Greer Garson 1904 – 1996 She was lavender, lace and a dash of paprika…!

Gregory Peck once called her “…a bit of an Irish cutup, radiant, funny, brave and smart”…but…contrary to published reports, she was born in London to parents with ancestral ties to Scandinavia and Scotland. The doctors told her parents that she would never live through childhood…but…she grew up to live a fairy tale until she was 91. Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson was a lady of substance!

Greer at age 5

Up until a few months before her death, biographers believed that Greer Garson was born in Belfast, Ireland on a September day in 1908. But the discovery of her birth certificate puts the date and place as September 29, 1904 in London, England. Her father, George Garson, was a commercial clerk in a London importing firm and his ancestry dated back to Scandinavian seafarers who immigrated to the islands off Scotland looking for a more temperate climate. Her mother, Nancy Sophia (Nina) Greer, traced her roots to the infamous MacGregor Clan of the Scottish Highlands who secretly crossed the Channel into Northern Ireland, hiding their family name behind the Irish contraction for Gregor…Greer.

George Garson died when Eileen was two leaving Nina to manage their only assets, a row of old townhouses in Essex. The income barely covered Eileen’s constant illnesses that kept her bedridden all winter and most of the summer. But she lived for those few weeks when the weather was warm enough to visit her grandparents at Castlewellan in County Down. She also learned to read by the time she was four and developed a remarkable imagination and a sharp intellect.

Graduation Day

After graduation from East Ham Secondary, Eileen wanted to try for a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) but her mother refused to hear of it. So it was the University of London instead where she graduated with honors. Unfortunately Eileen missed the graduation ceremonies because she was ill with pneumonia. As soon as she recovered, it was off to France for postgraduate studies at the University of Grenoble. Her family was thrilled that she was not going to be an actress but couldn’t wait until she met a suitable man and settled down.

"The most sought after actress in London"

When Eileen returned to London, she got a job with the London ad agency, Lintas. But she spent her off time doing community theater to satisfy her passion for acting. Then, not long after she began working, she discovered that her department head knew Cyril Phillips, manager of the Birmingham Repertory Theater. A letter of introduction and Eileen was on the way out of advertising and into a full-time acting career.

Eileen made her first stage appearance as Shirley Kaplan, the Jewish-American school teacher in Elmer Rice’s “Street Scene”. In her second season with Birmingham, she got the leading role in George Bernard Shaw’s “Too Good To Be True” and shortened her name to just “Greer”. But that season was ended prematurely by a bout with pneumonia. It was while Greer was convalescing that her mother wrote to one of Greer’s persistent admirers about her illness. When Edward Alec Abbot Snelson got the message, he immediately left India and headed home to England.

Because she was discouraged and weak at the time, Greer let Snelson convince her to marry him and resume her career after the honeymoon. On September 28th, 1933, the day before her 29th birthday they wed in the Westminster parish church. From that moment on, Alec never left her alone constantly inquiring about the men in her life and determined to take her back to India. When he found out that she was fluent in French, Alec changed the honeymoon plans to Germany because “You will be depending on me there”. He also insisted she accompany him on 5-hour hikes to improve her health. An unhappy Greer returned to London again too sick to leave her bed for four months, downed by pneumonia complicated by an old spinal injury now inflamed from the strenuous exercise. Alec wrote and pleaded for her to rejoin him but, luckily, she also got a invitation to make her London debut as Iris in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” when she recovered.. While Alec continued to write, Greer never turned back. The marriage lasted that way until 1940 when she finally won a divorce.

...with Rosalind Russell and Merle Oberon

By the early summer of 1937, the London Express was calling her “The Most Sought After Actress in London. Her portrait by A. K. Lawrence was hung in the Royal Academy and a rose had been named for her. The Savoy Grill created a supper entrée in her honor. In July, she won the starring role of Geraldine Decker in Keith Winter’s “Old Music”. Then, one night during intermission, Bob Ritchie (the MGM talent scout) brought her an invitation to dine with L. B. Mayer and discuss a film offer. Greer met and ate with the studio head but turned him down flat.

The next day Mayer was at her door. He got a good morning, a sherry and another “no”. So the wily Mayer turned his attentions to Greer’s mother and finally wangled a screen test from the reluctant Miss Garson. On September 28 th, 1937, one day before her 33 rd birthday, the MGM publicity department sent out a press release stating that “25-year-old, red-haired Greer Garson” would be coming to Hollywood as soon as “Old Music” ended its run. On December 4 th, 1937 Greer and her mother Nina arrived in California but it would be a year before she would do a film and two before she even got a dressing room!

Leaving the studio after a day on the set.

In October, 1938 Greer was handed her first role…as Katherine Chipping in “Goodbye, Mr. Chips”. Ironically she had to go back to England to do it. But that small role gave Greer her first Best Actress nomination (she lost to Vivien Leigh’s Scarlett O’Hara). Her fourth film “Blossoms in the Dust” was Greer’s first color film giving her vibrant coloring and flame-red hair their proper setting. It was only the fifth 3-strip Technicolor film ever made at MGM. Greer would make 9 more films before America saw her in color again.

