Mauritz Stiller (17 July 1883 – 18 November 1928) was a Finnish-Swedish film director, best known for discovering Greta Garbo and bringing her to America.Stiller had been a pioneer of the Swedish film industry, writing and directing many short films from 1912. When MGM 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, Stiller returned to Sweden, where he died soon afterwards.
In 1924 Stiller planned to shoot a film in Turkey titled "The Odalisque from Smyrna" and had hired Conrad Veidt and Einar Hansen as stars. Stiller, along with Hansen and protégé Greta Garbo left for Istanbul, but the promised financing vanished. Stiller reportedly returned to Berlin to raise backing, but failed. Garbo remained in Turkey sulking, not even communicating with fellow Swede Hansen. Eventually she returned to Berlin.
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His directing style was entirely autocratic, in that he demanded total control over all facets of his production -- something he could never have hoped to achieve in Hollywood, and which contributed significantly to his failure there.
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Started as an actor with the Svenska Bio company in 1911. Graduated to writing and directing the following year.
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The son of Polish-Russian parents, he escaped to Sweden via Finland in order to avoid being conscripted into the Tsarist Army.
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Was an actor of the Swedish Theatre of Helsinki in his youth.
His Hollywood Walk of Fame star was originally listed under the erroneous name "Maurice Diller".
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Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 1063-1069. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
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Was Greta Garbo's mentor, and brought her to Hollywood. He was abruptly fired from directing her second MGM Hollywood film, "The Temptress", after repeated arguments with MGM execs and was soon let go. Unable to hold a job in Hollywood, he returned to Sweden in 1928 and died shortly after at the age of 45. Garbo was devastated.
$11 Million
