![]() Her brief marriage to Beery was fraught with peril, however, when Swanson later revealed in her autobiography that her new husband had gotten drunk on their wedding night and raped her. After leaving school to focus on acting fulltime, Swanson married fellow Essanay actor Wallace Beery and moved to Hollywood, where they were both hired by Mack Sennett's Keystone Company. Almost on a whim, Swanson entered into the entertainment industry by way of becoming an extra for a small production company in Chicago called Essanay Studios in 1913, where she worked alongside future comedy icon, Charlie Chaplin, in such silent shorts as "His New Job" (1915). She also moved around, living in such far flung places as Puerto Rico and Key West. Prompted to break out and produce her movies independently, Swanson staggered a bit with the production-plagued "The Love of Sunya" (1927), but rebounded with "Sadie Thompson" (1928) - her last critical and financial hit until "Sunset Boulevard." Swanson remained until her death in 1983 a true Tinseltown legend.īorn on Main Chicago, IL, Swanson was raised in a strict Lutheran home by her father, Joseph, an Army officer, and her mother, Adelaide, who took care of her only child by herself while Joseph was stationed overseas. Mid-decade, Swanson became one of the most famous stars in the world thanks to roles in "Zaza" (1923), "Madame Sans-Gene" (1925) and "The Untamed Lady" (1926). DeMille's bedroom farces like "Don't Change Your Husband" (1919) and "Why Change Your Wife?" (1920) before making a series of dramas that propelled her to the top. She first achieved stardom in several of Cecil B. Prior to that triumph, Swanson had reigned supreme during the silent era as a top actress whose elaborate feathered boas and bejeweled headdresses were the height of fashion. ![]() But unlike her silent film contemporaries, Swanson had a trick or two up her sleeve and delivered a powerful, Oscar-nominated performance as the delusional Norma Desmond in Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard" (1950), widely considered to be the greatest film noir ever made. A silent screen legend and the epitome of early Hollywood glamour, actress Gloria Swanson rose to great heights in the 1920s, only to struggle like many of her day did once the age of talkie films took hold.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |