Le Bailly De Le Bailly De Loulou De La Falaise - Family ... Christened Louise Vava Lucia Henriette Le Bailly de La Falaise and born in England, she was the eldest child and only daughter of Alain, Count de La Falaise (1903–1977), a French writer, translator ... (the name of her paternal grandmother, Henriette Hennessy, Comtesse Alain Hocquart de Turtot) ... Another uncle, her father's elder brother, was Henri de La Falaise, (1898–1972), film director and third husband of American actress Gloria Swanson ... Terms related to le bailly de: Related Phrases 1000+ images about Actress Gloria Swanson on Pinterest | Daughters, Film and Wallace beery Learn more at theloudestvoice.tumblr.com Gloria Swanson as a young girl ~ “I was born on March 27, 1899, under the sign of Aries.

My maternal grandmother, who was in attendance, leaned down to my pale, exhausted mother and said, “She’s beautiful.” Then she turned to the doctor, and lowering her voice so that her daughter wouldn’t hear, asked, “But aren’t her ears awfully large?” More Legong: Dance of the Virgins | Silent Film Festival Legong: Dance of the Virgins Legong: Dance of the Virgins Bali, 1935 • Directed by Henri de la Falaise Cast Goesti Poetoe Aloes (Poutou) Njoman Nyong Nyong (Nyong, the gamelan musician) Goesti Bagus Mara (Bagus, Poutou’s father) Njoman Saplak (Saplak, Poutou’s half-sister) Production Bennett Pictures Corporation Story Henry de la Falaise and Gaston Glass Titles Hampton Del Ruth Photography William Howard Greene Editing Edward Schroeder Presented at SFSFF 2013 Print Source UCLA Film and Television Archive Live Musical Accompaniment by Gamelan Sekar Jaya and the Club Foot Orchestra Essay by Peter J. Bloom and Katherine J.

Hagedorn Legong: Dance of the Virgins was shot on location in the village of Ubud in Bali, Indonesia, between May and August 1933, and featured an all-Balinese cast. Directed by Henry de la Falaise, whose full name was Henri Marquis Le Bailly de la Falaise de la Coudraye, Legong was one of two films produced by Bennett Pictures, for which La Falaise—Gloria Swanson’s third husband—served as the principal along with his then-wife, screen star Constance Bennett, founder of Bennett Pictures Corporation. La Falaise traveled to Bali with Gaston Glass and cameraman William Howard “Duke” Greene, the highly regarded Technicolor specialist who later won an Academy Award for his work on Phantom of the Opera (1943). Legong and La Falaise’s now-lost Kliou, The Killer (1937), a jungle story about a deadly tiger, were among the last of the two-color Technicolor films produced in Hollywood.

The “exotic” Balinese mise-en-scène contributed to the success of the film at the box office; it played for an exceptionally long ten-week run at the New York World Theater in 1935. The title refers to one of the most celebrated of all Balinese dances. According to popular legend, Prince Karna (a Balinese prince who ruled during the 19th century) dreamed that he saw young nymphs in heaven performing a refined and graceful dance. When the prince awoke, he fulfilled his vision by teaching the dance and the music of his meditative dream to his village. The dancers are accompanied by traditional Indonesian bronze instrument ensembles called gamelans. In the film, a young girl, Poutou, has been selected as one of her village’s legong dancers. She is to remain “the chaste maiden and sacred dancer of the Temple” until she falls in love, after which she will dance for the final time in celebration of her impending marriage. Poutou is attracted to the young musician Nyong, a talented newcomer in the local gamelan, but Nyong’s interest is soon diverted to young Saplak, Poutou’s half-sister.

The two meet each other clandestinely, in groves and on bridges, but several villagers see them together and disclose their secret. Ostensibly a tragic love story, Legong: Dance of the Virgins belongs to a genre of interwar narrative films shot in an exotic locale, which adapted indigenous folklore to American and European tastes. The 1920s and 1930s saw the first wave of mass international tourist trade. Bali was becoming a popular destination for Western artists and intellectuals who believed that they had found an enchanted land faraway from war-torn western Europe. By the mid-1930s, Bali, a Hindu jewel in the Muslim crown of the Indonesian archipelago, was well established as a resort for the jet set and about 30,000 tourists visited the island each year. As historian Tessel Pollmann explained in 1990, Bali had well-paved roads, rolling rice fields, and was virtually unspoiled by the ravages of colonial agriculture. The allure of beautiful young girls and willing boys was an added attraction, making Bali the “Eastern Paradise” of the 1930s.

The centerpiece of this vision was the artist colony in Ubud, whose most famous member, painter Walter Spies, served as the unofficial guide to the best-known visiting European and American artists, musicians, filmmakers, and anthropologists during the late 1920s and 1930s. Spies was a Moscow-born German expatriate artist who served as an indispensable cultural broker, facilitating long-term visits to Bali by anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, composer Colin McPhee and his anthropologist wife Jane Belo, and the dance ethnographer Beryl de Zoete, among others. Spies was perhaps best known for his unique style of painting, which combined surrealist techniques with Balinese scenes and myths. Spies settled in Bali in 1927, where he lived and painted in order to “free himself of the indoctrination and prejudices about taste and beauty” until his untimely death in 1942. Although no records have been found indicating whether Spies had anything to do with Legong, it is likely that La Falaise and his crew were indebted to Spies and other Western expatriates for access to Ubud villages and their ceremonies.

While Western tourists and artists flocked to Bali during the 1920s and 1930s to enjoy “the good life,” the Balinese peasantry on the island lived in near abject poverty, largely due to the virtual collapse of the export economy and an exploitative taxation system established by the colonial Dutch administration. American travelogue films about Bali from the 1930s implied the fantasy of female promiscuity, untainted by disease and urban squalor, complemented by rich cultural performance traditions in an abundant landscape. The disrobed native woman was often noted in trade reviews of the films, such as Isle of Paradise (directed Charles Trego, 1932) and Goona-Goona (“Love Powder,” produced by André Roosevelt and Armand Denis, 1932), both of which were precursors to Legong: Dance of the Virgins. Goona-Goona eventually lent its name to the subgenre of exotic films set in Bali. A documentary film that Robert Flaherty had planned to make with F.W.

Murnau in Bali during the late 1920s—Bali: The Ultima Thule of Our Desires—was abandoned in favor of Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1929). (Ultima thule is Latin for the highest degree attainable and best describes American and European perceptions of Bali as paradise.) Legong is punctuated by scenes of everyday Balinese life such as the marketplace, a cockfight, and extended sequences devoted to the Djanger and Legong dances. Cockfighting is the favorite sport of Poutou’s father, Bagus, and the short sequence depicting his fascination with the sport emphasizes the role of the wager and chance in the film. Perhaps the most impressive of the traditional performances in the film is the Barong temple dance, described as a myth about a prince who is turned into a lion by the evil witch Rangda. The emotional intensity of this ritualized dance reaches its pinnacle when Barong, a mythical beast who protects the community, performed by two dancers, confronts and tries to kill Rangda, the personification of death and destruction, performed by a man wearing a frightening mask and a costume with pendulous breasts.

During the mock battle, the followers of Barong receive protective powers from him as they attack Rangda. They demonstrate how strong these powers are when, in trance, they turn their ritual swords upon themselves without injury. The film’s intertitles make exaggerated claims here about “sham suicides,” asserting that, “through courage born of madness—they set out to slay Rangda, the witch. But in accord with the grotesque legend they must fail. And having failed, must sham suicide.” The Barong-Rangda ritual, a centuries-old tradition that serves to reenact the balancing forces of nature, is considered a stabilizing event by the Balinese rather than an uncontrolled display of primitive passions. Legong: Dance of the Virgins was reconstructed in 1992 by the UCLA Film and Television Archives using censored prints from the United States, Britain, and Canada. At the time of the film’s distribution by Paramount Pictures Corporation, scenes of nudity were trimmed for domestic release in the U.S. and shots of cockfights excised from the British prints. By duplicating and splicing the remaining negatives, the film was restored to its complete length.

Gloria Swanson - Hollywood's Golden Age Gloria Swanson (1899-1983) Gloria Swanson Gloria Swanson was a talented and charismatic stage and movie actress who became one of the first legendary stars of Hollywood. After beginning her career in the early silent movie era, she achieved international fame under the guidance of the flamboyant director, Cecil B. DeMille, and became renowned as a fashion icon and as the epitome of movie star glamour with an interesting and spectacularly complicated personal life. She was also one of the first stars to challenge the Hays Code by producing the banned 'Sadie Thompson' in 1928. She was the first major Hollywood star to marry European royalty and, after her movie career appeared to have faded she made a remarkable comeback in an Oscar-nominated performance as Norma Desmond in the classic 'Sunset Boulevard' in 1950. For the latter part of her career Gloria remained in the public eye with successful appearances on Broadway and television. Search Amazon for Gloria Swanson Biography She was born Gloria Josephine Mae Svensson in Chicago, Illinois on March 27, 1899.

Her father was in the US army and the family moved frequently during Gloria's childhood, spending most time in Puerto Rico and in Key West, Florida. In 1914 her parents separated and Gloria and her mother returned to live in Chicago whilst her father remained stationed overseas. School and Early Acting Career Gloria attended the Chicago Public School, Hawthorne Scholastic Academy and began acting in school plays. Her first ambition was to become an opera singer but she entered the entertainment business almost by accident. Whilst still at school, aged 16, and already a great beauty, she went with her aunt to the Essanay movie studio in Chicago. This led to her being selected as an extra in a number of early silent films such as 'The Fable of Elvira' and 'At the End of a Perfect Day' and working with the up and coming Charles Chaplin in 'His New Job'. She left school to concentrate on acting as a career and continued to appear in bit parts. Hollywood 1916 In 1916 she married fellow Essenay actor Wallace Beery and the two moved to Los Angeles to the new film colony of Hollywood.

Beery signed with the Mack Sennett Keystone company, on the condition that Swanson also be given a contract. Gloria began to make a name for herself in a series of Sennett's slapstick comedies such as 'Haystacks and Steeples' in 1916, and then in a series of successful movies for Triangle Films, such as 'Everywoman's Husband' and 'Society for Sale' in 1918. Cecil B. DeMille 1919 She had ambitions to be more than a comedienne and her career took a sharp upward turn in 1919 when she she signed with Paramount Pictures and began a long association with top director, Cecil B. DeMille. DeMille brought out her full acting potential as a romantic leading lady in sophisticated sex comedies such as 'Don't Change Your Husband' and 'Male and Female' in 1919, 'Why Change Your Wife?' in 1920, and 'The Affairs of Anatol' the following year.

These DeMille movies depicted "modern" women drinking and smoking and taking the initiative in their relationships Hollywood Star By the early 1920's, helped by DeMille, Gloria Swanson had become a major Hollywood star and she began to extend her fame, not just with her performances, which were excellent, but with her lavish off screen lifestyle. She starred in extravagant and successful movies such as 'Bluebeard's Eighth Wife' in 1923, 'Madame Sans-Gene' in 1925, and 'The Untamed Lady' in 1926 and audiences became as transfixed by her outfits, which often included ostrich feathers and jewelled headdresses, as much as they were with her acting. Her position as Hollywood's number one star was sealed when, in 1925, she married her third husband, Marquis de la Falaise de la Coudraye, a French nobleman and part time interpreter and film director. When she returned from filming '"Madame Sans-Gene' in Paris with her husband, as a new member of European nobility, she received quasi-royal acclaim in parades through New York and Los Angeles.

