Gloria Swanson Biography

Gloria Swanson was born Gloria May Josephine Svensson. Her father was in the army and she had attended more than a dozen schools by her early teens. Finally settling in Chicago, at age 16 she was hired as an extra at Essanay Studios, where she met actor Wallace Beery.

She had not intended to pursue a career in acting but at the age of 18 she visited a Chicago movie studio to see how they were made. Swanson was picked from the audience because of her beauty and was asked to be a bit player in the 1915 film 'The Fable of Elvira and Farina and the Meal Ticket'.

Swanson also appeared as an extra in 'At The End Of A Perfect Day' (1915) and got a more substantial role in the 1916 film 'Sweedie Goes To College'.

In 1916, she and Beery were married and moved to Hollywood. Beery signed with Mack Sennett's Keystone company, on the condition that Swanson also be given a contract. She started out in a series of romantic comedies, then starred in a number of melodramatic tearjerkers.

In 1919, she joined Cecil B. DeMille's team, and soon rose to major stardom in euphemism-laden bedroom farces. She was turned into a romantic lead starring in 'Don't Change Your Husband' (1919), ''Why Change Your Wife?' (1920) and 'The Affairs of Anatol' (1921), to name but a few.

She married Herbert K Somborn in 1919, with whom she had daughter Gloria in 1920. Their divorce, which was finalised in 1925, caused scandal as Somborn accused the actress of being unfaithful with 13 different men. She wanted another child during this time and adopted her son Joseph in 1923.

By the mid 1920s, now specialising in drama, she was a reigning Queen of Hollywood, expertly handling the film world's publicity machine to increase her own glamour. She was also one of the best paid actresses in Hollywood by this time.

In 1925, she wed French aristocrat Henri de La Falaise, who was a marquis. However, he wasn't wealthy. They divorced in 1931. During this marriage, Swanson was involved in an affair with the married Joseph P Kennedy, which was an open secret.

She continued starring in period dramas including 'Beyond The Rocks' with Rudolph Valentino in 1922, which was lost until 2004. Audiences gravitated to her movies as much for her fashion as for her acting. Swanson was known for wearing beads, jewels, peacock and ostrich feathers and extravagant period pieces.

In 1927, she began producing her own films with her debut being 'The Love of Sunya'; a year later she was nearly bankrupted by the costs of Erich von Stroheim's production of 'Queen Kelly'. In 1929 she produced and starred in 'Sadie Thompson'. She received her first Best Actress Oscar for this role.

Other productions included 'What A Widow' in 1930 and 'Perfect Understanding' (1933). She starred in 'The Trespasser' in 1929 and was once again nominated for a Best Actress Oscar.

In 1931, she married Michael Farmer, with whom she had a daughter named Michelle in 1932. The couple divorced in 1934.

She proved herself capable of both speaking and singing well in the sound era, but her talkies were mostly unsuccessful, and she retired from the screen in 1934.

In 1945, Swanson married William N Davey but he left her in 1946 due to his alcohol problems. She remained single for the next 30 years.

Throughout the next four decades she appeared in five additional films, the most important of which was 'Sunset Boulevard', in 1950, for which she received her third Best Actress Oscar nomination.

Her last major Hollywood film was the poorly received 'Three for Bedroom C' in 1952 and Swanson made her final screen appearance as herself in 'Airport 1975' in 1974.

Later, she occasionally appeared on TV talk shows, often promoting health food. In 1971, she starred on Broadway in 'Butterflies Are Free'.

In 1976, she married her final husband and widower writer William Dufty, whom she had met in 1965.

She died in her sleep in April 1983 at the age of 84 and was cremated.