love and left her husband. And she got pregnant. All the while they worked together to film "Stromboli."

Roberto Rossellini directs Ingrid Bergman

Meanwhile, back in the USA a firestorm of criticism erupted over the actions of a Hollywood actress. Returning to Hollywood after filming "Stromboli" (and 3 months pregnant at the time), Ingrid refused to confirm her pregnancy to the vituperative gossip columnist, Hedda Hopper. When rival Louella Parson scooped Hopper on the out-of-wedlock bambino in the oven, Hopper trashed Saint Ingrid without mercy.

Hedda Hopper: cross her and she destroys

Before she knew what hit her, Ingrid Bergman went from saint to slut. Outrage over her infidelity made the papers, church pulpits and even the floor of the US senate. Incredibly, politicians took the time out of their busy schedule to weigh in on Ingrid Bergman. Senator Edwin C. Johnson of Colorado condemned her as a "free-love cultist" and "a horrible example of womanhood and a powerful influence of evil." Yikes! No doubt her sainted image worked against the real woman, and Ingrid had no choice but to high-tail it back to Italy. Because a nasty divorce and custody battle ensued while Ingrid was pregnant, her son, Robertino Rossellini, was born a week before the divorce became final and Ingrid and Rossellini finally married. During that same month "Stromboli" was released internationally, where, banned and boycotted, it bombed.

Like many great love affairs, this one, too, petered out. Ingrid and her Italian made 2 more children (twins Isabella and Isotta) and five more unsuccessful films before they called it quits in 1957. Ingrid said that the Swedish and Italian temperaments were not a good match.

But Hollywood loves a happy ending, and, in 1956 Bergman won her second Academy Award for her performance in "Anastasia." The award was accepted by her good friend, Cary Grant. Ingrid made an appearance at the Oscars in in 1958, where she presented the award for Best Picture. When introduced to the audience by Grant, she received a standing ovation. The love affair with the public was back on again. In 1972 a formal apology was entered into the Congressional Record.

Much ado about nothing, don't you think?

Ingrid and one of her friends who always stood by her
in one of my favorite films, "Notorious"

THAT'S HOT! 10 SEXY PERFORMANCES FOR A STEAMY SUMMER

Yes, it's hot here in my neck of the woods. Words like steamy and sultry and sizzling are bandied about and, while it should make me think of air conditioning, it is making me think of sexy movies (I know, I'm hopeless!). Because they all come rushing into my head like bargain hunters at a one-hour sale at Walmart, I need to put them in some order. Otherwise, I may just pass out from the excitement!

So, in no particular order, here are my top 5 sexy male and female film performances. This list is totally subjective and based upon my feelings today (things change on a daily basis here sometimes).

*** WARNING ***

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR AN ABOVE-THE-WAIST INTELLECTUAL DISSECTION OF WHAT MAKES THE LIBIDO TICK, MOVE ON!

Women

1. Clara Bow in "Call her Savage"

This poster pretty much says it all: "The throbbing adventures of a woman who unleashed her heart... so revelatory... so courageous in its searching depiction of the secret things in a woman's life that its burning words left a trail of readers breathless and amazed."

Clara is unbelievably sexy in this one, especially when she is horsewhipping Gilbert Roland's "Moonglow" (don't ask) and frolicking - clearly sans undergarments - on the floor with her Great Danes. Just outrageous pre-code stuff.

Clara, just 27, would only make one more film.

2. Rita Hayworth in "Gilda"

If you have never seen this, all I can say is fasten your safety belts. While my lists of top 5 may change ever so slightly depending on mood, this one will never fall out. 

This is one of the sexiest female performances ever committed to film. Rita is beautiful, daring and totally uninhibited. In other words, she is Gilda.

3. Louise Brooks in "Pandora's Box"

The legendary Louise Brooks is so unconsciously sexy as the conscienceless Lulu that it is impossible to take your eyes off of her.

Besides that face, that hair, that attitude, she also had a beautiful back and neck, with which Pabst was apparently fascinated!

4. Ingrid Bergman "Notorious"

I admit that I am a sucker for Hitchcock and Grant and think those 2 could make any woman feel and act sexy. However, for Ingrid, who was plenty sexy enough, this combo just upped the ante.

As the good-bad-girl who dabbles in espionage, she is all woman. Little girls need not apply for this role!

5. Eva Marie Saint "North by Northwest"

This one will never fall off of my list of tops, either. Eva is Hitchcock's sexiest leading lady in this film - bar none. 

Always cool, always a lady (no matter how many men she beds), but sexy down to her tippy-toes, she is a sweetheart underneath it all (not to mention a knock-out in those fabulous Edith Head costumes). She is fearlessly sexy in this film -  alarmingly, but charmingly, so.

Men

1. Rudolph Valentino in "The Son of the Sheik"

Unself-consciously romantic, macho and hot, Valentino lays it all out there for the world to adore.

Who needs subtlety when you look like that, kiss like that and have biceps like that? 


2. William Holden in "Picnic"

Need I say more?

Okay, if you insist. Aside from the fact that Holden was at the peak of his beauty and that the shirt kept coming off at the drop of a hat, when he and Kim Novak started dancing to "Moonglow," which segued into the "Theme from Picnic" there were never 2 more beautiful people on a lantern-lit dance floor.

3. Gene Kelly in "The Pirate"

Gene Kelly is a beautiufl, sexy man. Period.

In this film he gets to showcase his Fairbanksian charm, devastating smile and dangerous edge. His joie de vivre was never more evident as "Mack the Black" and he was never sexier. And that's saying a lot.

4. Laurence Olivier in "Wuthering Heights"

Again - you need more?

Okay, besides being impossibly handsome, earthy and sexy, his heartbreak over Cathy's demise was unutterably romantic. Great actor and great looks - some people get it all!

5. Cary Grant in "An Affair to Remember"

Notice how Cary crept into a few of the women's performances? Well, I can't help it and I really have a hard time just picking one, so I'm going with "An Affair to Remember," even though it is far from my favorite Cary Grant film.

I'm selecting this film because here Cary plays the pursuer. He is usually more the object of desire than the initiator ('though he always finishes up just fine). Here he is is the playboy who really wants Deborah Kerr. And what Cary wants, Cary should get! I can't think of anything sexier than being pursued by Cary Grant.

And finally, I am adding this photo because it looks fine on any day, but on a 104 degree day? I'd love to cool off with Cary, but I have a feeling you'd be able to boil an egg in that water!

Well, I could go on and on and on and on and have left out so many, but I did limit it to 5. Sorry Clark, Greta, Marilyn, Paul, etc.

So, how about you? Who steams up your glasses and sets you heart racing over the long, hot summer?