Greta Garbo in the Cecil Beaton Suite

In February 1946, British designer/photographer Cecil Beaton checked into The Plaza for an extended visit. Not long after he was settled into the suite that he had decorated and which was named in his honor, he was reintroduced to actress Greta Garbo at a cocktail party. The pair had met briefly years before, but this time, something clicked and a friendship began. Beaton, like the rest of the world, was fascinated by the enigmatic star. Five years before, at the height of her fame, Garbo had stopped making movies, and what she would do next was an ongoing topic of public discussion (the answer—nothing—would no doubt have disappointed everyone).

As the friendship developed, Garbo visited Beaton several times at The Plaza, and one day, the subject of her soon-to-expire passport came up. She needed a picture made for the document, and she coyly hinted that she might choose Beaton for the job. He leapt at the chance. The following day, he had the hotel send up a screen to use as a backdrop and pinned a sign on his door: PASSPORT PHOTOS TAKEN HERE.

The star arrived in a buoyant mood, and a few official-looking portraits were taken. Then Beaton suggested some informal shots, and Garbo, to his surprise, agreed. This series of pictures (the “passport photos,” as they were archly referred to) was taken by the east window of Room 249 and given the full glamour treatment; Beaton later said that they “crowned my photographic career.” Garbo was upset when he sold fourteen of the pictures to Vogue, but she maintained an on-again, off-again friendship with Beaton for the rest of her life. Revisionist biographers claim that the pair conducted a four-month-long love affair in Beaton’s suite, but this seems unlikely, given what is known of their personal lives. There is no doubt that Beaton was in love, however, as this luminous portrait demonstrates.

Here, the couple on a Manhattan street in 1951, with Garbo assuming a more characteristic pose.