After her last two films for Paramount, 'Stage Struck' in 1925 and 'Fine Manners' the following year, Gloria was at the peak of her popularity and she was offered a contract extension by Paramount reputed to be worth a million dollars. Ever the independent, Gloria turned it down in favour of having her films distributed by the newly-formed United Artists where she would have more artistic freedom. Independent Artist 1927 Her first movie as an independent was 'The Love of Sunya' in 1927, which ran way over budget and was not a commercial success. In her second production, 'Sadie Thompson', in 1928, Gloria played a prostitute and had censorship problems with the Hays Office but the film was a box office and critical success and Gloria gained her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, (in the first year the awards were presented.) During this time Gloria, who was still married to the Marquis, emabarked on a less than private affair with Joe Kennedy, also married and father of seven children (including the future President Kennedy), with more children still to come. Kennedy became her business partner and film producer and his effect on her life was almost wholly negative.

He was the producer of her next film in 1929, 'Queen Kelly', which became one of Hollywood's most infamous unfinished movies. The director, Erich von Stroheim, was notorious for his focus on detail and endless retakes and the movie production fell well behind schedule. Gloria eventually halted the production and the movie was never released in America although it was shown in Europe after an alternate ending was made in 1931. Ironically, it is now regarded as a masterpiece. After the near disaster of 'Queen Kelly', Gloria embraced the new medium of Talking Pictures and began work on her first sound film called 'The Trespasser' in 1929. It was a great success and secured her a contract with MGM and her second Academy Best Actress nomination. She made four more Talkies in quick succession, ' What a Widow!' in 1930, 'Indiscreet' the following year, 'Perfect Understanding' in 1933, and 'Music in the Air' in 1934 but they all flopped.

In the age of the Great Depression audiences were no longer flocking to her films and as the Swanson career went into decline, Gloria went into semi-retirement. Disilluioned with Hollywood she moved to New York in 1938 and for ten years she operated a company called G. Swanson Multiprises, which assisted and relocated scientists fleeing the European war. She did not ignore her acting background entirely, appearing in several stage productions and in 1941, after 7 years off screen, she appeared in another movie, the musical comedy 'Father Takes A Wife'. It was heavily promoted as her comeback film but did not do well at the box office. Gloria returned to movie retirement but continued to appear on stage and also began to try the new medium of television. 'Sunset Boulevard' 1950 Just when it appeared that her career was finally over, Gloria made a stunning comeback in 'Sunset Boulevard' in 1950. The film is widely considered to be one of the greatest movies ever and was placed by the American Film Institute at number 12 in its list of the top 100 films of all time.

Gloria gave a powerful and convincing performance as the self deluded, faded screen star, Norma Desmond in the Hollywood insider melodrama written and directed by Billy Wilder. It is the role for which she is best remembered today and for which she received a third Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Gloria was not able to maintain her new movie career and after just two more films during the 1950's, both disappointing, she retired from film making. She continued to appear, successfully, on television during the 1950's and 1960's in programmes such as 'Four Star Revue', 'Dr. Kildare' and 'Ben Casey' as well as hosting her own syndicated anthology show, 'Crown Theatre with Gloria Swanson' in 1954. She also showed keen business acumen in numerous ventures, particularly in marketing a line of natural cosmetics, "Essence of Nature". During this time she became fascinated with healthy eating and was very active in the rapidly developing health food movement.

In 1971 Gloria played her last stage role playing an over-protective mother in 'Butterflies Are Free' both on tour and on Broadway and three years later she made her first appearance in a made-for-TV movie in the highly successful 'Killer Bees'. Her very last appearance on the big screen was a cameo role as herself in the disaster movie 'Airport 75' in 1975. Personal '# Gloria was a beautiful woman and a strong personality. During her life she had many lovers and she married six times: Wallace Beery, actor, 1916-1919 Gloria met Beery when both were working at the Essanay studios in Chicago. When Beery moved to California Gloria followed and the two got married when she was 17. Beery was a boorish man, unpopular in Hollywood, and according to Gloria's biography, he got drunk on their wedding night and raped her. Later, he apparently gave her an abortion-inducing drug when he discovered she was pregnant. They separated after a few months, although they continued to appear in movies together, and they divorced in 1919.

Herbert Somborn 1919-25 Gloria entered a relationship with a playboy millionaire named Craney Gratz but he was not interested in marriage and she accepted the proposal of Herbert Somborn, a businessman 18 years her senior. The two married in 1919 and had a daughter, Gloria, a year later, but Somborn was more of a father figure than husband and the couple separated after one year. Gloria began to date film director Marshall Neilan. Somborn was an opportunist and he served Gloria with divorce papers on the basis of an extramarital affair with 14 men including Neilan. Most of the accusations were patently ridiculous but Gloria was advised to settle out of court, to avoid a career threatening scandal. They divorced in 1925 and Somborn later opened the famous Brown Derby Restaurant in Hollywood. Marquis Le Bailly de la Falaise de la Coudraye 1925-30 Gloria met her third husband in 1924 when he was hired as her interpreter during filming of 'Madame Sans-Gêne' in Paris.

They married in 1925 and returned to America to be feted as a Royal couple. Henri became a film executive for Pathé in France through the influence of Joseph P. Kennedy. As Kennedy was having an affair with Gloria, it is assumed that he was given the position to simply keep him out of the way. The marriage ended in divorce in 1930 after which Henri married for a second time to film actress Constance Bennett. Michael Farmer 1931-34 Gloria was introduced to actor, Michael Farmer, by Noel Coward and married him in 1931 when she discovered she was pregnant. They had one child, a daughter, Michelle. Farmer could not get used to having a celebrity wife and flew into wild jealous rages. The couple divorced after 3 years of marriage. William N. Davey 1945-46 Swanson met Davey while touring with a stage play in 1945. Within a few days she discovered that he was an incorrigible alcoholic. The marriage lasted just 45 days and was not the happiest part of her life.

