Born in Ireland,
Greer Garson, known for her screen portrayals of beautiful yet extremely kind and humanistic characters, began her acting career on the London stage, where she was noticed by
Louis B. Mayer who signed her to a Hollywood contract. Mayer insisted she not appear in any movie, but the right movie, hence the reason she sat idle for the first year of her contract until the movie
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) came along. A string of successful movies followed, including
Blossoms in the Dust (1941), which would team her for the first time with who would become her frequent leading man,
Walter Pidgeon. A subsequent collaboration with Pidgeon would become her defining screen role as the title character in
Mrs. Miniver (1942), for which she would win an Oscar. She was adored by audiences and critics alike, often being voted the screen's most popular actress and being Oscar nominated a number of times following her Miniver win. She made a late career comeback portraying first lady
Eleanor Roosevelt in
Sunrise at Campobello (1960).
—Huggo