Clevelander's Former Career Served Up In 'Paavo, A Life In Five Courses'

"Paavo, a Life in Five Courses" will screen to less than 100 people at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque March 15 at 3 p.m. Turtianinen will be in attendance. 

It's a rare thing when fate walks in the door. But that's what happened to a young Finnish waiter back in 1970.

Paavo Turtiainen had a busy night ahead of him at the Helsinki restaurant where he worked.

With an 80-person party due to arrive any minute, he closed the doors and turned away anyone else looking to get in.

However, when a bossy Swedish theater producer and his actress wife knocked on the restaurant door, Paavo recognized the Hollywood starlet's face even though he couldn't quite place her.

Reluctantly, Turtiainen let the overbearing man in, and he sat him and his wife in a corner. Little did he know the man was influential European producer Lars Schmidt. 

Lars Schmidt and Paavo Turtiainen [Paavo Turtiainen]

His wife? Oscar-winning actress Ingrid Bergman of "Casablanca" fame.

That initial encounter led to a relationship that would last the rest of Schmidt and Bergman's lives, as Turtiainen went on to become the couple's personal chef, butler and, eventually, their archivist.

Ingrid Bergman and Paavo Turtiainen wash dishes [Paavo Turtiainen]

Decades later, Turtiainen now lives in Northeast Ohio along the Lake Erie shoreline on Lakewood's "Gold Coast."

His career is captured in the documentary film, "Paavo, A Life in Five Courses," which screens at the Cinematheque this weekend.

While Turtiainen was Bergman's chef and butler he was also her friend.

"She was a very nice person. She was not a diva. Let's put it this way, I have clients who're much more diva than that," Turtiainen said.

Paavo Turtiainen, Steven Weiss, Eric Steiner and Ingrid Bergman [Paavo Turtiainen]

Turtiainen helped Bergman and Schmidt throw parties in their Paris home with guest lists that included actor Marcello Mastroianni and director Alfred Hitchcock.

But Turtiainen was never star struck.

"Think about it, they have to go to the bathroom as we have to do. So they're not very different from us," he said.

After Bergman and Schmidt divorced in 1975, Turtiainen stayed close with both but it was awkward.

"It was something of a diplomatic feat," he said. "Ingrid was the greatest. She never asked me anything or put me in a situation where I would have to be like, 'Can I say this or not?' So she was very aware of the situation."

Turtiainen became so close with Bergman that when it was time to organize her archives she asked him rather than a film historian.

"I looked at her work and the amount of work she had done. I still remember sitting there [thinking], 'What am I going to do in my life that would mean anything in the long run?'"

Barbara Georgescu and Paavo Turtiainen [Handle Productions]

Turtiainen would make his name by moving to New York City using the connections he'd made with the rich and famous of Manhattan to begin his own catering company.

It was a far cry from his family's farm in Finland where he grew up.

"In the beginning it was a little difficult almost. Sometimes I felt almost like guilt towards my parents, but I think you grow into any of that," he said.

Paavo Turtiainen at work in the kitchen [Handle Productions]

When it was time to think about retirement Turtiainen learned about Cleveland through a friend and decided to move to Lakewood to get away from high-priced Manhattan.

"You have fantastic museums. The Cleveland Museum of Art is amazing. And of course music, Severance Hall and the [Cleveland] Orchestra is of course, as they say, one of the best in the United States, if not the best. So there's always something to do here," he said.

Paavo Turtiainen [ideastream]