Gloria Mae Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899 – April 4, 1983) was an American actress. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most famously for her 1950 turn in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, which also earned her a Golden Globe Award.
Swanson was born in Chicago and raised in a military family that moved from base to base. Her infatuation with Essanay Studios actor Francis X. Bushman led to her aunt taking her to tour the actor's Chicago studio. The 15-year-old Swanson was offered a brief walk-on for one film and eventually a stock-players contract, beginning her life's career in front of the cameras. Swanson left school, and was soon hired to work in California for Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios comedy shorts opposite Bobby Vernon.
She was eventually recruited by Famous Players–Lasky/Paramount Pictures, where she was put under contract for seven years and became a global superstar. She starred in a series of films about society, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, including Male and Female (1919). She continued as a successful movie star in The Affairs of Anatol (1921) and Beyond the Rocks (1922). She also starred in critically acclaimed performances such as Zaza (1923) and Madame Sans-Gêne (1925).
In 1925, Swanson joined United Artists as one of the film industry's pioneering women filmmakers. She produced and starred in the 1928 film Sadie Thompson, earning a nomination for Best Actress at the first annual Academy Awards. Her sound film debut performance in 1929's The Trespasser earned her a second Academy Award nomination. Queen Kelly (1928–29) was a box-office disaster, but is remembered as a silent classic. After almost two decades in front of the cameras, her film success waned during the 1930s. Swanson received renewed praise for her return to the screen in her role as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. She made only three more films, but guest-starred on several television shows, and acted in road productions of stage plays.
Swanson was born in a small house in Chicago in 1899, the only child of Adelaide (née Klanowski) and Joseph Theodore Swanson (né Svensson), a soldier. She was raised in the Lutheran faith. Her father was a Swedish American and her mother was of German, English, French, and Polish ancestry. Because of her father's attachment to the U.S. Army, the family moved frequently. She spent some of her childhood in Key West, Florida, where she was enrolled in a Catholic convent school, and in Puerto Rico, where she saw her first motion pictures.
1914–1918: Essanay/Keystone/Triangle
Her family once again residing in Chicago, the adolescent Gloria developed a crush on actor Francis X. Bushman and knew he was employed by Essanay Studios in the city. Swanson later recalled that her Aunt Inga brought her at the age of 15 to visit Bushman's studio, where she was discovered by a tour guide. Other accounts have the star-struck Swanson herself talking her way into the business. In either version, she was soon hired as an extra.
The movie industry was still in its infancy, churning out short subjects, without the advantage of today's casting agencies and talent agents promoting their latest find. A willing extra was often a valuable asset. Her first role was a brief walk-on with actress Gerda Holmes, that paid an enormous (in those days) $3.25. The studio soon offered her steady work at $13.25 (equivalent to $426 in 2025) per week. Swanson left school to work full-time at the studio. In 1915, she co-starred in Sweedie Goes to College with her future first husband Wallace Beery.
Swanson's mother accompanied her to California in 1916 for her roles in Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios comedy shorts opposite Bobby Vernon and directed by Clarence G. Badger. They were met at the train station by Beery, who was pursuing his own career ambitions at Keystone. Vernon and Swanson projected a great screen chemistry that proved popular with audiences. Director Charley Chase recalled that Swanson was "frightened to death" of Vernon's dangerous stunts. Surviving movies in which they appear together include The Danger Girl (1916), The Sultan's Wife (1917), and Teddy at the Throttle (1917). Badger was sufficiently impressed by Swanson to recommend her to the director Jack Conway for Her Decision and You Can't Believe Everything in 1918. Triangle had never put Swanson under contract, but did increase her pay to $15 a week. When she was approached by Famous Players–Lasky to work for Cecil B. DeMille, the resulting legal dispute obligated her to Triangle for several more months. Soon afterward, Triangle was in a financial bind and loaned Swanson to DeMille for the comedy Don't Change Your Husband.
1919–1926: Famous Players–Lasky/Paramount Pictures
At the behest of DeMille, Swanson signed a contract with Famous Players–Lasky on December 30, 1918, for $150 a week, to be raised to $200 a week, and eventually $350 a week. Her first picture under her new contract was DeMille's World War I romantic drama For Better, for Worse. She made six pictures under the direction of DeMille, including Male and Female (1919), in which she posed with a lion as "Lion's Bride". While she and her father were dining out one evening, the man who would become her second husband, Equity Pictures president Herbert K. Somborn, introduced himself, by inviting her to meet one of her personal idols, actress Clara Kimball Young.
Why Change Your Wife?, Something to Think About (both 1920), and The Affairs of Anatol (1921) soon followed. She next appeared in 10 films directed by Sam Wood, starting with The Great Moment (1921) and including Beyond the Rocks in 1922 with her longtime friend Rudolph Valentino. Valentino had become a star in 1921 for his appearance in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, but Swanson had known him since his days as an aspiring actor getting small parts, with no apparent hope for his professional future. She was impressed by his shy, well-mannered personality, the complete opposite of what his public image would become.
After her films with Wood, she appeared in Zaza (1923) directed by Allan Dwan. During her time at Famous Players–Lasky, seven more of her films were directed by Dwan.
In 1925, Swanson starred in the French-American comedy Madame Sans-Gêne, directed by Léonce Perret. Filming was allowed for the first time at many of the historic sites relating to Napoleon. While it was well received at the time, no prints are known to exist and it is considered to be a lost film. Swanson appeared in a 1925 short produced by Lee de Forest in his Phonofilm sound-on-film process. She made a number of films for Paramount, including The Coast of Folly (1925), Stage Struck (1925) and The Untamed Lady (1926). Before she could produce films with United Artists, she completed Fine Manners with Paramount and turned down an offer to make The King of Kings with DeMille.
She turned down a one-million-dollar-a-year (equivalent to $18,500,000 in 2025) contract with Paramount in favor of joining the newly created United Artists partnership on June 25, 1925, accepting a six-picture distribution offer from president Joseph Schenck. At the time, Swanson was considered the most bankable star of her era. United Artists had its own Art Cinema Corporation subsidiary to advance financial loans for the productions of individual partners. The partnership agreement included her commitment to a buy-in of $100,000 of preferred stock subscription.
The Swanson Producing Corporation was set up as the umbrella organization for her agreement with United Artists. Under that name, she produced The Love of Sunya with herself in the title role. The film, co-starring John Boles, was directed by Albert Parker, based on the play The Eyes of Youth by Max Marcin and Charles Guernon. The production was a disaster, with Parker being indecisive and the actors not experienced enough to deliver the performances he wanted. The film fell behind in its schedule and, by the time of its release, the end product had not lived up to Swanson's expectations. While it did not lose money, it was a financial wash, breaking even on the production costs.