Customer Reviews

Ingrid Bergman: My Story

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was tempted to read one of the many biographies out there depicting the life of Ingrid Bergman before I found "My Story", and I am incredibly grateful that I found her story before the others. This book shines with Ingrid's own personal voice, and in so much of the book you can clearly hear her lilting charm creeping into your brain, so familiar and real that you could almost swear she was talking to no one else in the world but you at that moment. It takes a truly gifted person to transfer that much of themselves and their life's story onto simple pages in a book.

And what a story. Orphaned at a young age, she struggled with her incredible shyness throughout her childhood until she found solitude and happiness on the stage and in front of the camera. America and David O. Selznick wooed her over the Atlantic after a blossoming film career in Sweden, when several American reviewers poked humourous fun at the fact that Swedish movies of that time were rapidly becoming far superior to their American counterparts, thanks to the acting skills of one fair lady. Of course, the world knows about her now infamous illicit affair with Roberto Rossilini when she reigned in American movies with Selznick (she was comdemned on the Senate floor afterward for being so unwholesome in her choice), but her story doesn't revolve around excusing what she did. She explains the simple facts of the matter, with a bit of why, and she moves on, just as the American people did when they welcomed her back after a 7-year exile in Europe in her Oscar-winning performance as Anastasia. I don't even know how they resisted her that long, really.

But her life is an incredibly invoking read, with her ability to place herself within the pages as well as her fascinating history interweaving to form an unforgettable tale. This is one book that I can assure will not be forgotten easily. As she herself said "I went from saint to [...] and back again, all in one lifetime." Not many can say that, and not many can tell it with such grace. Truly a remarkable woman.

What shall I say about this book? I always enjoy autobiographies about people I like, and although I didn't know too much about Ingrid Bergman prior to reading this book, my interest in her life became stronger after finishing it. I made a list of all her movies and have been seeing them as I can get hold of them.

Profound statement: Ingrid tells about her life in this book. (duh)

She does a very good, coherent job, and moves along steadily. There is humour as well as sadness. I liked the part when she told David O Selznick at their first meeting that she would not wear makeup and would not change anything about her appearance, and if he didn't like it she would go back to Sweden on the next train. I personally am glad he decided she could remain as she was.

I recommend this book as a good introduction to Ingrid. I enjoyed reading this very much and I think everyone should read it.

"My Story" provides an excellent insight into the tumultuous existence of Ingrid Bergman. Her interaction With David Selznick, Roberto Rosselini, and her children provide excellent reading. And in large print, too!

With "My Story," not only does one learn about Ingrid Bergman in great detail, but we gain fascinating perspective on such interesting characters as Roberto Rosselini, David Selznick, and Isabella Rosselini. Her life was always entangled with other unique characters and her story is very entertaining.

She made films with some of the best directors of the 20th century, weathered one of its biggest scandals, and is still known and loved for her performance in the classic "Casablanca." In "My Story," Ingrid Bergman (with the help of Alan Burgess) presented her unique life in her own words.

Orphaned as a child, Bergman became a successful actress in Sweden, and then transferred to Hollywood, where she starred in films such as "Casablanca" and several Alfred Hitchcock pictures. Al In "My Story," Bergman describes not only her working life, but the men she fell in love with and married (three wildly different men!), her four children, her ambitions ("Joan of Arc" was something she wanted to make for years), the scandals and the love that filled her career, and the cancer that ultimately ended her life.

Bergman's story has a candid quality that not many star autobiographies have. She had almost universal sympathy for others, such as her more difficult diectors and costars, or her ex-husbands. One moving passage has her describing how she wept at Rossellini's death, and was happy that third ex-husband Lars had become a father. Her writing isn't very detailed; at times, it's downright stilted. But it's pleasant enough to read, with elements of humor, of romance, of joy and sadness.

Between Bergman's anecdotes and stories, Burgess explains Bergman's life further, with "Ingrid got this part" or "Ingrid went here" or "this person said this thing about Ingrid." He quotes her frequently, along with letters, costars, and plenty of other information that Bergman might not have remembered or known about. He fills in the gaps, so to speak.

Bergman's bright personality and Burgess's tight journalism make this a unique book, describing the life of a unique woman. "My Story" is definitely worth telling.

This book answers some of the questions lingering on
people's minds about Ingrid Bergman's personal life on
her point of view, in her own words. From the moment
I saw her on screen, I totally admired her, but when
I read this book I got to know her better.. as if she
were my close friend. She uses excellent sense of
humor and makes the reading fun.
From this book we can get more information about
the people she were related to.. some personal thoughts
that are funny, sometimes sad.

