Carole Lombard (1908 - 1942)

Carole Lombard (1908 - 1942) was among the first Hollywood screen beauties who never aged.. Having lived for for 33 years, she will always be remembered as a young and vibrant beauty and screen icon, immortalized by her movies and photos.

Greta Garbo (1905 - 1990) colorized from a late 1930s photo

Came across a rather different looking Greta Garbo without the deep-set eyes and the artificial eyelashes that have become her signature copied by several a actresses during her time and after. 

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor DBE (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011)

Colorized promo still for the young ElizzabethTaylor for her 1953 movie The Girl Who Had Everything. Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (Feb 27, 1932 – Mar 23, 2011) was a British-American actress, businesswoman, and humanitarian. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s, classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. She continued her career successfully into the 1960s, and remained a well-known public figure for the rest of her life. In 1999, the American Film Institute named her the seventh-greatest female screen legend.

Greta Garbo (1905 - 1990) taken ca 1936

Colorized a rare photo showing Greta in a hearty smile with some liberties on her dress. Her last 1939 Hollywood film "Two-Faced Woman" was a critical failure that devastated her to the point that she retired from Hollywood and returned to Sweden. However, she did entertain a comeback, having signed contracts with MGM to do films that never got off, presumably for her own second thoughts about returning to a career that she was disappointed with. Her absence was a welcome relief to several other Hollywood actresses who were after her crown as Queen of Hollywood who was the highest-paid actress during her reign. After the war, it became even more difficult for the aging actress to make a comeback, especially when the likes of Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, and other rising stars were making waves in the next decade of Hollywood's Golden Age (1930s - 1960s).

Greta Garbo (1905 - 1990)

Colorizing vintage shots of Hollywood legends is always a pleasure. There are just so few vintage photos of Philippine movie greats with good enough resolution to colorize. But not so with Hollywood greats. Even during the silent pictures of the 1920s and the first talkies of the 30s, screen legends like Myrna Loy, Lilian Gish, Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo, and Joan Crawford benefitted from excellent b&w photos, thanks to camera artists who were employed as glamour photographers by the studios. Here's one from a 1930 - 31 photo of Greta Garbo. This photo has been overused as a hairstyle sample in beauty salons and online hairstyle resources.

Greta Garbo (1905 - 1990) a Swedish-American film actress during the 1920s and 1930s. Garbo is ranked as fifth on the AFI list of the greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema. She became famous with her first feature film “Torrent” (1926), impressing the head of production Irving Thalberg who would shape Garbo’s distinctive image as an enigmatic, often tragic young woman who had lived many lifetimes and suffered in spite of, or perhaps because of, her incredible beauty.

Garbo would make just a handful of movies over a 15-year period, during the 20s and 30s,  regarded as among the shortest for any Hollywood actress but left a legacy that inspired younger actresses to reach or exceed her fame.  Greta Garbo’s impact on the industry and on audiences — was unparalleled while her potent magnetism and allure defy the ravages of time. Only Joan Crawford and Bette Davis would exceed her fame but they lasted far longer in the industry. At the height of her career, she retired and returned to Sweden, disgusted with the studio system, the glitz and blatant artificiality of tinsel town.

Great Garbo (1905 - 1990) in her 1935 film "Anna Karenina"

Colorized a promotional photo of Greta Garbo (1905 - 1990) in her 1935 film "Anna Karenina", a remake of a silent movie of the same title with her supposed lover and fellow film star John Gilbert. It is interesting to note that Greta never married or had children. She did not show up to her wedding ceremony with longtime screen partner John Gilbert, saying to the press she had feared being dominated by him when all her life, she has been the one dominating. It was essentially a ruse to cover her lesbian nature which studio bosses already knew and fostered her enigmatic image to protect her from adverse public opinion and her standing at the box office.

All throughout her career, she was able to create an air of mystery around her personal life, never attending socials, parties or an Oscar ceremony even when nominated. Her biographer Barry Paris claimed that she was "technically bisexual, predominantly lesbian, and increasingly asexual as the years went by." Garbo struggled greatly with her sexuality, only becoming involved with other women in affairs she could control.

Before moving to America it is claimed she was seduced by 23-year-old Marlene Dietrich, described by Hollywood historian Diana McLellan as a “bohemian young mama with a notorious and compulsive appetite for the sexual seduction of other beautiful women, particularly backstage.” Garbo with a very sensitive nature ended up so hurt by Dietrich that she denied knowing her for the rest of her life. Garbo moved to Hollywood, where she continued an intimate relationship with actress-writer Salka Viertel and Mercedes de Acosta who revealed their lesbian relationships with Greta. It was also rumored that she made backstage advances to a yet unknown 19-year old Joan Crawford who was herself a bisexual

Joan Crawford, colorized from a photo by Yousuf Karsh, ca 1948-49

Greta Garbo (1905 - 1990), colorized from a photo taken ca 1932

Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993), colorized photo, ca, 1954-56

Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993)

Colorized a promotional photo of the doe-eyed, swan-neck Hollywood icon of beauty and fashion, the late Audrey Hepburn, taken by Bud Fraker for her film Sabrina.

Gloria Romero (Galla), Filipina actress (1933-) colorized

Colorized a photo of the young Gloria Romero, ca 1950. She is a multi-award actress who has appeared in both film and TV in a career that spans 60 years with almost 200 films and is the first recipient of the lifetime achievement award from the Philippine MTRCB (Movies and Television Review and Classification Board).

She first appeared in her first movie as an extra in Ang Bahay sa Lumang Gulod and was introduced to local cinema as "Gloria Romero" in her first lead role in Monghita (1952) opposite Oscar Moreno. She received her first major acting award in Filipino Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences (FAMAS, the Philippines counterpart of the Oscars) as Best Actress for her role in Dalagang Ilocana (1954).

She has appeared as a drunken landlady on TV sitcoms (Palibhasa Lalake) and with the late Eddie Garcia in a TV melodrama  Maalaala mo Kya in 2008 and continues to take on demanding roles as a grandmother in several movies and films. Here life and works are essayed at  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Romero_(actress)