Greta Garbo than $1 million at the box office, becoming one of the studio's biggest failures of the decade. Garbo's popularity had considerably dropped, and when her contract expired soon thereafter, she returned briefly to Sweden. On 3 May 1938, Garbo was among the many stars—including Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Luise Rainer, Katharine Hepburn, Mae West, Marlene Dietrich, Fred Astaire, Dolores del Río and others—dubbed to be "Box Office Poison" in an article published by Harry Brandt on behalf of the Independent Theatre Owners of America. After the box office failure of "Conquest", MGM decided a change of pace was needed to
Greta Garbo in 1938. Her career revived upon her turn to comedy in "Ninotchka" (1939), which earned her a third Academy Award nomination, but after the failure of "Two-Faced Woman" (1941), she retired from the screen, at the age of 35, after acting in twenty-eight films. From then on, Garbo declined all opportunities to return to the screen. Shunning publicity, she led a private life. Garbo also became an art collector in her later life; her collection, including works from painters such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pierre Bonnard, and Kees van Dongen, was worth millions of dollars when she died. Greta Lovisa Gustafsson