Profile
Gloria Swanson
Actress
Female
Born
Mar 27, 1899
Hometown
Chicago
Died
Apr 4, 1983
Death Place
New York City
Religion
Lutheran
Nationality
American
Alma Mater
Hawthorne Scholas...
Gloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated… Read More
Romance
Check out the latest love interests for Gloria Swanson.
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George William DaveyMarried 1945 - 1948
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Michael FarmerMarried 1931 - 1934
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Herbert SombornMarried 1919 - 1922
News + Updates
Browse recent news and stories about Gloria Swanson.
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New York Fashion Week; A Bond Forged In TragedyNYTimes - Sep 08, 2011
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Book Review: 'Raoul Walsh,' By Marilyn Ann Moss Washington PostGoogle News - Aug 27, 2011
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Comic Strip Returns With Tony Blair On The Run In Channel 4 Film Noir Comedy The GuardianGoogle News - Aug 26, 2011
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Theatrical Brilliance From Lebanon The IndependentGoogle News - Aug 25, 2011
Timeline
Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Gloria Swanson.
CHILDHOOD
1899
Birth
Gloria Josephine May Swanson was born in a small house in Chicago, Illinois in 1899 to Adelaide (née Klanowski) and Joseph Theodore Swanson, a soldier.
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TEENAGE
1914
15 Years Old
Swanson made her film debut in 1914 as an extra in The Song of Soul for Essanay.
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1916
17 Years Old
Swanson moved to California in 1916 to appear in Mack Sennett's Keystone comedies opposite Bobby Vernon, and in 1919 she signed with Paramount Pictures and worked often with Cecil B. DeMille, who turned her into a romantic lead in such films as Don't Change Your Husband (1919), Male and Female (1919) with the famous scene posing as "the Lion's Bride" with a real lion, Why Change Your Wife? (1920), Something to Think About (1920), and The Affairs of Anatol (1921).
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TWENTIES
In 1925, she starred in the first French-American co-production, Madame Sans-Gêne, directed by Léonce Perret.
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She made a number of films for Paramount, among them The Coast of Folly, Stage Struck and Fine Manners. In 1927, she decided to turn down a million dollar a year contract with Paramount to join the newly-created United Artists, where she was her own boss and could make the films she wanted, with whom she wanted, and when.
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1928
29 Years Old
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Produced in 1928–29, it starred Swanson in the title role, with Walter Byron and Seena Owen.
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THIRTIES
1932
33 Years Old
Because of the possibility that Swanson's divorce from La Falaise had not been final at the time of the wedding, she was forced to remarry Farmer the following November, by which time she was four months pregnant with Michelle Bridget Farmer, who was born in 1932.
1938
39 Years Old
Even though she managed to make the transition to talkies, as her career began to decline, Swanson relocated permanently to New York City in 1938, where she began an inventions and patents company called Multiprizes, which kept her occupied during the years of World War II.
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FORTIES
1941
42 Years Old
She made another film for RKO Radio Pictures in 1941, began appearing in the legitimate theatre, and starred in her own television show in 1948.
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1945
46 Years Old
In 1945, she married William N. Davey. According to Swanson, after discovering Davey in a drunken stupor, she and daughter Michelle, believing they were being helpful, left a trail of Alcoholics Anonymous literature around their apartment. Davey quickly packed up and left. This divorce was finalized in 1946.
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FIFTIES
But it was not until 1950 when Sunset Boulevard was released (earning her yet another Academy award nomination), that she achieved mass recognition again.
1952
53 Years Old
She received several subsequent acting offers but turned most of them down, saying they tended to be pale imitations of Norma Desmond. Her last major Hollywood motion picture role was the poorly received Three for Bedroom "C" in 1952.
1956
57 Years Old
In 1956, Swanson made Nero's Mistress, which also starred Vittorio de Sica and Brigitte Bardot.
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LATE ADULTHOOD
1964
65 Years Old
She acted in "Behind the Locked Door" on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in 1964, and in the same year was nominated for a Golden Globe award for her performance in Burke's Law.
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1966
67 Years Old
Her most famous television appearance, however, is a 1966 episode of The Beverly Hillbillies titled "The Gloria Swanson Story," in which she plays herself.
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1971
72 Years Old
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Her last major stage role was in the 1971 Broadway production of Butterflies Are Free at the Booth Theatre.
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Her last acting role, aside from playing herself in Airport 1975, was in the made-for-TV horror film Killer Bees (1974).
1976
77 Years Old
Swanson's final marriage was in 1976 and lasted until her death.
1980
81 Years Old
Being a well-respected author and "book doctor," Dufty also ghost-wrote Swanson's best-selling 1980 autobiography Swanson on Swanson for her and with her help.
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After Swanson's death, there were a series of auctions from August to September 1983 at William Doyle Gallery in New York of the star's furniture and decorations, jewelry, fashion collection, career and personal memorabilia.
Original Authors of this text are noted on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Swanson.
Text is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Text is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.