--- name: "Greer Garson" canonical: "https://film.one/person/greer-garson" roles: ["Actor"] born: "29 September 1904" died: "6 April 1996" reviewed_on_fi1m: 6 average_fi1m_score: 73 average_as: "actor" average_over: 6 updated: "2026-09-20T02:25:37.832233+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Greer Garson Actor. Born 29 September 1904 in London, England, UK. Died 6 April 1996. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 29 September 1904, London, England, UK - **Died:** 6 April 1996 - **Active:** 1939–1953 - **Also known as:** Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson - **Frequently works with:** [Claudine West](https://film.one/person/claudine-west.md), [Mervyn LeRoy](https://film.one/person/mervyn-leroy.md), [Sidney Franklin](https://film.one/person/sidney-franklin.md), [Walter Pidgeon](https://film.one/person/walter-pidgeon.md), [Arthur Wimperis](https://film.one/person/arthur-wimperis.md), [George Froeschel](https://film.one/person/george-froeschel.md), [Henry Travers](https://film.one/person/henry-travers.md) - **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won · 6 nominated) - **Average Fi1m score:** 73, as actor, over 6 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 82 (1), 1940s 70 (4), 1950s 76 (1) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 77 to 77 across 4 titles - **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 4 at 60–79, 1 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 5 of 6 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Drama 6, Romance 5, History 2, War 1 - **Screen time:** 12 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $29m across 4 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greer_Garson, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q182486, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002093/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/93805 ## Streaming the US now - **Tubi:** [*Julius Caesar*](https://film.one/film/julius-caesar.md) (76) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Greer Garson > Greer Garson played good women so steadily that the goodness came to look like a limit. It was not, quite: watch the sense and the dryness she gets into *Goodbye, Mr. Chips* and ask who chose the parts that followed. A young woman on a bicycle in the Tyrol mist, and a nervous schoolmaster scrambling up to rescue her. She turns out to know exactly where she is. That scene, in *Goodbye, Mr. Chips* (1939), is Greer Garson's first on film, and it tells you most of what she did for the next two decades: she is the sensible one, she is gracious about it, and she lets the man believe he has helped. When Kathy arrives at Brookfield the staff brace for a dragon and get a woman who opens the rooms to the boys for tea. We had thought ourselves too dry for it. We were not; the film sags through its Vienna waltz, and the moment she walks into that school it stands up straight, and so did we. MGM did what studios did. Louis B. Mayer saw her on stage in *Old Music* (1937) and signed her, and after the Hilton film she was Elizabeth Bennet in *Pride and Prejudice* (1940) opposite Laurence Olivier. Then came the run that fixed her: *Mrs. Miniver* (1942), *Random Harvest* (1942), *Madame Curie* (1943), women of loyalty and good manners holding a household or a husband together while history knocked. Walter Pidgeon was the husband, or something like it, eight times. Mervyn LeRoy directed her twice. The contract ended in 1954 and the films thinned out; *Sunrise at Campobello* (1960), with Garson as Eleanor Roosevelt, is the late one people remember, and after that there was television and the stage she had come from. What she had was a voice, deep and clear and trained at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and a stillness that reads as strength without anyone having to say so. What she lacked, or was not allowed, was a flaw. The complaint that followed her through the 1940s was that her women were too good to be true, and *Mrs. Miniver* is the usual exhibit. When the studio tried her in comedy, in *Julia Misbehaves* (1948), some found the effort showed. In *Chips* we said the briskness stops Kathy being a wish, and then that she is still a wish. That is the Garson problem in a sentence. She could make a saint plausible. She was rarely asked to make anyone else. She knew it. "If you're going to be typed, there are worse moulds in which you can be cast," she said, and she was right, and the line has a dryness her scripts seldom gave her. Start with *Chips*, where the mould has not set and you can see the intelligence before the nobility was painted over it. Go on to *Mrs. Miniver* knowing what you are getting. The good women are worth an evening. It is the woman underneath them we would have liked to see more of. ## Biography Greer Garson, born Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson, was a British and American actress. She was born on 29 September 1904 in London, England, and died on 6 April 1996 in Dallas, Texas. She began her career on the stage in England before signing with MGM and moving to Hollywood. Garson made her film debut as Katherine 'Kathy' in *Goodbye, Mr. Chips* (1939), for which she received an Academy Award nomination. She went on to star in *Pride and Prejudice* (1940), *Mrs. Miniver* (1942), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, *Random Harvest* (1942), *Madame Curie* (1943) and *Julius Caesar* (1953). She received a total of seven Academy Award nominations. Later credits include the voice of the narrator in *The Little Drummer Boy* (1968) and appearances in *The Love Boat* (1977). *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, britannica.com.* ## On Fi1m (6) - *Julius Caesar* (1953), Fi1m 76, as Calpurnia — [page](https://film.one/film/julius-caesar.md) - *Madame Curie* (1943), Fi1m 72, as Marie Curie — [page](https://film.one/film/madame-curie.md) - *Mrs. Miniver* (1942), Fi1m 73, as Mrs. Miniver — [page](https://film.one/film/mrs-miniver.md) - *Random Harvest* (1942), Fi1m 76, as Paula — [page](https://film.one/film/random-harvest.md) - *Blossoms in the Dust* (1941), Fi1m 58, as Edna Gladney — [page](https://film.one/film/blossoms-in-the-dust.md) - *Goodbye, Mr. Chips* (1939), Fi1m 82, as Katherine 'Kathy' — [page](https://film.one/film/goodbye-mr-chips.md) ## Complete filmography (47) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *That's Entertainment! III* (1994), as (archive footage) (uncredited) - *Showbiz Goes to War* (1982), as (archive footage) - *Little Women* (1978), series, as Kathryn March - *The Love Boat* (1977), series, as Alice Bailey - *The Little Drummer Boy: Book II* (1976), as Narrator (voice) - *That's Entertainment, Part II* (1976), as (archive footage) - *That's Entertainment!* (1974), as (archive footage) (uncredited) - *Crown Matrimonial* (1974), as Queen Mary - *The Little Drummer Boy* (1968), as Narrator (voice) - *The Happiest Millionaire* (1967), as Cordelia Biddle - *Mondo Hollywood* (1967), Actor - *The Singing Nun* (1966), as Mother Prioress - *The Invincible Mr. Disraeli* (1963), as Mary Anne Disraeli - *Pepe* (1960), as Greer Garson - *Sunrise at Campobello* (1960), as Eleanor Roosevelt - *Captain Brassbound's Conversion* (1960), as Lady Cicely Waynflete - *The Little Foxes* (1956), as Regina Giddens - *Telephone Time* (1956), series, Actor - *The Awful Truth* (1956), as Linda Warner - *Strange Lady in Town* (1955), as Dr. Julia Winslow Garth - *Father Knows Best* (1954), series, Actor - *Her Twelve Men* (1954), as Jan Stewart - *Julius Caesar* (1953), as Calpurnia — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/julius-caesar.md) - *Scandal at Scourie* (1953), as Victoria McChesney - *General Electric Theater* (1953), series, as Molly Malloy, Lydia Shaw, Antonia Stuart - *Hallmark Hall of Fame* (1951), series, as Regina, Lady Cicely Wayneflete, Mary Anne Disraeli - *The Law and the Lady* (1951), as Jane Hoskins - *The Miniver Story* (1950), as Kay Miniver - *That Forsyte Woman* (1949), as Irene Forsyte - *Julia Misbehaves* (1948), as Julia Packett - *Desire Me* (1947), as Marise Aubert - *Adventure* (1945), as Emily Sears - *The Valley of Decision* (1945), as Mary Rafferty - *Mrs. Parkington* (1944), as Susie Parkington - *Twenty Years After* (1944), as (archive footage) - *Madame Curie* (1943), as Marie Curie — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/madame-curie.md) - *The Youngest Profession* (1943), as Greer Garson - *Random Harvest* (1942), as Paula — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/random-harvest.md) - *Mrs. Miniver* (1942), as Mrs. Miniver — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/film/mrs-miniver.md) - *When Ladies Meet* (1941), as Mrs. Claire Woodruff - *Blossoms in the Dust* (1941), as Edna Gladney — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/film/blossoms-in-the-dust.md) - *Pride and Prejudice* (1940), as Elizabeth Bennet - *Remember?* (1939), as Linda Bronson - *Goodbye, Mr. Chips* (1939), as Katherine 'Kathy' — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/goodbye-mr-chips.md) - *How He Lied to Her Husband* (1937), as Aurora Bompas - *The School for Scandal* (1937), as Maria - *Inasmuch...* (1934), as St. Clara ## Gallery - ![Greer Garson](https://film.one/media/person/1231174/gallery-d9b91da25796.jpg) Greer Garson — Selvejp, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Greer_GARSON_%281904-1996%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Original studio publicity photo of Greer Garson (1940)](https://film.one/media/person/1231174/gallery-6d592bcfd4c3.jpg) Original studio publicity photo of Greer Garson (1940) — MGM studio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Greer_Garson-publicity.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Greer Garson at premiere of "The Greatest Story Ever Told" motion picture in Los Angeles, Calif. (1965)](https://film.one/media/person/1231174/gallery-72c220135291.jpg) Greer Garson at premiere of "The Greatest Story Ever Told" motion picture in Los Angeles, Calif. (1965) — Los Angeles Times, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/Greer_Garson_1965_crop.jpg/1280px-Greer_Garson_1965_crop.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Photo of Greer Garson and Florenz Ames from the television anthology series Telephone Time; episode "Revenge", aired September 10, 1957](https://film.one/media/person/1231174/gallery-7182a044d324.jpg) Photo of Greer Garson and Florenz Ames from the television anthology series Telephone Time; episode "Revenge", aired September 10, 1957 — ABC Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Greer_Garson_Florenz_Ames_Telephone_Time_1957.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Greer Garson](https://film.one/media/person/1231174/gallery-312ba4ca521a.jpg) Greer Garson — Image via TMDB - ![Greer Garson](https://film.one/media/person/1231174/gallery-3fcc3f564fb1.jpg) Greer Garson — Image via TMDB - ![Greer Garson](https://film.one/media/person/1231174/gallery-6ef743218e9d.jpg) Greer Garson — Image via TMDB - ![photo of Greer Garson and Franchot Tone in the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of The Little Foxes.](https://film.one/media/person/1231174/gallery-3cb780410f93.jpg) photo of Greer Garson and Franchot Tone in the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of The Little Foxes. — NBC Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Greer_Garson_Franchot_Tone_The_Little_Foxes_Hallmark_Hall_of_Fame_1956.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Greer Garson](https://film.one/media/person/1231174/gallery-dd9b906a28d4.jpg) Greer Garson — Image via TMDB - ![Greer Garson](https://film.one/media/person/1231174/gallery-b852fc87b7d2.jpg) Greer Garson — Image via TMDB - ![Greer Garson](https://film.one/media/person/1231174/gallery-7db1944a5279.jpg) Greer Garson — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 1 won, 6 nominated - 1961: Best Actress (nominated), for *Sunrise at Campobello* - 1946: Best Actress (nominated), for *The Valley of Decision* - 1945: Best Actress (nominated), for *Mrs. Parkington* - 1944: Best Actress (nominated), for *Madame Curie* - 1943: Best Actress (won), for *Mrs. Miniver* - 1942: Best Actress (nominated), for *Blossoms in the Dust* - 1940: Best Actress (nominated), for *Goodbye, Mr. Chips* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/greer-garson