When L. B. Mayer received the screenplay for “Mrs. Miniver” he became very uneasy. The story was obviously pro-British at a time when the U.S. was still exercising a fragile neutrality. However, Mayer was also looking to maintain the studio’s position in pro-German markets. Nonetheless, he knew the picture was tailor-made for his top actress. Greer wasn’t happy with it because the leading role was a mother with a grown son. In fact, her first encounter with the 6 foot, 23-year-old Richard Ney, the actor chosen for the role, was very frosty especially when she saw him admiring her legs. But she did appreciate the chance to work with Walter Pidgeon again. The movie would prove to be much more than just a reunion of old friends….it would bring her a first Best Actress Oscar and eventually….a new husband!

Greer’s personal life off the set had been kept private. Her closest companion was Benjamin Thau, a member of MGM’s governing board known as the “College of Cardinals” and head of the talent department (mentioned in Arabella’s Notes). Then, while Greer was working on her next film “Random Harvest” Richard Ney began frequenting the set. Soon they were also seen around town dining and dancing at the most popular “waterholes” and nightclubs. It wasn’t long before the summons came down from the front office to “cease and desist”. So the two stopped going out and….stayed in at the Garson house!

"Legs" Garson in "Random Harvest"

In the summer of 1942, Richard was called up for active duty in the Navy and the romance hit the front pages worldwide at the same time. National magazines began publishing negative articles citing their age difference (few knew it was actually 15 years) and suspicions that Ney was using the popular star to his own ends. But when Richard was able to get a long leave, Greer married him. The marriage lasted until 1947 when it ended bitterly but for many years, Greer cried every time she heard his name.

"Julia Misbehaves"

By 1945 Greer Garson was considered the most popular actress in Hollywood. But “Adventure” with Clark Gable was not a box office hit and Greer’s dissatisfaction with the film from the onset had caused a rift between the actress and the MGM studio head Mayer. Rumors were that he was grooming the new redhead from Britain, Deborah Kerr, to be her replacement. “Desire Me” with Robert Mitchum was also a dud and an accident on location put her in the hospital. Greer was heard to remark “The combination of Greer and drear is wearing thin”. Then, in early 1948, the studio finally gave the frustrated redhead the comedy she had been wanting for years. With “Julia Misbehaves” MGM ads boasted “When Greer Garson starts a picture in a bubble bath, that’s news!”

Greer and Buddy on their wedding day.

It was in February, 1948 on the set of Julia…” set that Greer met the love of her life. He was Peter Lawford’s skeet shooting partner, Texas oil millionaire Colonel Elijah E. “Buddy” Fogelson. For Buddy, it was love at first sight for the redheaded gal he would always call “Rusty”. But Greer, with two failed marriages already, it would take much longer. “We had a long and stormy courtship,” Greer recalled. “I didn’t want to get married and we were from different worlds.” She told Louella Parsons “If I marry again it must be forever”. However, on July 15th, 1949 in New Mexico, Rusty finally married Buddy and every morning, on his Forked Lightning ranch, they hoisted up 3 flags….the Stars and Stripes, the New Mexico State flag and the British Union Jack!

Greer and two of "Her 12 Men".. Robert Ryan and James Arness

But Greer’s films weren’t doing well and after “Her Twelve Men” in 1954, she left MGM. “Strange Lady In Town” for Warner Bros. was a step up with Technicolor and a saucy script but after that Greer didn’t make another movie until “Sunrise at Campobello” in 1959. Her role as Eleanor Roosevelt to Ralph Bellamy’s FDR won her another Best Actress nomination. While she did radio and television, there were only two more films….the Mother Prioress in “The Singing Nun” and Mrs. Cordelia Biddle in “The Happiest Millionaire”. After 1967, Greer retired to the ranch in New Mexico.

Buddy Fogelson died on December 1, 1987 at the age of 87. It was the end of what Greer called “our great adventure”. They had been married 38 years, just a little short of forever. On Christmas Eve, 1989, The Wilshire apartment complex where she had lived in Los Angeles burned to the ground and Greer lost most of her personal possessions including her Oscar (it was replaced). A year later, Greer had triple bypass heart surgery and, in 1990, sold the ranch in New Mexico to live in town. In the autumn of 1992, she moved permanently into the ninth floor Blue Bonnet suite of the Dallas Presbyterian Hospital where she still invited friends to drop by. She called it her “ivory tower”.

She was still there when she died in her sleep on April 5th, 1996 of congestive heart failure holding the hand of dear friend, pianist Van Cliburn.

The little girl who was never expected to live out her childhood had met every adversity head on and lived until after her 91st birthday.

Greer Garson Theater Center,  The College of Santa Fe	The Fogelson graves in Sparkman-Hillcrest Cemetery, Dallas, Texas.

For more information see Arabella's Notes

Filmography

Goodbye, Mr. Chips 1939
Remember 1939
Pride and Prejudice 1940
Blossoms in the Dust 1941
When Ladies Meet 1941
Mrs. Miniver 1942
Random Harvest 1942
Madame Curie 1943
Mrs. Parkington 1944
The Valley of Decision 1945
Adventure 1945
Desire Me 1947
Julia Misbehaves 1948
That Forsyte Woman 1949
The Miniver Story
The Law and the Lady 1951
Scandal at Scourie 1953
Julius Caesar 1953
Her Twelve Men 1954 (retitled “Miss Baker’s Dozen”)
Strange Lady in Town 1955
Sunrise at Campobello 1960
Pepe 1960
The Singing Nun 1966
The Happiest Millionaire 1967