The story is legend: when Greta Garbo made her first talking picture it was not certain her Swedish accent would appeal to American audiences. By 1930 a number of prominent European actors had already retired or returned to their home countries, and some Americans, including Garbo's frequent co-star John Gilbert, had seen their careers hobbled by a voice that did not correspond to the persona that had been established and adulated in the silent era. Garbo's husky voice played well. So, too, did her distinct manipulation of the English language. The Swedish accent became an important facet of her star persona: an inflected, world-weary ‘I want to be alone’ was soon shorthand for the star's identity.

A star's identity, however, extends beyond what may be seen or heard on the screen. Richard Dyer has named the persona that coalesces through films and other media (fan publications, publicity, newspaper columns and reviews, live appearances) the ‘star image’. Distinct from both characters in the films and a ‘real’ person, stardom draws from a range of images, discourses and modes of consumption; indeed, what a star consumes (in product endorsements, for example) may be an important constituent of the persona. Stardom is also historical, and its nature and types vary, ranging from the glamourous divinities of the silent era and the carefully dosed wholesomeness of studio-era Hollywood to later stars like Jane Fonda, whose image Dyer situates at a complex intersection of Hollywood history (through her father Henry and brother Peter), diverse star types (starlet, pin-up) and a polarising media presence as a political activist. However, the term ‘image’, Dyer concedes, is misleading, for despite its visual reference it also comprises ‘a complex configuration of visual, verbal and aural signs’. The term nonetheless remains appropriate for his study, as Dyer focuses primarily on what is seen – images and written texts – and only skims the aural contribution of a film star's distinct voice and manner of speech delivery.

However, as the transition to sound revealed, a star's voice quality, dialect and accent can strengthen or defeat the ‘fit’ of a star image and a role, something of which Hollywood producers were keenly aware. The case of another Swedish star is instructive.