William Dufty 1976-83 Gloria had a lifelong interest in foods and nutrition and her sixth and last husband, writer William Dufty, shared this passion. They met in 1965 and within 3 years were living together as a couple. He was originally known as a ghost-writer of books as well as working as editorial assistant at the New York Post from 1951 to 1960. In 1975 wrote a book called "Sugar Blues" about the dangers of sugar in the diet. He and Gloria were married in 1976 and the marriage lasted until her death in 1983. It was Gloria's only marriage to last longer than 5 years. In addition to her six marriages, Gloria had many love affairs, most notably with Joseph P. Kennedy between 1927 and 1930. As well as her lover Kennedy became her business partner but it appears he spent her money rather than invested it and for this reason the couple split in 1930. Gloria remained alert and active throughout her long life.

In 1980, she published her well written and well received autobiography titled "Swanson On Swanson". She died from a heart attack, aged 84, on April 4, 1983. Gloria Swanson Academy Awards Constance Bennett - Filmbug Constance Bennett Constance Bennett Constance Campbell Bennett (October 22, 1904 - July 24, 1965) was a US actress. Born in New York City, Bennett was the daughter of actor Richard Bennett and actress Adrienne Morrison, and the elder sister of actresses Barbara and Joan Bennett . Bennett made her first film appearance as a child and appeared in a few bit parts before marrying and divorcing while still in her teens. She resumed her film career with the advent of talking pictures, and with her delicate blonde features and glamorous fashion style, quickly became a popular film star. She also captured numerous headlines in 1932, when she married one of Gloria Swanson 's former husbands, Henri le Bailly, the Marquis de La Coudraye de La Falaise (1898-1972), a French nobleman.

They were divorced in 1940. A 1931 contract with Warner Brothers Studios earned her $300 000 for two movies and made her one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood. She was a close friend of Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, and despite the potential harm to her career, stood by Vanderbilt all through her notorious 1934 child custody trial. Bennett's film career continued to grow during the 1930s, and in 1937 she scored her biggest success, as a ghost in the comedy Topper with Cary Grant . She married her third husband, the actor Gilbert Roland in 1941 and had three children with him, before they divorced in 1946. By this time she was working less frequently in film but was in demand in both radio and theatre. Her shrewd investments had made her a very wealthy woman, and she founded a cosmetics and clothing company that added to her wealth, but Bennett enjoyed being a celebrity and so continued to work.

In 1946 she married US Air Force Colonel John Theron Coulter, and concentrated her efforts on providing relief entertainment to US troops still stationed in Europe, winning military honors for her services. Their marriage continued until her death. She made no films from the early 1950s until 1965 when she made a comeback in the film Madame X (released posthumously in 1966). Shortly after filming was completed, Bennett collapsed and died from a cerebral hemorrhage. In recognition of her military contributions, and as the wife of Coulter, who had by then achieved the rank of Brigadier General, she was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Coulter died in 1995 and was buried with her. Constance Bennett has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Motion Pictures, at 6250 Hollywood Boulevard, a short distance from the star of her sister, Joan Bennett. Note: This profile was written in or before 2004.

Constance Bennett Facts Gloria Josephine May Swanson (1899 - 1983) - Genealogy Gloria Josephine May Swanson in New York, NY, USA Cause of death: Heart ailment. She was cremated and her ashes interred. Place of Burial: 1976 - Manhattan, New York, New York, United States Husband: Mar 26 1899 - Chicago, Ill. USA Death: Apr 4 1983 - New York Parents: Mar 27 1897 - Chicago, Cook, Illinois Death: Apr 4 1983 - New York Parents: Joseph Swanson, Adelaide Swanson (born Kianowski) Husband: Australian Newspapers Text: ... "final solution" for the Jews was taking place. — Page 14. Gloria Swanson dead Gloria Swanson, one ... of Hollywood's biggest stars in t... Publication: Apr 6 1983 - Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia Page: Australian Newspapers Text: "..." for the Jews was taking place. — Page 14.

Gloria Swanson dead Gloria Swanson, one of Hollywood's biggest stars in the 1920s and 193... Publication: Apr 6 1983 - Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia Page: Australian Newspapers Text: ... efrtBTAINMBJT J Swanson dead New YORK. Tuesday (AAP-Rcuter). — Actrcss Gloria Swanson, one of Hollywood's biggest stars in the 1920s and... Publication: Apr 6 1983 - Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia Page: Australian Newspapers Text: ... J Swanson dead J | EW YORK. Tuesday (AAP-Reuter). — Actrcss Gloria Swanson, one of Hollywood's biggest stars in the 1920s and 30s, died ... Publication: Apr 6 1983 - Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia Page: Australian Newspapers Text: ... 01395 Swansong? NEW YORK, Friday (AAP). — Former film siren Gloria Swanson, 76, was married last Monday to author William Dufty, 60, her...

Publication: Feb 7 1976 - Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia Page: Cause of death: Heart Ailment - Apr 4 1983 - New York City Parents: Joseph Theodore Swanson, Adelaide Swanson Husband: Henry De La Falaise, Wallace Beery, William Dufty, Michael Farmer, Herbert K. Somborn, William Davey Children: Gloria Swanson Somborn, Joseph Patrick Swanson, Michelle Bridget Farmer Residences: Mar 27 1899 - Chicago, Cook, Illinois Death: Cónyuges: Wallace Beery (1916-1919) Herbert K. Somborn (1919-1922) Henri de la Falaise (1925-1931) Michael Farmer (1931-1934) George W.

