Greer Garson Collection:

Finding Aid for the Collection ca. 1880 - 1996

Biographical Note

On September 29, 1904, Greer Garson was born in London to George and Nina Greer Garson. Following her education in the city's public schools, she graduated with honors from the University of London and did postgraduate studies at Grenoble University in France. She began a full-time acting career in late 1931, joining the prestigious Birmingham Repertory Company. In May 1935, after leaving the company, Miss Garson enjoyed a virtually uninterrupted two-year run of leading roles in London's West End, winning acclaim from critics and audiences alike. During these years, she also appeared in a few of the first productions on BBC Television. In 1937, Louis B. Mayer, impressed by one of her stage performances, signed her to a long-term contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Greer Garson's first starring role, in Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939), resulted in a nomination for Best Actress; the next year, Pride and Prejudice reunited her with Laurence Olivier, with whom she had worked on the London stage. In 1941, she received her next Best Actress nomination, for her work in Blossoms in the Dust, portraying Texas adoption pioneer Edna Gladney. This film also marked her initial pairing with Walter Pidgeon, which they reprised the following year in the film for which Greer Garson won the Best Actress award, Mrs. Miniver. In 1943, her portrayal of the title role in Madame Curie landed her on the cover of Time magazine, as she and Pidgeon played the husband-and-wife scientists who discovered radium.

Following her film triumphs of the 1940s, Miss Garson made a successful transition to television, notably in several productions in the critically acclaimed Hallmark Hall of Fame series. She also returned to her original acting medium, live theater. Beginning in December 1958, she held the title role in the Broadway production of Auntie Mame for a year. She left this production to portray Eleanor Roosevelt in Sunrise at Campobello, for which she received her final Best Actress nomination.

On July 15, 1949, Greer Garson married Dallas oilman-rancher-lawyer, Colonel E. E. "Buddy" Fogelson, who had been in charge of oil procurement for the Allied war effort in Europe during World War II. For several years, the Fogelsons divided their time between Los Angeles, Dallas, and their historic Forked Lighting Ranch in Pecos, New Mexico. Mrs. Fogelson (as she preferred to be known) became enthralled with the Southwest in general and Forked Lightning in particular, as she involved herself with her husband's interest in raising Santa Gertrudis cattle and in the life of the community. Forked Lightning served as an expression of the Fogelsons' interest in environmental and wildlife protection and historic preservation. The ranch is now a U.S. national wildlife refuge and the Fogelsons also donated funds and ranch property to the Department of the Interior to ensure the protection of Spanish and ancient Indian ruins (since designated a National Historic Monument).

A few years before Colonel Fogelson's death in 1987, the couple began residing full-time in Dallas, where Mrs. Fogelson embarked on a number of projects to benefit the community and to honor her husband. These included a fund at Southern Methodist University to provide annual scholarships for drama students and construction of Fogelson Forum, a medical education center at Presbyterian Hospital. Her final major gift was funding for SMU's Greer Garson Theatre, which opened in 1992. In addition to Mrs. Fogelson's philanthropic activities, she saw a renewed interest in her work later in life, receiving a number of awards, including the 1987 Annual Governor's Award for contributions to the arts of New Mexico, the 1988 USA Film Festival's Master Screen Artist Award, the Medal of Distinction from the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU, and was named a Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.

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Chronology (including filmography)

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Scope and Content Notes

This collection includes approximately sixty linear feet of archival materials and 107 scrapbooks. Except for the scrapbooks, which are stored on shelves especially designed for this purpose, all of the holdings are housed in 108 archival storage cartons in a climate-controlled vault equipped with fire-suppression and security systems. At least some of these materials may have been gathered by Greer Garson but, more probably, by her mother, then by her clipping service and office staff. Also, some items sent to her by fans found their way into her papers. Unfortunately, a fire at her Los Angeles residence in 1988 destroyed many papers and mementoes, including her Oscar statuette and numerous family-related items. The few surviving photographs of the Greer and Garson families are included in the collection but, due to their condition, not all are available for research. The Motion Picture Academy replaced the statuette, which was subsequently donated to the Meadows School of the Arts. The materials that comprise the Greer Garson Collection were housed at her office prior to being transferred to SMU.

As indicated in the series descriptions, the Greer Garson Collection embraces a wide variety of materials, portions of which had some organization when acquired; organizational structure of the remainder, e.g., clipping files, was minimal. The bulk of the collection focuses on the years of 1935-1993, encompassing the actress's life from the inception of her stage career until a few years before her death. In addition to being the most significant archival resource for students of Greer Garson's life, it also is useful for historians of the London theatrical scene of the 1930s, the American film industry (particularly the so-called "Golden Age" of the studio system), and the history of philanthropy in the United States. Due to the 1988 fire, the collection's most serious gaps concern the actress's childhood, education, and relationship with her family. However, dozens of photographs and other items attest to her close relationship with her mother, Nina Greer Garson, who was the greatest influence on the actress until she met Col. Fogelson. Other significant gaps concern materials related to her first two marriages. The brief marriage to British civil servant Alec Snelson is barely mentioned but her second marriage, to actor Richard Ney, is documented in slightly more detail, primarily with photographs and clippings.

Photographs make up almost half of the holdings, with scrapbooks, scripts, and clipping files being the next most predominant types of materials. For research purposes, the scrapbooks and correspondence files constitute perhaps the richest components of the collection. One scrapbook is devoted entirely to her 1930s London stage career and is filled with playbills, reviews, and a few pieces of correspondence. Each of her films, save for Blossoms in the Dust, is documented by at least one scrapbook, which contain a diversity of materials. For example, in addition to photographs and clippings, the scrapbook for her first Hollywood film, Goodbye Mr. Chips, holds the schedule for the first day of shooting, on which the actress wrote "My first call!" Other scrapbooks document other aspects of her life, such as her 38-year marriage to Col. Fogelson (including their wedding album), their life at Forked Lightning ranch in New Mexico, and their extensive philanthropic activities. Correspondence includes letters, cards, and telegrams from film and theatrical figures, such as director Sidney Franklin, Laurence Olivier, Gregory Peck, Vivien Leigh, and Deborah Kerr and other notable individuals, such as British Prime Minster Margaret Thatcher and U.S. presidents Eisenhower, Nixon, and Reagan.

In addition to the scrapbooks, one of the collection's gems is a 109-page manuscript of an autobiography, written by Greer Garson with assistance from MGM scriptwriter Gladys Hall. Unfortunately, the narrative ceases at 1943 and, despite having a contract to complete a published autobiography, the actress never did so.

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Restrictions

Access/Restrictions

This collection is open for research and exhibition purposes, except for items in fragile condition, e.g., several scrapbooks and photographs. These items will be made available after they have undergone conservation treatment, which is contingent on availability of funds. Permission to publish material from the Greer Garson Collection must be obtained in writing from the staff of Bywaters Special Collections

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Administrative Information

Credit Citation

"Greer Garson Collection, Jake and Nancy Hamon Arts Library, Southern Methodist University." In addition, this should be preceded by a notation, for example, of box, folder, page number or accession number for various individual items

Acquisition

Greer Garson Fogelson donated the bulk of these papers to SMU's Hamon Arts Library, with a few items being donated by her estate after her death. All of the holdings arrived at the library between 1992 - 1998

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Select Bibliography

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Series Description

The Greer Garson Collection is arranged in thirteen series

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