HOLLYWOOD -- Ingrid Bergman was part of a vanishing Hollywood era of superstars who outlived most of her contemporaries but those who worked with her and those who only saw her films remember her as a classic.
Miss Bergman, the fresh-faced Swedish actress whose powerful screen performances and tempestuous private life made news for 35 years, died of cancer Sunday on her 67th birthday, but her performances in such films as 'Casablanca,' 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' and 'Gaslight' will live on.
Gary Cooper, her co-star in 'For Whom the Bell Tolls,' Humphrey Bogart, her lover in 'Casablanca,' and Bing Crosby who played her priest in 'The Bells of St. Marys,' are dead -- as are many of her directors including Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Curtiz.
Her death, however, was felt in the film capitals of Europe and in New York and Hollywood. Her children, Pia Lindstrom, an NBC broadcaster in New York, and twin daughters Isabella, a New York model, and Astrid, and son Roberto Rossellini converged on London to make funeral arrangements.
Miss Bergman spent little time in Hollywood, preferring to live in Europe and eventually in London.
As a result, few of today's stars knew Bergman personally. One of them is Leonard Nimoy, of 'Star Trek' fame, who starred with the three-time Oscar winner in the 1981 television movie 'Golda,' her final acting role.
'Working with Ingrid was a special experience,' Nimoy said. 'She was obviously sick and in pain while we were working. She hid her badly swollen arm and hand.
'But she gave no sign and refused to let her pain affect her work. I developed enormous respect for her as a person and talent. She was a marvelous lady and actress. She had great energy, charm and a wonderful sense of herself.
Nimoy said he spoke to the actress last month on a trip to London and added, 'She had asked her doctors to take her off the medication because it made her sick and she didn't want to spend the little time she had left feeling ill.'
Actor Yossi Graber, who played Moshe Dayan in 'Golda,' said Miss Bergman knew her death was near when filming the television movie.
'She talked about her disease. She didn't say the word cancer or anything, but said, 'I'm extremely ill and hope I can make the movie,' Graber said.
Ailing Joseph Cotten, who appeared in two movies with the actress, said:
'Miss Bergman was one of those gifted people who come along now and then. I consider myself privileged to have worked with her in 'Under Capricorn' and 'Gaslight.'
'Certainly she has made a place in the history of motion pictures for all time and will be remembered during our lifetime as a personal friend and as a great actress.'
Cary Grant, stricken by the news of her death, refused to comment. Grant's wife said the actor, who starred with Miss Bergman in 'Notorious' in 1946, chose not to express his feelings.
Paul Henreid, who played her husband in 'Casablanca,' was deeply distressed by news of the actress' death.
Henreid, along with Bogart, Claude Rains and other members of the cast have been immortalized by their performances in 'Casablanca.'
'She certainly put up a fantastic fight against this dreadful disease,' Henreid said. 'She was a great gal, an enormous fighter for all the good things in our profession and a dear person to work with.
'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.'
In New York, Liv Ullmann, who starred with Miss Bergman in her last film, 'Autumn Sonata,' for Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, said, 'I can only say that I will mourn her. She made me very proud to be a woman.
'I would have wished her more privacy. She suffered so from the public and the press when she had her babies. She took even that with dignity. She never looked back. Although she played my mother (in 'Autumn Sonata'), I felt she was my sister.'