Davey (1945-1948) William Dufty (1976-1983) Nombre de nacimiento Gloria May Josephine Svensson Nacimiento 27 de marzo de 1899 Bandera de los Estados Unidos Chicago, Illinois, Estados Unidos Fallecimiento 4 de abril de 1983 (84 años) Bandera de los Estados Unidos Nueva York, Nueva York, Estados Unidos Nacionalidad Estadounidense Legendary actress Gloria Swanson is considered to be one of the biggest stars of the silent era as well as 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 role as Norma Desmond in the film Sunset Boulevard (1950). Swanson was born Gloria Josephine May Swanson on March 27, 1899 in a small house in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Adelaide (née Klanowski) and Joseph Theodore Swanson, a soldier.

She attended Hawthorne Scholastic Academy. Her father, whose surname was originally "Svensson", was from a strict Lutheran Swedish American family, and her mother was of German, French and Polish ancestry. Swanson grew up mainly in Chicago, Puerto Rico and Key West, Florida. It was not her intention to enter show business. Her parents separated when she was still in school. After her formal education ended, she went to a small film studio in Chicago for a visit and ended up being asked to come back to work as an extra. She made her film debut in 1914 as an extra in The Song of Soul for Chicago's Essanay Studios. While on a tour of the studio, she asked to be in the movie just for fun. Essanay hired her to feature in several movies, including His New Job, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin . Swanson auditioned for the leading female role in His New Job, but Chaplin did not see her as leading lady material and cast her in the brief role of a stenographer. She later admitted that she hated slapstick comedy and had been deliberately uncooperative.

Swanson moved to California in 1916 to appear in Mack Sennett's Keystone comedies opposite Bobby Vernon, and in 1919 she signed with Paramount Pictures and worked often with Cecil B. DeMille , who turned her into a romantic lead in such films as Don't Change Your Husband (1919), Male and Female (1919), with the famous scene in the lion cage, Why Change Your Wife? (1920), Something to Think About (1920) and The Affairs of Anatol (1921). In the space of two years, Swanson rocketed to stardom and was one of the most sought-after actresses in Hollywood. Swanson later appeared in a series of films directed by Sam Wood. She starred in Beyond the Rocks (1922) with her long-time friend Rudolph Valentino . (This film had been believed lost but was rediscovered in 2004 in a private collection in The Netherlands and is available on DVD.) Swanson continued to make costume drama films for the next few years. So successful were her films for Paramount that the studio was afraid of losing her and gave in to many of her whims and wishes.

During her heyday, audiences went to her films not only for her performances, but also to see her wardrobe. Frequently ornamented with beads, jewels, peacock and ostrich feathers, haute couture of the day or extravagant period pieces, one would hardly suspect that she was barely five feet (1.52 m) tall. Her fashion, hair styles, and jewels were copied around the world. She was the screen's first clothes horse and was becoming one of the most famous and photographed women in the world. In 1925, she starred in the first French-American co-production, Madame Sans-Gêne, directed by Léonce Perret. Filming was allowed for the first time at many of the historic sites relating to Napoleon. During the production of this film, she met her third husband Henry de la Falaise, Marquis de la Falaise , who was originally hired to be her translator during the film's production. After four years' residence in France, she returned to the United States as European nobility, now known as the Marquise. She got a huge welcome home with parades in both New York and Los Angeles.

She appeared in a 1925 short produced by Lee DeForest in his Phonofilm sound-on-film process, which was one of the earliest attempts to synchronize sound with a moving image. She made a number of films for Paramount, among them The Coast of Folly, Stage Struck and Fine Manners. In 1927, she decided to turn down a million dollar a year contract to join the newly-created United Artists. There she was her own boss and could make the films she wanted, with whom she wanted and when. Her first independent film, The Love of Sunya, in which she costarred with John Boles and Pauline Garon, opened the Roxy Theatre in New York City on March 11, 1927 (Swanson was pictured in the ruins of the Roxy on October 14, 1960, during the demolition of the theater in a famous photo taken by Time-Life photographer Eliot Elisofon).

She was nominated for the first-ever Academy Award for Best Actress for her next film performance as the title character in the 1928 film Sadie Thompson, costarring and directed by Raoul Walsh, based on Somerset Maugham's short story "Miss Thompson", later called "Rain" (the story was re-filmed under this title in 1932, starring Crawford and directed by Lewis Milestone). The Swanson original version is one of the greatest silent film classics. Swanson's unfinished film Queen Kelly (1929) was directed by Erich von Stroheim and produced by Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. , father of the future President John F. Kennedy . She was romantically linked to the elder Kennedy at the time and numerous books have been written about the affair. Swanson ultimately made talkies, even singing in The Trespasser (1929) directed by Edmund Goulding, Indiscreet (1931), and Music in the Air (1934). Even though she managed to make the transition into talkies, her career began to decline.

Never one to dwell on the past, she threw herself into painting and sculpting, writing a syndicated column, touring in summer stock, political activism, radio and television work, clothing and accessories design and marketing, and sporadically making appearances on the big screen. After Mae West and several former silent screen actresses (including Mary Pickford and Pola Negri ) all declined the role, in 1950 Swanson starred in Sunset Boulevard, portraying Norma Desmond, a faded silent movie star who falls in love with the younger screenwriter Joe Gillis, played by William Holden . Norma Desmond lives in the past assisted by her butler Max, played by Erich von Stroheim. Her dreams of a comeback are subverted as she becomes delusional. There are guest cameos from actors of the silent era in the film including Buster Keaton , H. B. Warner and Anna Q. Nilsson. Cecil B. DeMille plays himself in a pivotal scene. This has since been called the greatest film about Hollywood.

Many of the lines from the film have entered the language and are often used to describe Swanson herself: "The Greatest Star of them all", "I am big, it's the pictures that got small", "We didn't need dialogue, we had faces" and "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." She was nominated for her third Best Actress Oscar, but lost to Judy Holliday for Born Yesterday. She received several subsequent acting offers but turned most of them down, saying they tended to be pale imitations of Norma Desmond. Her last major Hollywood motion picture role was poorly received Three for Bedroom "C" in 1952. In 1956, Swanson made Nero's Mistress which also starred Vittorio de Sica and Brigitte Bardot . Her final screen appearance was as herself in the thriller Airport 1975. Swanson hosted one of the first television series in 1948, The Gloria Swanson Hour, in which she invited friends and guests. The show was filmed and broadcast live. Swanson also later hosted a television anthology series, Crown Theatre with Gloria Swanson, in which she occasionally acted.

