In the glamorous era of Old Hollywood, whispers of star-studded trysts and notorious love triangles were hushed and shielded from the public sphere. Though now, they’re no strangers to scandal, back then even a small whiff of impropriety could be detrimental to a promising career. Nevertheless, many of the luminaries managed to clandestine courtship behind closed doors. From the celebrated personalities like Greta Garbo and Humphrey Bogart, we recount nine scandalous affairs that added an intriguing facet to the fascinating world of Old Hollywood.
The drama unfolds in the late 1920s, when Greta Garbo, a cinematic icon of the time, concluded her relationship with her co-financé and acting mentor, John Gilbert. Yet, it wasn’t long until a new interest graced Garbo’s life. This was introduced at a high-profile party hosted by acclaimed director Ernst Lubitsch, where Garbo’s path crossed with Salka Viertel, a seasoned actor of significant age gap of 16 years.
Originating from Berlin, Salka found herself in Hollywood, grafting a strong bond with the Swedish screen diva, Garbo. Their friendship was rhythmic, quick, and full of promise. And as their friendship blossomed, Salka, pulling from her writing background, offered a promising project to Garbo that she couldn’t resist.
Salka happened to be reading a biography about Queen Christina of Sweden and a spark ignited in her mind. She proposed that Garbo, a proud Swede herself, would be the perfect fit to depict Christina in a movie. Garbo immediately fell in love with the idea and nudged Salka to pen the screenplay.
As this professional partnership deepened, Salka introduced a new character into the narrative – Mercedes de Acosta. Mercedes, an aspiring screenwriter with a fiery ambition to charm Garbo herself, had set foot in Hollywood with twin aspirations – to compose a remarkable screenplay and to captivate the enigmatic Garbo.
Following the successful production of their film, ‘Susan Lenox’, during the summer of 1931, a romantic plotline began to unfold off the screen. Garbo and de Acosta sought refuge in a secluded cabin in the High Sierras, indulging in an affair under the shroud of Hollywood’s busy glare.
However, this clandestine escapade did not burn as brightly as anticipated and instead, rekindled Garbo’s affection towards Salka. Upon Garbo’s 26th birthday, she finally won over Salka in a romantic conquest. Salka recounted this encounter to her husband in a letter, describing their time together as harmonious and beautiful.
Despite the brief period of romantic involvement, the relationship between the Queen Christina actor and the screenwriter retained their strong friendship. However, only in 1960 did their relationship fully fractured due to undisclosed reasons.
The tale of Rita Hayworth, Aly Khan, and Orson Welles marked another notorious love triangle in Hollywood. The media dubbed Hayworth as ‘The Love Goddess’, an ironic epithet considering her tumultuous off-screen relationships.
By 1946, the spark in Hayworth’s nuptial bonds had dulled, leading to her official separation with her partner. However, amidst the public scrutiny, Rita Hayworth and Aly Khan defied the odds and tied the knot in a modest ceremony held in Vallauris, France, in the latter part of May 1949. Welcoming their first child, Princess Yasmin, into the world seven months later added more complexity to their layered love life.
As time wore on, the constant infidelities of her husband slowly chipped away at Hayworth’s tolerance. Exhausted, she decided upon a legal separation by 1951, initiating a bitter and public custody battle for their child.
The next underscored affair of Old Hollywood was between Ingrid Bergman, Roberto Rossellini, and Petter Lindström. Bergman, who tied the knot with future neurosurgeon Petter Lindström in 1937, found herself embarked on a journey she had not foreseen.
An unforeseen path of romance bloomed between Rossellini and Bergman that sent shockwaves across the nation, dashing Bergman’s illustrious career against the rocks. Soon after, Bergman absconded from her marital home with Lindström and, to add fuel to the fire, she made headlines globally for her pregnancy with Rossellini’s child.
The scandal triggered a public backlash of immense magnitude, resulting in boycotts against her films, banishment from The Ed Sullivan Show, and an avalanche of hate mail. Feeling stifled under this pressure, Bergman was compelled to seek asylum in Europe to evade the negative spotlight.
When she returned to Hollywood in 1956, her relationship with Rossellini had winded down to its end. Astonishingly, her career rebounded at an unexpected pace, leading her onto the prestigious path of being a two-time Oscar winner.