She HAD caused a major scandal once, and people
have doubts about her but once you read this book,
you can't NOT like her~! Her voice is so full of
emotions.. humor.. sadness.. so full of life.. as
well as her photos. (That's what I thought of the
moment I read this book. How well her voice in this
book matches her photos)
Wow.. I really can't
believe this book is out of copies because it's such
a great book that I think it should be printed out more!
I recommend this book to all.

In the book "My Story," Ingrid Bergman chronicles her fascinating life with good detail. There are things you may be familiar with and things you may not, and things about which you don't know the whole story. Throughout the book, Bergman tells the story with terrific grace and patience. It is a very good celebrity autobiography.

Ingrid Berman's autobiography "My Story" (1980 489-page hardback) suggests, in a variety of ways, what's wrong with today's motion picture celebrity. Her story is a troubling tribute to the egocentric, narcissistic, opulent, and self-destructive life-style.

Born, in 1916, an only child who by her teens had lost her parents, Bergman was passed across Europe to be raised among distant family. Identity confusion, suspicion for authority, disrespect for religion, and feelings of inadequacy were to permeate her life from those early days. Frequently, Berman claims that motion pictures and the theater saved her from personal disaster and death.

Suggesting early on (the first page) that she wrote this book to voice her side in the media driven scandals of her life, this text clears the air about what happened with Bergman. Block buster movie parts, three marriages, four kids, three Oscars, multiple six and seven digit salaries, celebrity friendships, and her personal attitudes are all considered in this life story. Readers hear about her love for champagne, cravings for tobacco, love of ice cream, aptitude for languages (she was fluent in at least five), weakness for domineering men, financial ineptitude, and continual pursuit of the best part. Her first love was always acting.

Much of Bergman's life played like one of her movies. The pretty girl gets all the kudos, excitement, money, and fame until they run their course into a tragic ending leaving her holding the bag. Often Ingrid finds herself stuck in a far-away country with few resources and even fewer options. (It is informative to realize that many, if not most, of Berman's roles, from the beginning with "Intermezzo" in 1939, featured marital infidelity.) But in the end a movie mogul rose up to save her with a brilliant part, such as "Casablanca", "Joan of Arc", "Anastasia", "Indiscreet", "Inn of the Sixth Happiness", or "A Woman Called Golda". Maybe moviedom saved her, after all.

The sheer length of this book keeps it from earning additional stars. It takes a time commitment with nearly 500 pages. Of particular interest are Bergman's personal reflections and stories. We hear that Gary Cooper and Cary Grant were her favorite male stars, that Bogart was unapproachable, that Spencer Tracy liked to give flowers to his leading ladies, that mentor and producer David Selznick always paid himself first, and that Hemmingway considered himself her surrogate father. Howard Hughes, she suggests, offered her RKO studios (perhaps out of romantic feelings for Bergman). Ingrid also had her enemies starting with fellow Swede Greta Garbo and ending with her second husband (of six years) the Italian director Rossellini. The book was published in 1980 (two years before her death at the young age of 66).

Bergman also tells the gripping stories of her flight from Europe on the verge of World War II (with a harrowing tour through Nazi Germany on the eve of Britain's declaration of war) and her return to the continent in a performing company to the recently victorious American GIs in 1945. Her eye witness account of Europe's war time destruction alone justifies the costs of this memoir. This book is recommended to all with an interest in Ingrid Berman, the motion picture industry of the 1930s-1970s, and celebrity tell-alls.

I frequently read biographies and autobiographies. I was a bit disappointed in this one. The content is good, however the writing is simply average I thought. The parts Ingrid wrote herself were the most interesting; the parts written by the biographer were dull (this book alternated between Ingrid's writing and the biographer). The format was a bit odd as well, with the alternation. I'm about 400 pages into the book and not sure I will finish it. I enjoyed it for the most part, but I find I am getting a bit bored with it.

In "My Story" Ingrid Bergman opens up and gives her version of a much-reported career and life. From her childhood, to growing up and facing off with David Selznick, to her affair with Roberto Rosselini, to watching her daughter Isabella go through excrutiating back treatment, she tells it all and does so very openly and humanly. If you are a fan of the beautiful Ingrid Bergman, you will be fascinated by this book from beginning to end.