SAN FRANCISCO// Gray Gustafson Reisfield, the sole heiress to her aunt Greta Garbo's estate and a woman who was a long-time companion to the late Swedish-born actress, has died, a family member said Monday.
Reisfield died Sunday at her home in Marin County, California, following a bout with pneumonia, said her son Derek Reisfield. She was 85.
Reisfield was separated by 27 years from Garbo. But the two bonded over being strong, independent women and enjoyed the lighter side of life together, sitting by the swimming pool, traveling to Caribbean islands and teaching children to do cartwheels in the backyard.
"She viewed (Garbo) as truly a remarkable woman," Derek Reisfield said. "I think my mother really respected her because she had accomplished so much, and she had done it her way. She was very independent when women were not, and I think that was a real lesson for my mother."
Born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1932, Reisfield came to the U.S. with her parents and spent her childhood in Southern California. She moved to Sante Fe, New Mexico, in junior high school, where she enjoyed horseback riding and fishing.
She attended Bryn Mawr College, spent a year at Yale University, where she met her future husband, the late Dr. Donald Reisfield, and later transferred to Columbia Law School, where she graduated in 1957.
Derek Reisfield, 54, said he was about 12 when he realized his great aunt was famous after seeing a magazine that showed his mother and Garbo vacationing together. Every spring, the two women would go to the Caribbean.
"They were very close," he said.
On one trip to an exclusive Caneel Bay resort, known for its unobtrusive luxury and gentle beaches, Garbo donned slacks as she readied to have dinner with a roomful of women who would be wearing party dresses.
Reisfield followed her lead.
When the two women walked into the room, heads turned and there was moment of silence, but soon everyone got back to having a good time.
"The next evening all the women were wearing slacks," recalled Derek Reisfield with a laugh.
On screen, Garbo was known for her performances in such classics as "Anna Christie," ''Grand Hotel," ''Queen Christina," ''Anna Karenina," ''Camille" and "Ninotchka." Both on screen and off, she had a major influence on women's fashions, hair styles and makeup.
Garbo starred in 26 films in 17 years. In 1941, at age 36, she quit Hollywood, spending the rest of her life in shuttered and fenced residences in France, Switzerland and Manhattan, where she lived in an East Side high-rise. At the time of her death, she owned 18th-century antiques, fine rugs, damask curtains and many pieces of art, including a Renoir.
Known as "the Swedish sphinx" because of her deep fear of reporters and other strangers, she ironically became one of the most publicized women in the world while trying to guard her privacy.
Her biographer John Bainbridge wrote in "Garbo," that except at the start of her career, she "granted no interviews, signed no autographs, attended no premieres, answered no fan mail."
Garbo never married and had no children, but rather chose her niece as a frequent companion.
"My mother was very close to her and would go into New York once a week to see her," said Derek Reisfield. "They were both very strong, very independent women, and I think they bonded over that."
She is survived by her three sons and a daughter, eight grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Off-roading in the UAE: How to checklist
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: BorrowMe (BorrowMe.com)
Date started: August 2021
Founder: Nour Sabri
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce / Marketplace
Size: Two employees
Funding stage: Seed investment
Initial investment: $200,000
Investors: Amr Manaa (director, PwC Middle East)
Cry Macho
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam
Rating:**
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
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In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
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THE DETAILS
Director: Milan Jhaveri
Producer: Emmay Entertainment and T-Series
Cast: John Abraham, Manoj Bajpayee
Rating: 2/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
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Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
WandaVision
Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany
Directed by: Matt Shakman
Rating: Four stars
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENamara%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJune%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMohammed%20Alnamara%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMicrofinance%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E16%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFamily%20offices%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now
Profile of Udrive
Date started: March 2016
Founder: Hasib Khan
Based: Dubai
Employees: 40
Amount raised (to date): $3.25m – $750,000 seed funding in 2017 and a Seed round of $2.5m last year. Raised $1.3m from Eureeca investors in January 2021 as part of a Series A round with a $5m target.