Foto: Fred Hartsook (1876-1930)

1899 - 1983

She began her marvelous career from 1913 as an extra for Chicago's "Essanay Film Mfg. Co." When she got married with the actor Wallace Beery heiratete (her first of a total of six marriages), they went to Hollywood where both of them were able to launch a great career.

Gloria Swanson signed a contract with Mach Sennett's "Triangle-Keystone" and became a leading actress at comedian Bobby Vernon's side. In those years she shot among others the movies "His New Job" (15), "The Broken Pledge" (15), "The Danger Girl" (16) and "Teddy at the Throttle" (17). When Mack Sennett went to Paramount, Gloria Swanson used the chance to impersonat dramatic roles at Triangle-Keystone and convinced with "Shifting Sands" (18).

Cecil B. DeMille noticed Gloria Swanson and signed her on. There she became a star with the movies "Don't Change Your Husband" (19) and "Male and Female" (19). Swanson and DeMille realised four more movies together - "For Better, for Worse" (19), "Why Change Your Wife?" (20), "Something to Think About" (20) and "The Affairs of Anatol" (21) before Paramount separated the dream team.

Still Gloria Swanson continued her career with other impressive roles, among them "Beyond the Rocks" (22) with Rudolph Valentino and Allan Dwan's "Manhandled" (24), where she played a Chaplin imitation.

In 1925 whe went to France and shot the worldwide success "Madame sans gêne" (25), and after her return to Hollywood she appeared in "Fine Manners" (26) and finally in "Sadie Thompson" (28), for which she was nominated for the Oscar for the first time.

It followed her first sound movie "The Trespasser" (29), for which she was nominated for the Oscar for the second time.
The following movies "What a Widow!" (30) and "Indiscreet" (31) revealed that Gloria Swanson went beyond the height of her career and her popularity went down. She only appeared in the English production "Perfect Understanding" (33) and in den USA in "Music in the Air" (34), after that it lasted seven years till she was able to play in "Father Takes a Wife" (41) - her only motion-picture of the 40s. 

Although she celebrated a huge triumph with the unexpected success of "Sunset Blvd." (50) and even was nominated for the Oscar for the third time the movie didn't mean a comeback. After this success she appeared only in few second-class movies like "Three for Bedroom C" (52), "Mio figlio Nerone - O.K. Nero" (56) and "Airport 1975" (74) - her last appearance on the big screen.
In between she also played in some episodes of popular TV series and acted on Broadway in the play "Reprise" and "Butterflies Are Free".

Other movies with Gloria Swanson: 
The Ambition of the Baron (15) The Fable of Elvira and Farina and the Meal Ticket (15) Sweedie Goes to College (15) The Romance of an American Duchess (15) A Dash of Courage (16) A Social Club (16) The Nick of Time Baby (16) Hearts and Sparks (16) Haystacks and Steeples (16) Baseball Madness (17) Dangers of a Bride (17) Whose Baby? (17) The Sultan's Wife (17) A Pullman Bride (17) Society for Sale (18) Everywoman's Husband (18) Till I Come Back to You (18) The Secret Code (18) Wife or Country (18) You Can't Believe Everything (18) Station Content (18) Her Decision (18) The Great Moment (21) Under the Lash (21) Don't Tell Everything (21) Her Gilded Cage (22) The Impossible Mrs. Bellew (22) My American Wife (22) Her Husband's Trademark (22) Prodigal Daughters (23) Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (23) Zaza (23) The Humming Bird (24) A Society Scandal (24) Her Love Story (24) Wages of Virtue (24) Stage Struck (25) The Coast of Folly (25) The Untamed Lady (26) The Love of Sunya (27) Tonight or Never (31) Serie "Hollywood Opening Night: The Pattern" (53) Serie "Straightaway: A Toast to Yesterday" (61) Serie "Dr. Kildare: The Good Luck Charm" (63) Serie "Burke's Law: Who Killed Ppurity Mather?" (63) Serie "Kraft Suspense Theater: Who Is Jennifer?" (64) Serie "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: Behind the Locked Door" (64) Serie "Burke's Law: Who Killed Vaudeville?" (64) Serie "My Three Sons: Fountain of Youth" (65) Serie "Ben Casey: Minus That Rusty Old Hachsaw" (65) Killer Bees (74)