Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman (29 August 1915 – 29 August 1982) was a Swedish actress with a career spanning five decades, Bergman is often regarded as one of the most influential actresses in the history of cinema. She won numerous accolades, including three Academy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award; which made her the youngest performer to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting and one of four actresses to have received at least three acting Academy Awards.

Born in Stockholm to a Swedish father and German mother, Bergman began her acting career in Swedish and German films. Her introduction to the U.S. audience came in the English-language remake of Intermezzo (1939). Known for her naturally luminous beauty, she starred in Casablanca (1942) as Ilsa Lund. Bergman's notable performances in the 1940s include the dramas For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), Gaslight (1944), The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), and Joan of Arc (1948), all of which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress; she won for Gaslight. She made three films with Alfred Hitchcock: Spellbound (1945), Notorious (1946), and Under Capricorn (1949).

In 1950, she starred in Roberto Rossellini's Stromboli, released after the revelation that she was having an affair with Rossellini; that and her pregnancy before their marriage created a scandal in the U.S. that prompted her to remain in Europe for several years. During this time, she starred in Rossellini's Europa '51 and Journey to Italy (1954), the former of which won her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress. The Volpi Cup was not awarded to her in 1952 because she was dubbed (by Lydia Simoneschi) in the version presented at the Festival; she was awarded posthumously in 1992, and the prize was accepted by her son Roberto Rossellini. She returned to Hollywood, earning two more Academy Awards for her roles in Anastasia (1956) and Murder on the Orient Express (1974). During this period she also starred in Indiscreet (1958), Cactus Flower (1969), and Autumn Sonata (1978) receiving her sixth Best Actress nomination.

Bergman won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the Maxwell Anderson play Joan of Lorraine (1947). She also won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for The Turn of the Screw (1960), and A Woman Called Golda (1982). In 1974, Bergman discovered she had breast cancer and continued to work until shortly before her death on her sixty-seventh birthday in 1982. Bergman spoke five languages—Swedish, English, German, Italian, and French—and acted in each. In 1999, the American Film Institute recognized her as the fourth-greatest female screen legend of Classic Hollywood Cinema.

Ingrid Bergman was born on 29 August 1915 in Stockholm, to a Swedish father, Justus Samuel Bergman, and a German mother, Frieda "Friedel" Henriette Auguste Louise Bergman (née Adler), who was born in Kiel. Her parents married in Hamburg on 13 June 1907. She was named after Princess Ingrid of Sweden. Although she was raised in Sweden, she spent her summers in Germany and spoke fluent German.

Bergman was raised as an only child, as two older siblings had died in infancy before she was born. When she was two and a half years old, her mother died. She learned to create imaginary friends as a child. Justus Bergman had wanted his daughter to become an opera star and had her take voice lessons for three years. He sent her to the Palmgrenska Samskolan, a prestigious girls' school in Stockholm where Bergman was reportedly neither a good student nor popular.

Justus was a photographer and loved documenting his daughter's birthdays with his camera. He made his daughter one of his favorite photographic subjects. She enjoyed dancing, dressing up, and acting in front of her father's lenses. "I was perhaps the most photographed child in Scandinavia," quipped Bergman in her later years. In 1929, when Bergman was around 14, her father died of stomach cancer. Losing her parents at such a young age was a trauma that Bergman later described as "living with an ache", an experience of which she was not even aware.

After her father's death, Bergman was sent to live with her paternal aunt, Ellen, who died of heart disease six months later. Bergman then lived with her paternal uncle Otto and his wife Hulda, who had five children of their own. She also visited her maternal aunt, Elsa Adler, whom the young girl called Mutti (Mom) according to family lore. She later said, "I have wanted to be an actress almost as long as I can remember", sometimes wearing her deceased mother's clothing, and staging plays in her father's empty studio.

Bergman spoke Swedish and German as first languages, English and Italian (acquired later, while living in the U.S. and Italy), and French (learned in school). She acted in each of these languages at various times.

Bergman's first film experience was as an extra in the 1932 film Landskamp, an experience she described as "walking on holy ground". Her first speaking role was a small part in Munkbrogreven (1935). Bergman played Elsa, a maid in a seedy hotel, being pursued by the leading man, Edvin Adolphson. Critics called her "hefty and sure of herself", and "somewhat overweight ... with an unusual way of speaking her lines". The unflatteringly striped costume that she wore may have contributed to the unfavorable comments regarding her appearance. Soon after Munkbrogreven, Bergman was offered a studio contract and placed under director Gustaf Molander.

Bergman starred in Ocean Breakers, in which she played a fisherman's daughter, and then in Swedenhielms, where she had the opportunity to work alongside her idol Gösta Ekman. Next, she starred in Walpurgis Night (1935). She played Lena, a secretary in love with her boss, Johan, who is unhappily married. Throughout, Lena and the wife vie for Johan's affection, with the wife losing her husband to Lena at the end.

In 1936, in On the Sunny Side (På Solsidan), Bergman was cast as an orphan from a good family who marries a rich older gentleman. Also in 1936, she appeared in Intermezzo, her first lead performance, where she was reunited with Gösta Ekman. This was a pivotal film for the young actress and allowed her to demonstrate her talent. Director Molander later said: "I created Intermezzo for her, but I was not responsible for its success. Ingrid herself made it successful." In 1938, she starred in Only One Night, playing an upper-class woman living on a country estate. She didn't like the part, calling it "a piece of rubbish". She only agreed to appear if only she could star in the studio's next film project, En kvinnas ansikte. She later acted in Dollar (1938), a Scandinavian screwball comedy. Bergman had just been voted Sweden's most admired movie star in the previous year and received top billing. Svenska Dagbladet wrote in its review: "Ingrid Bergman's feline appearance as an industrial tycoon's wife overshadows them all."

In her next film, a role created especially for her, En kvinnas ansikte (A Woman's Face), she played against her usual casting, as a bitter, unsympathetic character, whose face had been hideously burned. Anna Holm is the leader of a blackmail gang that targets the wealthy folk of Stockholm for their money and jewellery. The film required Bergman to wear heavy make-up, as well as glue, to simulate a burned face. A brace was put in place to distort the shape of one cheek. In her diary, she called the film "my own picture, my very own. I have fought for it.". The critics loved her performance, citing her as an actor of great talent and confidence. The film was awarded a Special Recommendation at the 1938 Venice Film Festival, for its "overall artistic contribution". It was remade in 1941 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer with the same title, starring Joan Crawford.

Bergman signed a three-picture contract with UFA, the German major film company, although she only made one picture. At the time, she was pregnant, but, nonetheless, she arrived in Berlin to begin filming The Four Companions (Die vier Gesellen) (1938), directed by Carl Froelich. The film was intended as a star vehicle to launch Bergman's career in Germany. In the film, she played one of four ambitious young women, attempting to set up a graphic design agency. The film was a light-hearted combination of comedy and romance. At first, she did not comprehend the political and social situation in Germany. Later, she said: "I saw very quickly that if you were anybody at all in films, you had to be a member of the Nazi party." By September, she was back in Sweden, and gave birth to her daughter, Pia. She was never to work in Germany again.

Bergman's first acting role in the United States was in Intermezzo: A Love Story by Gregory Ratoff which premiered on 22 September 1939. She accepted the invitation of Hollywood producer David O. Selznick, who wished her to star in the English-language remake of her earlier Swedish film Intermezzo (1936). Unable to speak English, and uncertain about her acceptance by the American audience, she expected to complete this one film and return home to Sweden. Her husband, Petter Aron Lindström, remained in Sweden with their daughter Pia (born 1938). In Intermezzo, she played the role of a young piano accompanist, opposite Leslie Howard, who played a famous violin virtuoso. Bergman arrived in Los Angeles on 6 May 1939 and stayed at the Selznick home until she could find another residence.

According to Selznick's son Danny, who was a child at the time, his father had concerns about Bergman: "She didn't speak English, she was too tall, her name sounded too German, and her eyebrows were too thick". Bergman was soon accepted without having to modify her looks or name, despite some early suggestions by Selznick. "He let her have her way", notes a story in Life magazine. Selznick understood her fear of Hollywood make-up artists, who might turn her into someone she wouldn't recognize, and "instructed them to lay off". He was also aware that her natural good looks would compete successfully with Hollywood's "synthetic razzle-dazzle".

During the following weeks, while Intermezzo was being filmed, Selznick was also filming Gone with the Wind. In a letter to William Hebert, his publicity director, Selznick described a few of his early impressions of Bergman: Miss Bergman is the most completely conscientious actress with whom I have ever worked, in that she thinks of absolutely nothing but her work before and during the time she is doing a picture ... She practically never leaves the studio, and even suggested that her dressing room be equipped so that she could live here during the picture. She never for a minute suggests quitting at six o'clock or anything of the kind ... Because of having four stars acting in Gone with the Wind, our star dressing-room suites were all occupied and we had to assign her a smaller suite. She went into ecstasies over it and said she had never had such a suite in her life ... All of this is completely unaffected and completely unique and I should think would make a grand angle of approach to her publicity ... so that her natural sweetness and consideration and conscientiousness become something of a legend ... and is completely in keeping with the fresh and pure personality and appearance which caused me to sign her.

Intermezzo became an enormous success and as a result, Bergman became a star. Life reported in a biographical profile that Ratoff had described her as "sensational", and that this was the "sentiment of the entire set", adding that "workmen went out of their way to do things for her", and that the cast and crew "admired the quick, alert concentration she gave to direction and to her lines". Film historian David Thomson notes that this became "the start of an astonishing impact on Hollywood and America", where her lack of make-up contributed to an "air of nobility". According to Life, the impression that she left on Hollywood, after she returned to Sweden, was of a tall girl "with light brown hair and blue eyes who was painfully shy, but friendly, with a warm, straight, quick smile".

Selznick appreciated her uniqueness. Bergman was hailed as a fine new talent, and received many positive reviews. The New York Times noted her "freshness and simplicity and natural dignity" and the maturity of her acting which was nonetheless, free of "stylistic traits—the mannerisms, postures, precise inflections—that become the stock in trade of the matured actress". Variety noted that she was warm and convincing, and provided an "arresting performance" and that her "charm, sincerity" ...and "infectious vivaciousness" would "serve her well in both comedy and drama". There was also recognition of her natural appearance, in contrast to other film actresses. The New York Tribune critic wrote: "Using scarcely any make-up, but playing with mobile intensity, she creates the character so vividly and credibly that it becomes the core of [the] narrative." Bergman made her stage debut in 1940 with Liliom opposite Burgess Meredith, at a time when she was still learning English. Selznick was worried that his new starlet's value would diminish if she received bad reviews. Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times said that Bergman seemed at ease, and commanded the stage that evening. That same year she starred in June Night (Juninatten), a Swedish language drama film directed by Per Lindberg. She plays Kerstin, a woman who has been shot by her lover. The news reaches the national papers. Kerstin moves to Stockholm under the new name of Sara, but lives under the scrutiny and watchful eye of her new community. Öresunds-Posten wrote, "Bergman establishes herself as an actress belonging to the world elite."

Stromboli was released by Italian director Roberto Rossellini on 18 February 1950. Bergman had greatly admired two films by Rossellini. She wrote to him in 1949, expressing her admiration and suggesting that she make a film with him. As a consequence, she was cast in Stromboli. During the production, they began an affair, and Bergman became pregnant with their first child.

This affair caused a huge scandal in the United States, where it led to Bergman being denounced on the floor of the United States Senate. On 14 March 1950, Senator Edwin C. Johnson insisted that his once-favorite actress "had perpetrated an assault upon the institution of marriage", and went so far as to call her "a powerful influence for evil". "The purity that made people joke about Saint Bergman when she played Joan of Arc," one writer commented, "made both audiences and United States senators feel betrayed when they learned of her affair with Roberto Rossellini." Art Buchwald, permitted to read her mail during the scandal, reflected in an interview, "Oh, that mail was bad, ten, twelve, fourteen huge mail bags. 'Dirty whore.' 'Bitch.' 'Son of a bitch.' And they were all Christians who wrote it."

