Mauritz Stiller

Mauritz Stiller
Stiller in 1927
Born	Moshe Stiller (1883-07-17)17 July 1883 Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland
Died	18 November 1928(1928-11-18) (aged 45) Stockholm, Sweden
Citizenship	Sweden
Occupation(s)	Film director, screenwriter
Years active	1912–1928

Mauritz Stiller (born Moshe Stiller, 17 July 1883 – 18 November 1928) was a Finnish film director of Jewish origin, best known for discovering Greta Garbo and bringing her to America. Stiller was a pioneer of the Swedish film industry, writing and directing many short films from 1912. When Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer invited him to Hollywood as a director, he arrived with his new discovery Greta Gustafsson, whose screen name Greta Garbo is believed to have been his suggestion. After frequent disagreements with studio executives at MGM and Paramount Pictures, Stiller returned to Sweden, where he died soon afterward.

Early life

Moshe Stiller was born on 17 July 1883 in Helsinki. His family was of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, having lived in Russia and Poland before settling in Finland, these countries being ruled by the Russian Empire at that time. After his father's death when he was four, his mother committed suicide. He was raised by family friends. From an early age, Stiller was interested in acting. His talents did not go unnoticed, and soon Stiller was offered the opportunity to practise and display his acting skills in the theatres of Helsinki and Åbo in Finland.

Drafted into the army of Czar Nicholas II — Finland was at the time a Grand Duchy of Finland, an autonomic state ruled by the Russian Czars — rather than report for duty he fled the country for exile, and settled in Sweden. He became a Swedish citizen in 1921.

Career

By 1912, Stiller had become involved with Sweden's rapidly developing silent film industry. He began by writing scripts, acting and directing in short films but within a few years gave up acting to devote his time to writing and directing. He was soon directing feature-length productions, and his 1918 work Thomas Graals bästa barn (Thomas Graal's First Child), starring Karin Molander, and with Victor Sjöström in the leading role, received much acclaim.

By 1920, having directed more than 35 films, including Sir Arne's Treasure and Erotikon, Stiller was a leading figure in Swedish filmmaking. He also directed The Blizzard starring a young Einar Hanson and based on the Selma Lagerlöf novel En herrgårdssägen.

Stiller and Garbo

Greta Garbo and Stiller aboard SS Drottningholm in 1925 en route to the United States

At the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, he met a young actress named Greta Gustafsson whom he cast in an important but secondary role in his film, Gösta Berlings saga (The Atonement of Gosta Berling), and who some have said gave her the stage name Greta Garbo. For Stiller, the screen presence of the 18-year-old actress led to him bringing her and Hanson to the United States after he accepted an offer from Louis B. Mayer to direct for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

In Hollywood, Mauritz Stiller was assigned to direct The Temptress (1926), Garbo's second film with MGM, but he could not deal with the studio structure. After repeated arguments with MGM executives, he was replaced on the film by Fred Niblo, and his contract with the studio terminated. Stiller immediately was hired by Paramount Pictures, where he made three successful films, but he was let go a second time while directing his fourth film because of his continuing disagreements with studio bosses.

Death and legacy

Stiller returned to Sweden in 1927 and died on 18 November 1928 from pleurisy at the age of 45. He was interred in the Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm.

It was long believed that Greta Garbo never married, but a 1932 news item confirmed that she married Mauritz Stiller while in her late teens. She survived him upon his death in 1928. "They were married secretly in Constantinople, in 1924," reported Film Daily, "so she is over in Sweden to claim her share of the Stiller estate."

Stiller's contribution to the motion picture industry was recognised in 1960 with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1713 Vine Street. Originally his star was listed erroneously as "Maurice Diller" and was not corrected until the late 1980s.

A theatre in Filmhuset, home of the Swedish Film Institute, was named in his honour as "Bio Mauritz".

In Kristianstad, a monument was erected in his honour.

In the Badehotellet episode "Feriebarnet", Kitty tells Frigh that Stiller wrote her a letter and wants to take her to Hollywood. When Fright admits he doesn't know who he is, Kitty replies that Stiller discovered Garbo and shows him a newspaper clipping of the photo of Garbo and Stiller posing on the deck of the SS Drottningholm.

Filmography

Year	Film	Credited as
		Director	Writer	Actor	Role
1912	The Gardener (Trädgårdsmästaren)		Yes	Yes	Passenger
1912	Mor och dotter	Yes	Yes	Yes	Raoul de Saligny
1912	I lifvets vår			Yes	von Plæin
1912	Den tyranniske fästmannen	Yes	Yes	Yes	Elias Pettersson
1912	De svarta maskerna	Yes	Yes
1913	Vampyren	Yes	Yes
1913	På livets ödesvägar	Yes
1913	När larmklockan ljuder	Yes
1913	När kärleken dödar	Yes	Yes
1913	Mannekängen	Yes	Yes
1913	The Conflicts of Life (Livets konflikter)	Yes
1913	Brother Against Brother (Gränsfolken)	Yes
1913	En pojke i livets strid	Yes
1913	Den okända	Yes	Yes
1913	Den moderna suffragetten	Yes	Yes
1913	Barnet	Yes
1914	Stormfågeln	Yes
1914	Skottet	Yes
1914	När svärmor regerar	Yes	Yes	Yes	Elias
1914	Kammarjunkaren		Yes
1914	För sin kärleks skull	Yes	Yes
1914	Det röda tornet	Yes	Yes
1914	Bröderna	Yes	Yes
1915	När konstnärer älska	Yes
1915	Minlotsen	Yes
1915	Mästertjuven	Yes
1915	Madame de Thèbes	Yes
1915	Playmates (Lekkamraterna)	Yes	Yes
1915	Hans hustrus förflutna	Yes
1915	Hans bröllopsnatt	Yes
1915	Hämnaren	Yes
1915	Dolken	Yes
1916	The Wings (Vingarne)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Film director
1916	Lyckonålen	Yes
1916	Kärlek och journalistik	Yes
1916	Kampen om hans hjärta	Yes
1916	Balettprimadonnan	Yes
1917	Thomas Graals bästa film	Yes
1917	Alexander den store	Yes
1918	Thomas Graals bästa barn	Yes
1919	Song of the Scarlet Flower (Laulu tulipunaisesta kukasta)	Yes	Yes
1919	Sir Arne's Treasure (Herr Arnes pengar)	Yes	Yes
1920	Fiskebyn	Yes
1920	Erotikon	Yes
1921	Johan	Yes	Yes
1921	Guarded Lips (De landsflyktige)	Yes	Yes
1923	The Blizzard (Gunnar Hedes saga)	Yes	Yes
1924	The Saga of Gösta Berling (Gösta Berlings saga)	Yes	Yes
1926	The Temptress	Yes			replaced by Fred Niblo
1927	The Woman on Trial	Yes
1927	Hotel Imperial	Yes
1927	Barbed Wire	Yes
1928	Street of Sin	Yes

External links

• Mauritz Stiller at IMDb
• Mauritz Stiller at the Swedish Film Database
• Original Photoplay Interview with Greta Garbo, where she talks about her first meeting with Stiller: "I started trembling all over."
• Literature on Mauritz Stiller