How I met Gloria Swanson

Gloria Swanson (March 27, 1899 – April 4, 1983) was an American actress. She was most prominent during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille. In 1929, Swanson successfully transitioned to talkies with The Trespasser. However, personal problems and changing tastes saw her popularity wane during the 1930s. Today she is best known for her wonderful role as Norma Desmond in the film Sunset Boulevard (1950).

Swanson became a vegetarian around 1928 and was an early health food advocate who was known for bringing her own meals to public functions in a paper bag. Swanson told actor Dirk Benedict about macrobiotic diets when he was battling prostate cancer at a very young age. He had refused conventional therapies and credited this kind of diet and healthy eating with his recovery[9]. Later Swanson traveled the United States and helped to promote the book Sugar Blues written by her husband, William Dufty.
On April 4, 1983, Swanson died in New York City from a heart ailment, aged 84; she was cremated and her ashes interred at the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest on Fifth Ave in New York City.[11]

In her honor, The New York Times wrote a special editorial on April 6, 1983, titled "THE GREATEST STAR OF THEM ALL" which is one of the most laudatory obituaries ever published by the Times and attests to Swanson's enduring fame and the power of the films she starred in and the industry she helped create.



Sunset Boulevard (Sunset Blvd. onscreen) is a 1950 American film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett. It was named after the boulevard that runs through Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, California.

Still wonderful, isn't it? And no dialogue. We didn't need dialogue. We had FACES. There just aren't any faces like that anymore. Well, maybe one—Garbo.
















Those idiot producers! Those imbeciles! Haven't they got any eyes? Have they forgotten what a star looks like? I'll show them. I'll be up there again. So help me!




In her glossy eyes the world can see the abyss of life...