Greta Garbo Los Angeles on their own, but another five weeks passed with no contact from the studio. On the verge of returning to Sweden, she wrote to her boyfriend back home: "You're quite right when you think I don't feel at home here… Oh you lovely little Sweden, I promise that when I return to you my sad face will smile as never before." A Swedish friend in Los Angeles helped out by contacting MGM producer Irving Thalberg, who agreed to give Garbo a screen test. According to author Frederick Sands, "the result of the test was electrifying. Thalberg was impressed
Greta Garbo Berling". Her performance caught the attention of Louis B. Mayer, chief executive of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), who brought her to Hollywood in 1925. She immediately stirred interest with her first silent film, "Torrent", released in 1926; a year later, her performance in "Flesh and the Devil", her third movie, made her an international star. Garbo's first talking film was "Anna Christie" (1930). MGM marketers enticed the public with the tagline "Garbo talks!" That same year she starred in "Romance". For her performances in these films she received the first of three Academy Award nominations for Best Actress. (Academy rules at the