Greta Nissen
Greta Nissen. That's a name you don't hear much. And no, I'm not talking about Greta Garbo, I'm talking about the other Greta! This Greta also started off as a lovely silent actress with fair skin, but when the advent of talking pictures came along, she did not transition well and her career faded into obscurity in the 1930s like many other silent actresses. The primary reason was because of her thick Norwegian accent. Like Vilma Banky, the public did not think she had a suitable voice in sound so she eventually gave up on all the publicity and her career in pictures. I am not in a position to dictate whether she was a good actress or not because I have not seen one of her films, but regardless, everyone deserves a second chance. It would have been nice to see her career progress throughout the decades, although she doesn't seem like the type that would.
I'm going to have to dig for one of her films today because now I'm really interested.
She was born Grethe Rüzt-Nissen on January 30, 1905, In Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway, to Carl Andreas Nissen and Agnes Magdalene Larsen. Her parents separated in 1908 when she was only two years old. Growing up, she was raised by her mother and had one younger brother. When she was six years old, her mother enrolled her at the Royal Opera of Copenhagen, hoping to set a career for her as a dancer. From 1918-1919, she studied Ballet under Mikhail Fokine, and by 1922, she was a solo ballerina touring with the Danish National Company.
According to Time Magazine, she performed in Flo Ziegfeld's No Foolin' (1926) Broadway Revue when she was 20 years old. Some sources claim she was a part of the Ziegfeld Follies for a short period before Hollywood, and while I'm not 100% sure, it is likely Flo discovered her when she was performing in New York City.
Greta's film debut was in the Danish film Daarskab, dyd og Driverter (1923). When she immigrated to the United States, she was discovered by Jesse L. Lasky and was soon signed to a contract with Paramount Pictures. From 1925-28, she made at least 14 pictures at Paramount. When her contract with them ended, she was set to star in Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels. Midway through the production, sound had arrived and production started all over again, but this time it was to transform into an all-talking picture. When Hughes incorporated the new technology, he replaced Greta with the at the time, unknown Jean Harlow, because he did not think she had the appropriate voice. He would’ve gotten in a lot of trouble nowadays if he did that! Harlow became an overnight sensation, and as you know, the biggest female star of her era.
Greta did score a little victory with sound though. She received good reviews for her performances in Transatlantic (1931) and Ambassador Bill (1931), but unfortunately, they did not save her waning career. She moved to England in 1933 where she appeared in a few British films. In 1937 she made her final film, Cafe Collette, and said Adieu to the screen.
In 1932 she tied the knot with Weldon Hayburn, whom she played opposite in The Silent Witness. In October 1935, she went to court to have the marriage annulled, which was finally granted on April 30, 1936. She married Stuart D. Eckert, a Los Angeles manufacturer, in 1941 after returning to the United States and they had one son. After marrying again, she completely withdrew from public life but apparently, her husband said that she still received fan letters.
On May 15, 1988, the lovely Miss Nissen passed away due to complications of Parkinson's disease at her home in Montecito, California. She was 83 years old and her body was cremated. In 2005, her son donated his large collection of Memorabilia to the Norwegian Emigrant Museum in Ottestad, Hedmark, Norway.