Her last acting role was in the made-for-TV horror film Killer Bees in 1974, though she also appeared as herself in the movie Airport 1975, the same year. Through the 1970s and early 1980s, Swanson appeared on various talk and variety shows such as The Carol Burnett Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson to recollect on her films and to lampoon them as well. She was twice the "mystery guest" on What's My Line. Her most famous television appearance is a 1966 episode of The Beverly Hillbillies titled "The Gloria Swanson Story" in which she plays herself. In the episode, the Clampetts mistakenly believe Swanson is destitute and decide to finance a comeback movie for her - in a silent film. Swanson appeared in many plays through her later career starting in the 1940s. She toured with A Goose for the Gander, Reflected Glory and Let Us be Gay. After her success with Sunset Boulevard she starred on Broadway in a revival of Twentieth Century (1951) with Jose Ferrer and in Nina with David Niven.

Her last major stage role was in the 1971 Broadway production of Butterflies Are Free at the Booth Theatre. Swanson was concerned about health and beauty. In fact, Joseph Kennedy ensured Swanson had the services of Hollywood's famous beauty therapist Sylvia of Hollywood. 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. Later Swanson traveled the United States and helped to promote the book Sugar Blues written by her husband, William Dufty . Swanson's first husband was Wallace Beery , whom she married on her 17th birthday. She wrote, in her autobiography Swanson on Swanson, that Beery raped her on their wedding night. Beery also impregnated Swanson in 1917. Not wanting her to have the child, he tricked her into drinking a concoction that induced an abortion. They divorced two years later. She married Herbert K.

Somborn (1881-1934), then president of Equity Pictures Corporation and later the owner of the Brown Derby restaurant, in 1919. Their daughter, Gloria Swanson Somborn (October 7, 1920-December 28, 2000), was born in 1920. Their divorce, finalized in January 1925, was sensational. Somborn accused her of adultery with 13 men including Cecil B. DeMille, Rudolph Valentino, and Marshall Neilan. During this divorce in 1923 Swanson adopted a baby boy named Sonny Smith (1922-1975) and renamed him Joseph Patrick Swanson. Her third husband was French aristocrat Henry de la Falaise, Marquis de la Falaise whom she married in 1925 after the Somborn divorce was finalized. He became a film executive representing Pathé (USA) in France. She conceived a child with him, but had an abortion which, in her autobiography, she said she regretted. This marriage ended in divorce in 1931.

Swanson had an affair with married tycoon Joseph P. Kennedy for a number of years. He became her business partner and their affair was an open secret in Hollywood circles. In August 1931, Swanson married Michael Farmer (1902-1975). Swanson's divorce from La Falaise had not been finalized at the time, making the actress a bigamist. She was forced to remarry Farmer the following November, by which time she was four months pregnant with Michelle Bridget Farmer, who was born in 1932. The Farmers were divorced in 1934. In 1945, Swanson married William N. Davey . According to Swanson, after discovering Davey in a drunken stupor, she and daughter Michelle, believing they were being helpful, left a trail of Alcoholics Anonymous literature around their apartment. Davey quickly packed up and left. In the early 1950s she was pursued by a World War II veteran, Samuel Golden, who claimed that the two were destined to be married and would give her 2/3 of his children as well as divulge secrets about the Navy's computer systems if she would run away with him.

Recent declassified FBI documents disclose J. Edgar Hoover's obsession with seeing Golden tried for treason, but Golden disappeared somewhere in the Boston area. Swanson's final marriage was in 1976 and lasted until her death. Her sixth husband and widower, writer William Dufty (1916-2002), was the co-author of Billie Holiday's autobiography Lady Sings the Blues, the author of Sugar Blues, a 1975 best-selling health book still in print, and the author of the English version of Georges Ohsawa's You Are All Sanpaku. He was mostly known though as a good ghost-writer. In this he wrote Swanson's best-selling 1980 autobiography, "Swanson on Swanson" for her with her help. Swanson shared her husband's enthusiasm for macrobiotic diets and traveled widely together. Swanson's papers are held at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

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 Avenue, in New York City. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures at 6748 Hollywood Boulevard and another for television at 6301 Hollywood Boulevard. Before her death, she sold her archives including photographs, copies of films and private papers to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin. The second largest collection of Swanson material is held in the archives of Timothy Rooks. In the last years of her life Swanson professed a desire to see Beyond the Rocks, but the film was unavailable and considered lost. The film was later rediscovered and screened in 2005.

Source: Wikipedia MyHeritage Family Trees 0544275-10 in Delker Web Site, managed by Bill (Contact) Birth: Mar 27 1897 - Chicago, Cook, Illinois Death: Apr 4 1983 - New York Parents: Joseph Swanson, Adelaide Swanson (born Kianowski) Husband: Joseph Patrick Kennedy Husband: Wallace Fitzgerald Beery Husband: Herbert K . Somborn Husband: Henri De La Falaise Husband: Micheal Farmer Husband: George William Davey Husband: William F .

