Garbo Affair Remains A Mystery

After years of a rumored love affair between Greta Garbo and socialite Mercedes de Acosta, secret letters from Garbo that were unsealed over the weekend failed to put the decades-old speculation to rest.

The 113 items, including 25 letters, plus notes that accompanied flowers, telegrams, photos and poems, chronicled a 28-year friendship of ups and downs, but gave no explicit evidence of a lesbian relationship between, said Garbo grandniece Gray Reisfield Horan.

"I see nothing that refers to a liaison," said Horan, 40. "I don't think there's much here to back it up. I only knew her to be interested in men.

"Garbo's mystery remains intact," she said.

The items were unsealed at the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia on Saturday -- the 10th anniversary of Garbo's death at age 84 --before museum officials and Horan. About half of the letters was on exhibit for reporters Monday and will be open for public viewing from Tuesday through June 4.

"The fact that the letters didn't say anything explicit, like 'I love you' or 'I need you,' says a lot. Mercedes would have demanded that from her lover and pasted it in her Bible," said Garbo biographer Karen Swenson. "But, it still left the question mark there. People will interpret things however they want to.

"For anyone to have expected she would say anything explicitly was contrary to Garbo's character," Swenson said.

The museum would not allow any excerpts of the letters to be directly quoted, citing the wishes of the Garbo estate, which is reserving the right to publish the material.

Some of the letters reveal a friendship that involved visits and birthday wishes. Others were of Garbo telling Acosta of her wishes to be left alone and her unhappiness with the acting profession. In one letter Garbo tells Acosta not to bother her, but a later letter shows them back on friendly terms.

Acosta gave the letters to the Rosenbach in 1960 with the stipulation that they not be opened until 10 years after the death of Garbo or Acosta, whichever came later. Acosta died in 1968. Garbo died April 15, 1990.

The two women were very close friends and sustained an on-and-off relationship from 1931 to 1959. Biographers, historians and family members have disagreed for years on whether they were lovers.