#la divina

[legendarytragedynacho]

Maria Callas and one of the chorus members from the 1954 performance of “La Vestale” (On the left in the second photograph)

[bitter69uk]

Born on this day 102 years ago: the 20th century’s supreme opera diva, the woman known as “La Divina” – Maria Callas (Maria Anna Cecilia Sofia Kalogeropoulos, 2 December 1923 – 16 September 1977)! Pictured here with highly politicized radical Italian queer filmmaker and poet Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922 -1975), presumably around the time the dream time collaborated on his 1969 film adaptation of Medea. (The tagline: “It’s a movie about a woman who beheads her brother, stabs her children and sends her lover’s wife up in flames. For Maria Callas, it’s a natural”). Such style! Those shades! If this photo represents the continental jet set lifestyle – sign me up! I want to be THEM when I grow up!

[vintage-archive]

Maria Callas in her dressing room at the Metropolitan Opera House, November 1956

[lforlimbo]

September 16, 1977

A small tribute to Maria Callas

Addio, del passato bei sogni ridenti Le rose del volto già sono pallenti L'amore d'Alfredo perfino mi manca Conforto, sostegno dell'anima stanca Conforto Sostegno, ah! Della traviata sorridi al desio A lei, deh, perdona Tu accoglila, o Dio Le gioie, i dolori tra poco avran fine La tomba ai mortali di tutto è confine! Non lagrima o fiore avrà la mia fossa Non croce col nome che copra quest'ossa! Non croce Non fiore, ah! Della traviata sorridi al desio A lei, deh, perdona Tu accoglila, o Dio! Ah tutto, tutto finì Or tutto, tutto finì!

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

WAY BACK TO THE HIGHEST OF THE HIGH IN HIGH SOCIETY FOR '62 -- VINTAGE STYLE INCARNATE.

PICS INFO: Mega spotlight on behind-the-scenes shots of Hollywood movie actress Marilyn Monroe, wearing the now iconic Bob Mackie & Jean Jouis "happy birthday" dress, photographed alongside Maria Callas, a.k.a, "La Divina," at then-President John F. Kennedy's 45th birthday gala on May 19th, 1962.

EXTRA INFO: Marilyn Monroe wore the skin-tight Bob Mackie/Jean Jouis dress at a gala event to sing “Happy Birthday” for President John F. Kennedy. The event was held at Madison Square Garden for JFK's 45th birthday, 10 days before the actual date (May 29).

Sources: www.threads.com/@gladysandnorma/post/DKgVY8duqY8, Facebook, various, etc...

[poppingmary]

Lá Divina Maria Callas

[trevorme]

Maria Callas

[film-classics]

Greta Garbo - The Face of the Century

Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson in Stockholm, Sweden on 18 September 1905) was a Swedish-born actress who built her global appeal on a carefully maintained mystique during her short career. Called "The Face of the Century," she is regarded as one of the Hollywood's greatest beauties.

Garbo was born into a poor family and dropped out of school at 13 to take care of her father. His death deeply affected her and promised to make a life for herself that was void of financial hardship.

Following her father's death, Garbo worked as a salesperson at PUB department store.  After modeling for the store's catalogues, she earned a more lucrative job as a fashion model, which led to a role in her first film in 1922.

She then earned a scholarship at the Royal Dramatic Training Academy, where she met Finnish director Mauritz Stiller, who became her mentor.  Louis B. Mayer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer wanted Stiller in Hollywood. The director agreed to a contract with one condition: Garbo. Reluctantly, Mayer inked her a deal, too.

She made her first MGM film in 1926, and by 1928, had become MGM's highest box-office star with A Woman of Affairs. She followed it up with several more hits, including Camille (1936). Her career slowed down in the 1940s and retired at 35.

After retiring, Garbo declined all opportunities to appear onscreen, shunned publicity, and led a private life. She died, aged 84, in New York, as a result of pneumonia and renal failure.

Legacy:

Nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in Romance (1930), Camille (1936), and Two-Faced Woman (1941)

Presented an Academy Honorary Award in 1955

Received the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress twice: Anna Karenina (1935) and Camille (1936)

Won the National Board of Review Best Acting Award three times: Camille (1936), Ninotchka (1939), and Two-Faced Woman (1941)

Was the highest-paid star at MGM for most of her career

Won the Photoplay Awards - Best Performances of the Month for a record eight times: May and December 1926, February and November 1927, March and September 1928, and January and March 1929

Won Best Actress for Anna Christie (1930) and Queen Christina (1933) from Picturegoer Awards

Listed by the Motion Picture Herald as one of America’s top-10 box office draws from 1930 to 1932

Was one of the subjects of French composer Charles Koechlin's "Seven Stars Symphony" (1933)

Granted the Swedish royal medal Litteris et Artibus in 1937

Is one of the celebrities whose picture Anne Frank placed on the wall of her bedroom in the “Secret Annex” in 1942

Voted "Best Actress of the Half Century" in a 1950 Daily Variety opinion poll

Named “the most beautiful woman that ever lived” in 1954 by Guinness World Records

Given the George Eastman Award by George Eastman House in 1957

Has appeared on many postage stamps from, among others, Swedish Posten in 1980 and 2005, Correos de Cuba in 1995, Deutsche Post in 2001, US Postal Service in 2005, Poșta Română issue in 2005, and Australia Post in 2008,

Made a Commander of the Swedish Order of the Polar Star by order of King Carl XVI Gustaf in 1983

Depicted in the film Garbo Talks (1984)

Awarded the Illis Quorum by the government of Sweden in 1985

Had a star was named after her in 1985

Has appeared on commemorative coins from Germany in 1994, France in 1995, and Sweden in 2005

Ranked #38 in Empire's Top 100 Movie Stars in 1997; #25 in Entertainment Weekly’s 100 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in 1998; #8 in Premiere's 50 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in 2005 and #25 in 100 Greatest Performances of All Time in 2006 for Ninotchka (1939)

Has had a museum, the Garbosällskapet, dedicated to her in Högsby since 1998

Named the 5th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema in 1999 by the American Film Institute

Inducted in the Online Film and Television Association Hall of Fame in 2002

Chosen in Variety magazine's "100 Icons of the Century" in 2005

Honored by Stockholm City Council in 1992 with a square, Greta Garbos Torg, and a bust of her likeness in 2009

Honored by Norwegian Air Shuttle as its "Tail-fin Hero" on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner in 2016

Featured on 100-krona banknote by Sveriges Riksbank since 2018

Featured in an exhibit at the Postmuseum in 2005, the Belmacz in 2013, the Fotografiska in 2016, the Staley-Wise Gallery in 2016, and Galerie56 in 2023

Honored as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month for April 2019

Honored with a statue of her, "Statue of Integrity," in 2016, located in the forest in Härjedalen

Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Blvd for motion picture