70 Fun Facts About Ingrid Bergman

In which city was Ingrid Bergman born in 1915?

Her father was Swedish and her mother German, and she spent childhood summers in Germany.

After whom was Ingrid Bergman named?

She was raised as an only child after two older siblings died in infancy.

Which character did Bergman play opposite Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca?

She later said it was not one of her favourite performances, yet it was the only one people wanted to talk about.

How many competitive Academy Awards did Ingrid Bergman win?

Only Katharine Hepburn, with four, has more acting Oscars among women.

Which director made three films with Bergman: Spellbound, Notorious and Under Capricorn?

She hosted his AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony in 1979 and called him Hitch.

Bergman's American debut was the 1939 English-language remake of which of her own Swedish films?

She played a piano accompanist opposite Leslie Howard as a violin virtuoso.

Which producer brought Bergman to Hollywood in 1939?

He was filming Gone with the Wind at the same time and had to give her a smaller dressing room.

According to Selznick's son, which of these was NOT one of his father's early concerns about Bergman?

He let her keep her looks and name, and told the make-up artists to lay off.

What did Bergman quip about her childhood, thanks to her photographer father?

Justus Bergman documented all her birthdays and made her a favourite subject.

How many languages did Bergman act in?

Swedish, English, German, Italian and French.

In which Swedish film did Bergman play the scarred leader of a blackmail gang?

MGM remade it in 1941 with Joan Crawford under the same title.

Which 1941 film did Bergman insist on playing the "bad girl" barmaid Ivy in, rather than the fiancee?

Reviewers said her shining talent lifted itself above an impossibly written role.

What nickname did Selznick give Bergman, referencing a soap brand and a Swedish star?

A critic covering her stage Anna Christie called her as unspoiled as a fresh Swedish snowball.

Which novelist declared that Bergman and no one else should play Maria in For Whom the Bell Tolls?

It was her first colour film and earned her first Best Actress nomination.

For which 1944 film did Bergman win her first Academy Award?

She played a wife driven close to madness by her husband, played by Charles Boyer.

Who directed Bergman's first Oscar-winning role, in the 1944 film that introduced Angela Lansbury?

The film received seven Academy Award nominations including Best Picture.

Bergman played a nun opposite Bing Crosby in which film, the biggest box office hit of 1945?

It earned her a third consecutive Best Actress nomination.

Which artist was hired to design the dream sequence in Spellbound?

Bergman played psychiatrist Dr. Constance Petersen, analysing Gregory Peck's character.

In Notorious, Bergman's Alicia Huberman infiltrates a group of German emigres hiding in which city?

She marries Claude Rains's IG Farben executive, and the McGuffin turns out to be uranium ore in wine bottles.

Which prop from Notorious did Bergman present to Hitchcock at his 1979 AFI tribute?

Cary Grant had kept it for 10 years before giving it to her, and she kept it for 20 more.

For which Maxwell Anderson play did Bergman win the Tony Award for Best Actress?

Newsweek dubbed her Queen of the Broadway Season and Gallup certified her the most popular actress in America.

What did Ingrid Bergman protest at a 1946 Washington press conference, earning hate mail?

She had seen it first hand at the Lisner Auditorium where she was performing.

Which Italian director's 1950 film Stromboli led to the affair that made Bergman a scandal in America?

She had written to him in 1949 expressing admiration and suggesting they make a film together.

On the floor of which body was Bergman denounced in 1950 as "a powerful influence for evil"?

Senator Edwin C. Johnson said she had perpetrated an assault upon the institution of marriage.

Which TV host refused to book Bergman during the scandal, despite a poll showing the public wanted her?

Steve Allen, whose show was equally popular, did have her on as a guest.

How much money did RKO lose on Stromboli in the United States?

In Italy it was awarded the Rome Prize for Cinema as the best film of the year.

For which Rossellini film did Bergman win the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at Venice?

The prize was only awarded posthumously in 1992 because she had been dubbed in the festival version.

Which 1956 film marked Bergman's return to Hollywood studio work and won her a second Oscar?

Cary Grant accepted the award on her behalf.

Who played the scheming General Bounine opposite Bergman in her 1956 comeback film?

The plot was inspired by Anna Anderson, the best known of the Anastasia impostors.

With which co-star did Bergman present the Best Picture Oscar in 1959, her first post-scandal appearance?

She received a standing ovation; the two had just starred together in Indiscreet.

Bergman won her first Emmy for a 1960 TV adaptation of which Henry James novella?

John Frankenheimer directed the Startime episode, in which she played a governess.

In Murder on the Orient Express (1974), Ingrid Bergman turned down Princess Dragomiroff to play which smaller part?

Sidney Lumet filmed her one big scene as a single five-minute take, and it won her a third Oscar.

Which actress did Bergman say should have won when she accepted her 1975 Best Supporting Actress Oscar?

She thought her own part in Murder on the Orient Express was quite minor and did not expect to win.

Which unrelated Swedish director made Autumn Sonata (1978), her final cinema film?

She had written to him a decade earlier asking to be cast, and slipped a copy of his reply into his pocket at Cannes.

Who played Bergman's neglected daughter Eva in Autumn Sonata?

Bergman played Charlotte, a celebrity pianist who had not visited her daughters for seven years.

Which Israeli prime minister did Bergman play in her final, posthumously Emmy-winning 1982 role?

Her daughter Pia accepted the Emmy after her death.

What was the profession of Bergman's first husband, Petter Lindstrom, when they married in 1937?