Ed Sullivan chose not to have her on his show, despite a poll indicating that the public wanted her to appear. However, Steve Allen, whose show was equally popular, did have her as a guest, later explaining "the danger of trying to judge artistic activity through the prism of one's personal life". Donald Spoto noted that Bergman had, by virtue of her roles and screen persona, placed herself "above all that". She had played a nun in The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), and a virgin saint in Joan of Arc (1948). Bergman later said, "People saw me in Joan of Arc, and declared me a saint. I'm not. I'm just a woman, another human being." As a result of the scandal, Bergman returned to Italy, left her first husband, and went through a publicized divorce and custody battle for their daughter. Bergman and Rossellini were married on 24 May 1950.

In the United States, the film Stromboli was a box office bomb but did better overseas, where Bergman and Rossellini's affair was considered less scandalous. In all, RKO lost $200,000 on the picture. In Italy, it was awarded the Rome Prize for Cinema as the best film of the year. The initial reception in America, however, was very negative. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times opened his review by writing: "After all the unprecedented interest that the picture Stromboli has aroused—it being, of course, the fateful drama which Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini have made—it comes as a startling anticlimax to discover that this widely heralded film is incredibly feeble, inarticulate, uninspiring and painfully banal." Crowther added that Bergman's character "is never drawn with clear and revealing definition, due partly to the vagueness of the script and partly to the dullness and monotony with which Rossellini has directed her."

Director Roberto Rossellini purportedly denied responsibility for the film, claiming the American version was cut by RKO beyond recognition. Cut or not cut, the film reflects no credit on him. Given elementary-school dialog to recite and impossible scenes to act, Ingrid Bergman's never able to make the lines real nor the emotion sufficiently motivated to seem more than an exercise ... The only visible touch of the famed Italian director is in the hard photography, which adds to the realistic, documentary effect of life on the rocky, lava-blanketed island. Rossellini's penchant for realism, however, does not extend to Bergman. She's always fresh, clean and well-groomed.

After separating from Rossellini, Bergman starred in Jean Renoir's Elena and Her Men (Elena et les Hommes, 1956), a romantic comedy in which she played a Polish princess caught up in political intrigue. Bergman and Renoir had wanted to work together. In Elena and Her Men, which Renoir had written for her, she plays down-on-her-luck Polish princess Elena Sorokowska. The film was a hit in Paris when it premiered in September 1956. Candice Russell, commented that Bergman is the best thing in the film. Roger Ebert wrote, "The movie is about something else—about Bergman's rare eroticism, and the way her face seems to have an inner light on film. Was there ever a more sensuous actress in the movies?"

In 1956, Bergman also starred in a French adaptation of the stage production Tea and Sympathy. It was presented at the Théâtre de Paris, Paris. It tells a story of a "boarding school boy" who is thought to be homosexual. Bergman played the wife of the headmaster. She is supportive of the young man, grows closer to him and later has sex with him, as a way to "prove" and support his masculinity. It was a smash hit.

Twentieth Century Fox had bought the rights to Anastasia with Anatole Litvak slated to direct. Executive producer Buddy Adler wanted Bergman, then still a controversial figure in the States, to return to the American screen after a seven-year absence. Litvak also felt she would be an excellent actress for the part and insisted on her starring in the film. Fox agreed to take a chance, making her a box-office risk to play the leading role. Filming would take place in England, Paris, and Copenhagen.

Anastasia (1956) tells the story of a woman who may be the sole surviving member of the Romanov family. Yul Brynner is the scheming general, who tries to pass her off as the single surviving daughter of the late Tsar Nicholas II. He hopes to use her to collect a hefty inheritance. Anastasia was an immediate success. Bosley Crowther wrote in The New York Times, "It is a beautifully molded performance, worthy of an Academy Award and particularly gratifying in the light of Miss Bergman's long absence from commendable films."

With her role in Anastasia, Bergman made a triumphant return to working for a Hollywood studio (albeit in a film produced in Europe) and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for a second time. Cary Grant accepted the award on her behalf. Its director, Anatole Litvak, described her as "one of the greatest actresses in the world":Ingrid looks better now than she ever did. She's 42, but she looks divine. She is a simple, straightforward human being. Through all her troubles she held to the conviction that she had been true to herself and it made her quite a person. She is happy in her new marriage, her three children by Rossellini are beautiful, and she adores them.

