 In the midst of the Great Depression, American screen audiences seemed to favor "home-grown" screen couples, such as Clark Gable and Jean Harlow.David O. Selznick wanted to cast Garbo as the dying heiress in "Dark Victory" (eventually released in 1939 with other leads), but she chose Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" (1935), in which she played another of her renowned roles.Her performance won her the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress.