Website: The Official Homepage for Gloria Swanson
"I am big, it's the pictures that got small." -Norma (Swanson) to Joe (Holden)
Gloria Swanson was born Gloria Josephine Mae Swenson in Chicago on March 27th, 1897. When she became a teenager, her mother allowed her to work "in pictures" at Chicago's Essanay Studios, starring in bit parts and small comedies where she learned the art of filmmaking and acting. Around the same time, another young filmmaker was working at Essanay, Charlie Chaplin, and Gloria appeared in his first comedy for the studio - "His New Job as a Typist". A short three years later, Glory (as she was known to friends and family) married actor Wallace Beery, another Essanay Player. With visions of stardom, the newlyweds moved to Hollywood to make their fortune.
Her marriage to Beery was terrifying, (Horrifying is only the word to describe Swanson's account of their brief, very unhappy union).
Both Swanson and Beery were hired by Mack Sennett (even though Sennett had no idea the two were married). Sennett was considered a master filmmaker - in charge of the famous Keystone Studios, famous for the Keystone Cops series and silent film stars Mabel Normand and Mack Swain. Swanson's career began to blossom just as Beery's was taking a turn for the worst. The marriage fell apart quickly due to Beery's savage behavior, and Swanson left Beery after a miscarriage. Swanson grew more popular with each film she made, and caused Sennett to claim he would make her "a second Mabel Normand". Upon hearing this, Swanson retorted that she would never be a second to anybody and promptly walked off the lot in protest.
Finally, in 1919, Gloria Swanson made her lead role debut in Cecil B. DeMille's "Don't Change Your Husband" and a wonderful working relationship was borne. DeMille would end up directing her in six of her box-office triumphs.
In 1925, Swanson made a film in France and came back with a royal third husband - Marquis Henri de la Falaise, who had been her interpreter while in the country. Always the trendsetter of her day, she was one of the first in Hollywood to marry into European royalty (albeit poor nobility, as the groom had little to offer Swanson other than a title). She soon joined with Joseph P. Kennedy to produce her own films (and to have a discreet affair). By now she was the queen of Hollywood. As the highest paid actress, she was even more popular than Mary Pickford, who was considered the darling of Hollywood.
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