On 27 September 1972, Fielder Cook's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler premiered. She plays the titular character, a wealthy recluse who befriends two children who are seeking "treasure" in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Also that year, Bergman was the president of the jury at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival. In an interview with The Daytona Beach Sunday News in 1978, she recalled this event because she met with the unrelated Ingmar Bergman. This gave her the opportunity to remind him about a letter she had written some ten years ago, asking him to cast her in one of his pictures. Knowing that Ingmar would be attending, she made a copy of his long-ago reply, and put it in his pocket. He didn't reply for two years.

Next, Bergman returned to London's West End and appeared with John Gielgud in The Constant Wife, which was a critical success; the theatre was consistently packed. The Daily Telegraph found the play "unusually entertaining", while Harold Hobson of The Sunday Times was still peeved at Bergman for playing yet another English woman with a "strange accent".

Bergman became one of the few actresses ever to receive three Oscars when she won her third (and first in the category of Best Supporting Actress) for her performance in Murder on the Orient Express (1974). Director Sidney Lumet had offered Bergman the important part of Princess Dragomiroff, with which he felt she could win an Oscar. She insisted on playing the much smaller role of Greta Ohlsson, the old Swedish missionary. Lumet discussed Bergman's role:

She had chosen a very small part, and I couldn't persuade her to change her mind. ... Since her part was so small, I decided to film her one big scene, where she talks for almost five minutes, straight, all in one long take. A lot of actresses would have hesitated over that. She loved the idea, and made the most of it. She ran the gamut of emotions. I've never seen anything like it.

On 10 July 1937, at the age of 21, in Stöde, Bergman married a dentist, Petter Aron Lindström, who later became a neurosurgeon. The couple had one child, a daughter, Friedel Pia Lindström. After returning to the United States in 1940, she acted on Broadway before continuing to do films in Hollywood. The following year, her husband arrived from Sweden with Pia. Lindström stayed in Rochester, New York, where he studied medicine and surgery at the University of Rochester.

In between films, Bergman travelled to New York and stayed at their small rented stucco house, her visits lasting from a few days to four months. According to an article in Life, the "doctor regards himself as the undisputed head of the family, an idea that Ingrid accepts cheerfully". He insisted she draw the line between her professional life and her personal life, as he had a "professional dislike for being associated with the tinseled glamor of Hollywood". Lindström later moved to San Francisco, California, where he completed his internship at a private hospital, and they continued to spend time together when she could travel between filming. Lindström did not view Bergman as the rest of the world did. He thought she was too absorbed with her professional popularity and image, and was full of vanity. According to Bergman's biographer, Donald Spoto, Lindström managed her career and financial matters. He was very frugal with money. On 27 August 1945, two days before her 30th birthday, she (as Ingrid Lindstrom) and her husband both filed U.S. citizenship applications.

Bergman had affairs with her directors and co-stars in the 1940s. Spencer Tracy and Bergman briefly dated during the filming of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. She later had an affair with Gary Cooper while shooting For Whom the Bell Tolls. Cooper said, "No one loved me more than Ingrid Bergman, but the day after filming concluded, I couldn't even get her on the phone." Jeanine Basinger writes, [Victor] "Fleming fell deeply in love with the irresistible Swede and never really got over it". While directing his final film Joan of Arc, he was completely enthralled with Bergman. She had a brief affair with musician Larry Adler when she was travelling across Europe entertaining the troops in 1945. In Anthony Quinn's autobiography, he mentions his sexual relationship with Bergman, among his many other affairs. Howard Hughes was also quite taken by Bergman. They met through Cary Grant and Irene Selznick. He phoned one day to inform her that he had just bought RKO as a present for her.

During her marriage to Lindström, Bergman also had affairs with the photographer Robert Capa and actor Gregory Peck. It was through Bergman's autobiography that her affair with Capa became known.p. 176 In June 1945, Bergman was passing through Paris, on her way to Berlin to entertain American soldiers. In response to a dinner invitation she met Capa and novelist Irwin Shaw. By her account, they had a wonderful evening. The next day, she departed for Berlin. Two months later, Capa was in Berlin, photographing ruins, and they met again. Distressed over her marriage to Lindström, she fell in love with Capa, and wished to leave her husband. During their months together in Berlin, Capa made enough money to follow Bergman back to Hollywood. Although Life magazine assigned him to cover Bergman, he was unhappy with the "frivolity" of Hollywood.

During the run of The Constant Wife in London, Bergman discovered a hard lump under her left breast. The lump was removed on 15 June 1974 in a London clinic. While working on Autumn Sonata, Bergman discovered another lump, and flew back to London for another surgery. Afterward, she began rehearsals for Waters of the Moon (1978).

Despite her illness, she agreed to play Golda Meir in 1981, then retired to her apartment in Cheyne Gardens, London, where she underwent chemotherapy. As photographers camped outside on the pavement, she refrained from approaching the front window. The cancer had spread to her spine, collapsing her twelfth vertebra; her right lung no longer functioned, and only a small part of her left lung had not collapsed.

Bergman died in London on 29 August 1982, at midnight on her 67th birthday. Her ex-husband Lars Schmidt and three other people were present, having drunk their last toast to her hours earlier. A copy of The Little Prince was at her bedside, opened to a page near the end. The memorial service was held in St Martin-in-the-Fields church in October with 1,200 mourners. In attendance were her children, the Rossellinis, and relatives from Sweden, as well as numerous fellow actors and costars, including Liv Ullmann, Sir John Gielgud, Dame Wendy Hiller, Birgit Nilsson and Joss Ackland. As part of the service, quotations from Shakespeare were read. Musical selections included "This Old Man" from The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, and "As Time Goes By". Bergman's grandson, Justin Daly, recalled the event as hundreds of photographers were waiting and taking pictures, when a camera hit him on the head: "In the middle of all this chaos, I could sense that she wasn't just my grandmother. She belonged to everyone else. She belonged to the world."

Ingrid Bergman was cremated at a private ceremony attended only by close relatives and five friends at Kensal Green Cemetery, London, and her ashes were taken to Sweden. Most were scattered in the sea around the islet of Dannholmen, near the fishing village of Fjällbacka in Bohuslän. The location is on the west coast of Sweden, a place where she had spent most of the summers from 1958 until her death. The remainder of her ashes were placed next to her parents' ashes in Norra Begravningsplatsen (Northern Cemetery or Burial Place), Stockholm, Sweden.

According to the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, upon her arrival in the U.S. Bergman quickly became "the ideal of American womanhood" and a contender for Hollywood's greatest leading actress. David O. Selznick once called her "the most completely conscientious actress" with whom he had ever worked.

Bergman was often associated with vulnerable yet strong characters who were in love but were also troubled by anxiety and fear. As preparation for Gaslight she went to a mental hospital and observed a particular patient. For A Woman Called Golda she reviewed tapes in order to master Meir's mannerisms. In Autumn Sonata, she moves across the screen like a caged animal but always keeps a ladylike composure that makes her words even more "silent but deathly". Bergman could be rigid and stubborn in her acting approach. Ingmar Bergman stated that they argued frequently, on set. "She went to a limit and objected to go beyond the limit." Jan Göransson of the Swedish Film Institute described Bergman as stubborn and loved to question her directors, whose innovative ideas about acting eventually won her over.

Bergman's ability to instantly change emotions was one of her greatest talents. Funing Tang from the University of Miami asserted, "even a moment of reticence, a little glance, or even an eye movement can alter the film's direction and provide her film and character with suspense, ambiguity and mysteriousness, which are rooted in her singular characteristics."

Roger Ebert echoed the same observation when he cited that Bergman has her way of looking into a man's face. He added: "She doesn't simply gaze at his eyes, as so many actresses do, their thoughts on the next line of dialogue. She peers into the eyes, searching for meaning and clues, and when she is in a close two-shot with an actor, watch the way her own eyes reflect the most minute changes in his expression."

For writer Susan Kerr, Bergman might have the greatest downcast eyes in history. "She got her greatest effects in Casablanca and Gaslight and Spellbound and Notorious by swooping her eyes down to the floor and darting them back and forth, as if watching a mouse scurry across the room", Kerr wrote.