Dufty Children: Gloria Swanson Somborn, Joseph Swanson Somborn, <Private> Farmer ------------------------------- Legong: Dance of the Virgins | Silent Film Festival Legong: Dance of the Virgins Legong: Dance of the Virgins Bali, 1935 • Directed by Henri de la Falaise Cast Goesti Poetoe Aloes (Poutou) Njoman Nyong Nyong (Nyong, the gamelan musician) Goesti Bagus Mara (Bagus, Poutou’s father) Njoman Saplak (Saplak, Poutou’s half-sister) Production Bennett Pictures Corporation Story Henry de la Falaise and Gaston Glass Titles Hampton Del Ruth Photography William Howard Greene Editing Edward Schroeder Presented at SFSFF 2013 Print Source UCLA Film and Television Archive Live Musical Accompaniment by Gamelan Sekar Jaya and the Club Foot Orchestra Essay by Peter J. Bloom and Katherine J. Hagedorn Legong: Dance of the Virgins was shot on location in the village of Ubud in Bali, Indonesia, between May and August 1933, and featured an all-Balinese cast.

Directed by Henry de la Falaise, whose full name was Henri Marquis Le Bailly de la Falaise de la Coudraye, Legong was one of two films produced by Bennett Pictures, for which La Falaise—Gloria Swanson’s third husband—served as the principal along with his then-wife, screen star Constance Bennett, founder of Bennett Pictures Corporation. La Falaise traveled to Bali with Gaston Glass and cameraman William Howard “Duke” Greene, the highly regarded Technicolor specialist who later won an Academy Award for his work on Phantom of the Opera (1943). Legong and La Falaise’s now-lost Kliou, The Killer (1937), a jungle story about a deadly tiger, were among the last of the two-color Technicolor films produced in Hollywood. The “exotic” Balinese mise-en-scène contributed to the success of the film at the box office; it played for an exceptionally long ten-week run at the New York World Theater in 1935. The title refers to one of the most celebrated of all Balinese dances.

According to popular legend, Prince Karna (a Balinese prince who ruled during the 19th century) dreamed that he saw young nymphs in heaven performing a refined and graceful dance. When the prince awoke, he fulfilled his vision by teaching the dance and the music of his meditative dream to his village. The dancers are accompanied by traditional Indonesian bronze instrument ensembles called gamelans. In the film, a young girl, Poutou, has been selected as one of her village’s legong dancers. She is to remain “the chaste maiden and sacred dancer of the Temple” until she falls in love, after which she will dance for the final time in celebration of her impending marriage. Poutou is attracted to the young musician Nyong, a talented newcomer in the local gamelan, but Nyong’s interest is soon diverted to young Saplak, Poutou’s half-sister. The two meet each other clandestinely, in groves and on bridges, but several villagers see them together and disclose their secret. Ostensibly a tragic love story, Legong: Dance of the Virgins belongs to a genre of interwar narrative films shot in an exotic locale, which adapted indigenous folklore to American and European tastes.

The 1920s and 1930s saw the first wave of mass international tourist trade. Bali was becoming a popular destination for Western artists and intellectuals who believed that they had found an enchanted land faraway from war-torn western Europe. By the mid-1930s, Bali, a Hindu jewel in the Muslim crown of the Indonesian archipelago, was well established as a resort for the jet set and about 30,000 tourists visited the island each year. As historian Tessel Pollmann explained in 1990, Bali had well-paved roads, rolling rice fields, and was virtually unspoiled by the ravages of colonial agriculture. The allure of beautiful young girls and willing boys was an added attraction, making Bali the “Eastern Paradise” of the 1930s. The centerpiece of this vision was the artist colony in Ubud, whose most famous member, painter Walter Spies, served as the unofficial guide to the best-known visiting European and American artists, musicians, filmmakers, and anthropologists during the late 1920s and 1930s.

Spies was a Moscow-born German expatriate artist who served as an indispensable cultural broker, facilitating long-term visits to Bali by anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, composer Colin McPhee and his anthropologist wife Jane Belo, and the dance ethnographer Beryl de Zoete, among others. Spies was perhaps best known for his unique style of painting, which combined surrealist techniques with Balinese scenes and myths. Spies settled in Bali in 1927, where he lived and painted in order to “free himself of the indoctrination and prejudices about taste and beauty” until his untimely death in 1942. Although no records have been found indicating whether Spies had anything to do with Legong, it is likely that La Falaise and his crew were indebted to Spies and other Western expatriates for access to Ubud villages and their ceremonies. While Western tourists and artists flocked to Bali during the 1920s and 1930s to enjoy “the good life,” the Balinese peasantry on the island lived in near abject poverty, largely due to the virtual collapse of the export economy and an exploitative taxation system established by the colonial Dutch administration.

American travelogue films about Bali from the 1930s implied the fantasy of female promiscuity, untainted by disease and urban squalor, complemented by rich cultural performance traditions in an abundant landscape. The disrobed native woman was often noted in trade reviews of the films, such as Isle of Paradise (directed Charles Trego, 1932) and Goona-Goona (“Love Powder,” produced by André Roosevelt and Armand Denis, 1932), both of which were precursors to Legong: Dance of the Virgins. Goona-Goona eventually lent its name to the subgenre of exotic films set in Bali. A documentary film that Robert Flaherty had planned to make with F.W. Murnau in Bali during the late 1920s—Bali: The Ultima Thule of Our Desires—was abandoned in favor of Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1929).

(Ultima thule is Latin for the highest degree attainable and best describes American and European perceptions of Bali as paradise.) Legong is punctuated by scenes of everyday Balinese life such as the marketplace, a cockfight, and extended sequences devoted to the Djanger and Legong dances. Cockfighting is the favorite sport of Poutou’s father, Bagus, and the short sequence depicting his fascination with the sport emphasizes the role of the wager and chance in the film. Perhaps the most impressive of the traditional performances in the film is the Barong temple dance, described as a myth about a prince who is turned into a lion by the evil witch Rangda. The emotional intensity of this ritualized dance reaches its pinnacle when Barong, a mythical beast who protects the community, performed by two dancers, confronts and tries to kill Rangda, the personification of death and destruction, performed by a man wearing a frightening mask and a costume with pendulous breasts. During the mock battle, the followers of Barong receive protective powers from him as they attack Rangda. They demonstrate how strong these powers are when, in trance, they turn their ritual swords upon themselves without injury.

