Gloria Swanson

Gloria Swanson
Swanson in 1941
Born	Gloria May Josephine Swanson (1899-03-27)March 27, 1899 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	April 4, 1983(1983-04-04) (aged 84) New York City, U.S.
Resting place	Church of the Heavenly Rest, New York City
Other names	Gloria Mae
Occupations	Actress producer
Years active	1914–1983
Political party	Republican
Spouses	Wallace Beery ​ ​ (m. 1916; div. 1918)​ Herbert K. Somborn ​ ​ (m. 1919; div. 1922)​ Henry de La Falaise ​ ​ (m. 1925; div. 1931)​ Michael Farmer ​ ​ (m. 1931; div. 1934)​ William Davey ​ ​ (m. 1945; div. 1946)​ William Dufty ​ (m. 1976)​
Children	3
Signature

Gloria Swanson^[1] (Gloria Josephine Mae, March 27, 1899 – April 4, 1983) was an American movie, television, stage, voice, radio, silent movie actress, singer and movie producer. She played Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. She won a Golden Globe Award in 1951 and a Saturn Award in 1975. She was known for having an affair with Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.. Swanson was born in Chicago, Illinois.^[2] She studied at Hawthorne Scholastic Academy. She was married six times, having a relationship with Wallace Beery (1916-1919), Herbert K. Somborn (1919-1922), Henri de la Falaise (1925-1930), Michael Farmer (1931-1934), William Davey (1945-1946) and William Dufty (1976-1983). Swanson had three children. She died of heart failure. She was buried at the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest in New York City.

Swanson was born in a small house in Chicago in 1899.^[3] She was raised in the Lutheran faith. Her father was Joseph Theodore Swanson (né Svensson). He was a Swedish American soldier. Her mother was Adelaide (née Klanowski). She had German, French, and Polish ancestry.^[3][4][5] Her family moved often because her father was in the US Army. For some of her childhood, she lived in Key West, Florida. There, she went to a Catholic convent school.^[6] She also lived in Puerto Rico. Here, she saw her first movies.^[7]

Her family moved to Chicago again when Swanson became adolescent. Gloria was soon hired by Essanay Studios as an extra.^[8]

Movies were still new. Extras were usually very important. Her first role was a walk-on with Gerda Holmes. For this, she was paid $3.25.^[9] The studio soon gave her a job for $13.25 (equivalent to $358 in 2021) per week.^[10][11] Swanson left school to work at the studio.^[10] In 1915, she co-starred in Sweedie Goes to College. Her future first husband, Wallace Beery also acted in this movie.^[12]

In 1916, Swanson and her mother wet to California for her parts in Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios comedy shorts. At the studio, Swanson became popular with audiences.^[13] She was in many movies with Bobby Vernon. They were both in the The Danger Girl (1916), The Sultan's Wife (1917), and Teddy at the Throttle (1917).^[14][15] The director, Clarence G. Badger was by Swanson. He recommended her to the director Jack Conway. With Conway, Swanson played in Her Decision and You Can't Believe Everything in 1918.^[14][16] Her pay was soon increased to $15 a week.^[17][15]

• Balio, Tino (2009). United Artists, Volume 1, 1919–1950: The Company Built by the Stars. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-23003-6.(subscription required)
• Bawden, James; Miller, Ron (2016). "Gloria Swanson". Conversations with Classic Film Stars: Interviews from Hollywood's Golden Era. The University Press of Kentucky. pp. 14–26. ISBN 978-0-8131-6712-1.(subscription required)
• Beauchamp, Cari (2009). Joseph P. Kennedy presents : his Hollywood years (First Vintage books ed.). New York. ISBN 978-0-307-47522-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Birchard, Robert S. S. (2009). Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood. The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-2636-4.(subscription required)
• Carper, James C. (2009). The Praeger handbook of religion and education in the United States. Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers. ISBN 978-0-275-99227-9.
• Desjardins, Mary R. (2015). Recycled Stars: Female Film Stardom in the Age of Television and Video. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-7603-3.
• Dufty, William (1993). Sugar Blues. Grand Central Publishing.
• Harzig, Christiane; Matovic, Margareta, eds. (2018). "Embracing a Middle-Class Life: Swedish-American Women in Lake View". Peasant Maids, City Women: From the European Countryside to Urban America. Cornell University Press. pp. 261–298. ISBN 978-1-5017-2554-8.(subscription required)
• Hershfield, Joanne (2000). Invention Of Dolores Del Rio. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-5282-2.(subscription required)
• Holbrook, Morris (2011). Music, Movies, Meanings, and Markets : Cinemajazzamatazz. Hoboken: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-203-81553-3.
• King, Rob (2009). The fun factory : the Keystone Film Company and the emergence of mass culture. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-25538-8.
• Lennig, Arthur (2000). Stroheim. The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-7125-8.(subscription required)
• Moss, Marilyn (2011). "Pre-Code Walsh". Raoul Walsh: The True Adventures of Hollywood's Legendary Director. The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-3394-2.(subscription required)
• Pearson, Drew (May 14, 1964). "The Washington Merry-Go-Round" (PDF). dspace.wrlc.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 16, 2013. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
• Phillips, Gene (2010). Some Like It Wilder: The Life and Controversial Films of Billy Wilder. The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-7367-2.(subscription required)
• Quirk, Lawrence J. (1984). The Films of Gloria Swanson. Citadel Press. ISBN 0-8065-0874-4.
• Shearer, Stephen Michael (2013). Gloria Swanson : the Ultimate Star. Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 978-1-250-00155-9.
• Syman, Stefanie (2010). The Subtle Body: the Story of Yoga in America. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-53284-0. OCLC 456171421.
• Thomson, David (2014). The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (Sixth ed.). New York. ISBN 978-0-375-71184-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Welsch, Tricia (2013). Gloria Swanson: Ready for Her Close-Up. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-62103-991-4.(subscription required)
• Mino, Salvestri (1925). Gloria Swanson: La grande attrice di moda (PDF). Milan, Gloriosa Editore.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Gloria Swanson

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gloria Swanson.

• Gloria Swanson on IMDb
• Gloria Swanson at the Internet Broadway Database
• Gloria Swanson at the TCM Movie Database
• Gloria Swanson Archived December 21, 2016, at the Wayback Machine at the Women Film Pioneers Project
• Glorious Gloria Swanson – Tribute site
• Gloria Swanson's papers Archived January 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin
• Gloria Swanson photographs and bibliography

• Gloria Swanson, video of The Mike Wallace Interview, April 28, 1957
• Gloria Swanson, interview on Dick Cavett Show on YouTube, August 3, 1970