The news of Bergman's death was widely reported across the United States and Europe. Both the Los Angeles Times and the New York Post printed front page notices. The New York Post announcement was in bold red. The New York Times stated: "Ingrid Bergman, Winner of Three Oscars Is Dead." The Washington Post paid its tribute in an article that called her "an actress whose innocent yet provocative beauty made her one of the great stars of stage and screen".

Bergman was mourned by many, especially her fellow co-stars. They praised her tenacity, spirit, and warmth. Joseph Cotten considered her a great friend and a great actress. Paul Henreid commented: "She was so terribly beautiful in her youth. She was a very strong lady with great desires and emotions and she led a colorful life." Liv Ullmann said that she would mourn her because "She made me very proud to be a woman," she added. Leonard Nimoy praised her tenacity and courage. "I developed enormous respect for her as a person and talent. She was a marvelous lady and actress".

On 30 August 1983, stars, friends and family came to Venice Film Festival to honour the late Bergman on the first anniversary of her death. Among the many guests were Gregory Peck, Walter Matthau, Audrey Hepburn, Roger Moore, Charlton Heston, Prince Albert of Monaco, Claudette Colbert and Olivia de Havilland. They dined and wined for five days while remembering Bergman and the legacy she left behind.

Despite suffering from cancer for eight years, Bergman continued her career and won international honours for her final roles. "Her spirit triumphed with remarkable grace and courage", added biographer Donald Spoto. Director George Cukor once summed up her contributions to the film media when he said to her, "Do you know what I especially love about you, Ingrid, my dear? I can sum it up as your naturalness. The camera loves your beauty, your acting, and your individuality. A star must have individuality. It makes you a great star."

Writing about her first years in Hollywood, Life stated that "All Bergman vehicles are blessed", and "they all go speedily and happily, with no temperament from the leading lady". She was "completely pleased" with the management of her early career by David O. Selznick, who always found excellent dramatic roles for her to play, and equally satisfied with her salary, once saying, "I am an actress, and I am interested in acting, not in making money." Life adds that "she has greater versatility than any actress on the American screen ... Her roles have demanded an adaptability and sensitiveness of characterization to which few actresses could rise".

During a 1946 press conference in Washington, D.C. for the promotion of the play Joan of Lorraine, she protested to the newspapers regarding racial segregation after seeing it first hand at Lisner Auditorium, the theater where she was working. This led to significant publicity and some hate mail. A bust of Bergman has been placed outside the Lisner Auditorium, in recognition of her protest, and as a reminder of the venue's segregated past.

Bergman went to Alaska during World War II to entertain US Army troops. Soon after the war ended, she also went to Europe for the same purpose, where she was able to see the devastation caused by the war. She arrived in Paris on 6 June 1945 with Jack Benny, Larry Adler and Martha Tilton where they stayed at The Ritz Hotel. Bergman's performance was rather limited; she couldn't sing, she couldn't play an instrument and she didn't have Jack Benny's humour. In Kassel, she ran offstage in tears. When they went to see a concentration camp, she stayed behind. After the onset of World War II, Bergman felt guilt for her initial dismissal of the Nazi state in Germany. According to her biographer Charlotte Chandler, she had at first considered the Nazis only a "temporary aberration, 'too foolish to be taken seriously'. She believed Germany would not start a war." Bergman felt that "the good people there would not permit it". Chandler adds that she "felt guilty all the rest of her life because when she was in Germany at the end of the war, she had been afraid to go with others to witness the atrocities of the Nazi extermination camps".

In 2015, to celebrate the Bergman centennial, exhibitions, film screenings, books, documentaries and seminars were presented by various institutions. The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) held a screening of her films, chosen and introduced by her children. AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center presented an extensive retrospective of her Hollywood and Italian films. University of California, Berkeley hosted a lecture, where journalist and film critic, Ulrika Knutson called Bergman "a pioneering feminist". Toronto International Film Festival continued with Notorious: Celebrating the Ingrid Bergman Centenary which featured a series of her best-known films. Ingrid Bergman at BAM was screened at Brooklyn Academy of Music's Rose Cinemas. BAMcinématek presented "Ingrid Bergman Tribute" on 12 September 2015, an event co-hosted by Isabella Rossellini and Jeremy Irons, which featured a live reading by Rossellini and Irons taken from Bergman's personal letters. The Plaza Cinema & Media Arts Center in Patchogue, New York held a special screening of Bergman's films. Screenings and tributes occurred in other cities; London, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Tokyo and Melbourne. The Bohuslän Museum in Uddevalla, north of Gothenburg opened an exhibition titled "Ingrid Bergman in Fjällbacka". A pictorial book titled Ingrid Bergman: A Life in Pictures was published by the Bergman estate.

Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words, is a 2015 Swedish documentary film, directed by Stig Björkman, which was made to celebrate her centennial. It was screened in the Cannes Classics section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it received a special mention for L'Œil d'or. A photograph of Bergman, by David Seymour was featured as the main poster at Cannes. The festival described Bergman as a "modern icon, an emancipated woman, an intrepid actress, and a figurehead for the new realism". The New York Film Festival and The Tokyo International Film Festival also presented the documentary.

At the 2015 Vancouver International Film Festival, the film was chosen as "Most Popular International Documentary", based on audience balloting. The film "loses no chance to illuminate the independence and courage she showed in her private life". Although the viewer may pronounce judgement on " Bergman's free-wheeling, non-conformist maternal lifestyle, there can be no doubt about her determination and professional commitment." Ending with her last screen appearance in Autumn Sonata in 1978, "Bjorkman leaves behind the image of a uniquely strong, independent woman whose relaxed modernity was way ahead of its time."

To celebrate the same occasion, the U.S. Postal Service and Posten AB of Sweden, jointly issued commemorative stamps in Bergman's honor. The stamp art features a circa 1940 image of Bergman taken by László Willinger, with a colorized still of Bergman from Casablanca as the selvage photograph. Her daughter, Pia Lindstrom commented, "I think she would be very surprised that she is on a U.S. stamp and I know she would think it is great fun."

Bergman was portrayed by her daughter, Isabella Rossellini in My Dad is 100 years Old (2005). In 2015, 'Notorious', a play based on Hitchcock's Notorious was staged at The Gothenburg Opera. Bergman's Italian period has been dramatised on stage in the musical play which is titled, Camera; The Musical About Ingrid Bergman. It was written by Jan-Erik Sääf and Staffan Aspegren and performed in Stockholm, Sweden.

Woody Guthrie composed "Ingrid Bergman", a song about Bergman in 1950. The lyrics have been described as "erotic", and make reference to Bergman's relationship with Roberto Rossellini, which began during work on the film Stromboli. Billy Bragg and Wilco covered the song on their album Mermaid Avenue (1998).

Alfred Hitchcock based his film Rear Window (1954) (starring James Stewart as a Life wartime photographer) on Bergman and Capa's romance.

In 1984, a hybrid tea rose breed was named "Ingrid Bergman", in honor of the star.

Her portrayal of Ilsa Lund from Casablanca was parodied by Kate McKinnon in one episode of Saturday Night Live. In the opening montage of the 72nd Academy Awards, Billy Crystal, as Victor Laszlo, made a parody out of Casablanca's final scene. In the '80s, Warner Bros made 'Carrotblanca' as a homage to Bogart and Bergman's character in Casablanca. In When Harry Met Sally (1989), Casablanca is a recurring theme, with the lead characters arguing over the meaning of its ending throughout the film. Bogart and Bergman also appeared in Tesco's Clubcard advertisement (2019).

To help educate and inform about the importance of mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic, WarnerMedia, the Ad Council, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), released a video featuring Bogart and Bergman in a scene from Casablanca wearing masks.

Ingrid Bergman became the second actress to win three Academy Awards for acting: two for Best Actress, and one for Best Supporting Actress. She is tied for second place in Oscars won with Walter Brennan (all three for Best Supporting Actor), Jack Nicholson (two for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor), Meryl Streep (two for Best Actress and one for Best Supporting Actress), Frances McDormand (all three for Best Actress), Daniel Day-Lewis (all three for Best Actor), and Sean Penn (two for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor). Katharine Hepburn holds the record, with four (all for Best Actress).

In 1960, Bergman became the second actress to complete the American Triple Crown of Acting status, after winning an Emmy Award.