Background and career
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.
How Gloria Swanson makes money
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.