He later became a neurosurgeon and, by his own account, stayed in the marriage because of her income.

Which of Bergman's children became an actress and Lancome model, famous for Blue Velvet?

Her twin sister Isotta became a professor of Italian literature.

Bergman's third husband, Lars Schmidt, came from what kind of wealthy Swedish family?

They spent summers on his private island Danholmen, where most of her ashes were later scattered.

For what was Bergman ticketed while on holiday in Portugal in 1963?

Conservative Portugal's modesty standards were stricter than the actress expected.

Which war photographer's romance with Bergman reportedly inspired Hitchcock's Rear Window?

The affair was dramatised in Chris Greenhalgh's 2012 novel Seducing Ingrid Bergman.

On what date did Bergman die in 1982?

A copy of The Little Prince lay at her bedside, opened near the end.

Where were most of Bergman's ashes scattered?

The islet lies near the fishing village of Fjallbacka, where a square is now named after her.

Which song from The Inn of the Sixth Happiness was played at Bergman's memorial service?

The service at St Martin-in-the-Fields drew 1,200 mourners including Liv Ullmann and John Gielgud.

Where did the American Film Institute rank Bergman among female screen legends in 1999?

Biographer Donald Spoto called her arguably the most international star in entertainment history.

Which folk singer wrote a 1950 song titled "Ingrid Bergman", later recorded by Billy Bragg and Wilco?

Its lyrics reference her relationship with Rossellini during Stromboli.

What was named "Ingrid Bergman" in her honour in 1984?

A KLM airliner and a Fjallbacka square have also carried her name.

Which Mission: Impossible character was inspired by Bergman's Casablanca role?

Rebecca Ferguson was told to study Notorious and other Bergman films to prepare.

Which institution holds the Ingrid Bergman Collection of her papers, scripts, awards and costumes?

Her 1980 autobiography, My Story, was written after her son warned she would otherwise be known only through rumours.

Where did Bergman travel during World War II to entertain US Army troops?

After the war she went to Europe with Jack Benny, arriving in Paris on 6 June 1945.

Which prime minister did Bergman meet in London to get permission for Rossellini to leave India in 1957?

Rossellini had begun an affair with Sonali Das Gupta while filming there, and the marriage ended that year.

Who directed Casablanca?

The film was shot entirely at Warner Bros. in Burbank apart from one sequence at Van Nuys Airport.

Which actor played Bergman's husband Victor Laszlo in Casablanca?

He later remembered her as a very strong lady with great desires and emotions.

Bergman's first speaking film role, as a maid in a seedy hotel, came in which 1935 Swedish film?

She had first appeared as an extra in Landskamp in 1932, calling it 'walking on holy ground'.

Bergman signed a three-picture deal with which German studio, making only The Four Companions (1938)?

She was pregnant when she arrived in Berlin to shoot the film under director Carl Froelich.

Which TV host booked Bergman during the Rossellini scandal after Ed Sullivan refused?

He warned of the danger of judging artistic activity through the prism of a person's private life.

Which French director wrote Elena and Her Men (1956) for Bergman, casting her as a Polish princess?

It was her first film after separating from Rossellini and a project the two had long wanted to make together.

Who directed Bergman and Cary Grant in the 1958 romantic comedy Indiscreet?

She played a London stage actress who falls for a diplomat in a story adapted from Norman Krasna's play Kind Sir.

Which US senator entered an apology into the Congressional Record in 1972 for the 1950 attack on Bergman?

Edwin C. Johnson had denounced her on the Senate floor on 14 March 1950.

Bergman was president of the jury at which festival in 1973, where she met the unrelated Ingmar Bergman?

She reminded him of a letter she had written ten years earlier asking to work with him, which led to Autumn Sonata.

With which actor did Bergman appear in London in The Constant Wife, a critical hit that packed the theatre?

It was during that run in 1974 that she found the breast lump that led to her cancer diagnosis.

How tall was Ingrid Bergman, forcing Humphrey Bogart onto blocks or cushions in Casablanca?

She stood two inches taller than Bogart and was also taller than Claude Rains.

What book lay open at Bergman's bedside when she died in London in 1982?

Her ex-husband Lars Schmidt and three others were present, having drunk a last toast with her hours earlier.

Who co-wrote Bergman's 1980 autobiography Ingrid Bergman: My Story?

Her son had warned her she would otherwise be remembered only through the scandal.

Which 1954 Rossellini-Bergman film about a couple selling a house in Naples is said to have started the French New Wave?

The Guardian's John Patterson credited it with launching the movement, though it flopped commercially at the time.

Which Swedish director did Bergman reunite with for her segment of the 1967 anthology film Stimulantia?

Her segment adapted Guy de Maupassant's The Jewellery; Molander had directed the original Intermezzo.

In Cactus Flower (1969), Bergman's character is secretly in love with her boss, who has what job?

Walter Matthau played the boss and Goldie Hawn co-starred; Bergman's own first husband had also been a dentist.

Bergman reportedly earned $250,000 for playing a wealthy widow opposite Omar Sharif in which 1965 film?

Anthony Asquith directed the portmanteau film in which she plays Gerda Millett.

The Visit (1964), starring Bergman and Anthony Quinn, was based on a play by which Swiss dramatist?

It was shot on a $1.5 million budget in Capranica outside Rome, with Bergman as the vengeful Karla Zachanassian.

Which two Britain-based actors starred with Bergman in the 1962 TV production of Hedda Gabler?

Her husband Lars Schmidt co-produced it for the BBC and CBS.