Director, screenwriter and actor. Born in Helsinki, Finland. Death in Stockholm.
Mauritz Stiller, along with Victor Sjöström, is the big name in Swedish silent films. He grew up in a Russian-Jewish family in Helsinki, but traveled to Sweden where he worked in the theater, both as a director and an actor. In 1912, he became a director of the Swedish cinema theater director Charles Magnusson. Like his colleague Sjöström, Stiller was very productive during his first years in the film. During the years 1912-16, Stiller directed no less than 34 films in several different genres.
When Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer invited him to Hollywood as a director, he arrived with his new discovery Greta Gustafsson, whose screen name Greta Garbo is believed to have been his suggestion.