The film’s intertitles make exaggerated claims here about “sham suicides,” asserting that, “through courage born of madness—they set out to slay Rangda, the witch. But in accord with the grotesque legend they must fail. And having failed, must sham suicide.” The Barong-Rangda ritual, a centuries-old tradition that serves to reenact the balancing forces of nature, is considered a stabilizing event by the Balinese rather than an uncontrolled display of primitive passions. Legong: Dance of the Virgins was reconstructed in 1992 by the UCLA Film and Television Archives using censored prints from the United States, Britain, and Canada. At the time of the film’s distribution by Paramount Pictures Corporation, scenes of nudity were trimmed for domestic release in the U.S. and shots of cockfights excised from the British prints. By duplicating and splicing the remaining negatives, the film was restored to its complete length. Constance Bennett Biography Constance Bennett Biography Constance Campbell Bennett (October 22, 1904 - July 24, 1965) was a US actress.

Constance BennettBorn in New York City, Bennett was the daughter of actor Richard Bennett and actress Adrienne Morrison, and the elder sister of actresses Barbara and Joan Bennett. Bennett made her first film appearance as a child and appeared in a few bit parts before marrying and divorcing while still in her teens. She resumed her film career with the advent of talking pictures, and with her delicate blonde features and glamorous fashion style, quickly became a popular film star. She also captured numerous headlines in 1932, when she married one of Gloria Swanson's former husbands, Henri le Bailly, the Marquis de La Coudraye de La Falaise (1898-1972), a French nobleman. They were divorced in 1940. A 1931 contract with Warner Brothers Studios earned her $300 000 for two movies and made her one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood. She was a close friend of Gloria Morgan-Vanderbilt, and despite the potential harm to her career, stood by Vanderbilt all through her notorious 1934 child custody trial.

Bennett's film career continued to grow during the 1930s, and in 1937 she scored her biggest success, as a ghost in the comedy Topper with Cary Grant. She married her third husband, the actor Gilbert Roland in 1941 and had three children with him, before they divorced in 1946. By this time she was working less frequently in film but was in demand in both radio and theatre. Her shrewd investments had made her a very wealthy woman, and she founded a cosmetics and clothing company that added to her wealth, but Bennett enjoyed being a celebrity and so continued to work. In 1946 she married US Air Force Colonel John Theron Coulter, and concentrated her efforts on providing relief entertainment to US troops still stationed in Europe, winning military honors for her services. Their marriage continued until her death. She made no films from the early 1950s until 1965 when she made a comeback in the film Madame X (released posthumously in 1966). Shortly after filming was completed, Bennett collapsed and died from a cerebral hemorrhage.

In recognition of her military contributions, and as the wife of Coulter, who had by then achieved the rank of Brigadier General, she was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Coulter died in 1995 and was buried with her. Constance Bennett has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Motion Pictures, at 6250 Hollywood Boulevard, a short distance from the star of her sister, Joan. Silence is Platinum: October 2010 Silence is Platinum Dedicated to all the lovely ladies and dashing gents of the silent film era. Saturday, October 30, 2010 Miss Sue Carol Since it is Sue's birthday today, I figured why not just do hers now. Unfortunately, I haven't seen her films because I can't find any that are available. What I do know is that she was absolutely adorable. I have a few pictures of her and she looks like the quintessential cutesy flapper girl of the 1920s. She also had quite a cutie for a husband! I have visited her grave a couple of times and I love how her name is written in her handwriting on it.

She must have been an amazing person inside and out. Sue Carol was born Evelyn Lederer on October 30, 1906 in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents, Samuel and Caroline were both Jewish immigrants. According to the 1910 Census, Samuel Lederer worked as a liquor dealer. She began appearing in films in 1927 and was chosen as a WAMPAS Baby Star in 1928 alongside Lina Basquette and Lupe Velez. She appeared in films for the MGM studios. Her family was quite well off and as a result, she got top treatment in Hollywood. It wasn't all nepotism though. Directors enjoyed working with Sue because she took direction well, worked hard, and was a good actress. The titles of her films sound like some fun Roaring Twenties films involving flappers and drinking and fun times all around. Win That Girl (1928), Girls Gone Wild (1929), The Exalted Flapper (1929), The Big Party (1930), Dancing Sweeties (1930), She's My Weakness (1930), and Secret Sinners (1930).

In 1937, she retired from acting and opened her own talent agency...the Sue Carol Talent Agency. Sue Carol passed away on February 4, 1982 from a heart attack in Los Angeles, California. She was interred next to her third husband Alan Ladd at Forest Lawn in Glendale, California. She is in the Freedom Mausoleum in a prime alcove (in my opinion). She is surrounded by Jeanette MacDonald, Nat King Cole, George Burns, and Clara Bow. Sue was married three times. First to Allen Keefer, a buyer for a Chicago stock yard. They were married until 1929. The exact year of marriage is unknown, but she was pretty young when they married. Later that year, Sue married actor Nick Stuart and the couple had a daughter named Carol Lee. The couple was soon divorced around 1932. Her third and most famous husband was actor Alan Ladd in 1942. They remained married until Alan died from an overdose of alcohol and drugs in 1964. They had a son David and a daughter Alana. Sue actually helped jump start Alan's career.

In 1933, Sue was involved in a scandal involving the "adoption" of a baby boy in Brooklyn. The boy had disappeared and the family was claiming that the baby was kidnapped by a woman who was representing Sue Carol. Sue was of course cleared of any involvement. If anyone has or knows how to get a hold of any of Sue Carol's movies, I would greatly appreciate it. I would love to see her on screen. Posted by Mr. Lon Chaney 17 followers! I dig it! Thanks you guys, it means a lot to me :) Friday night I went to the Redford Theatre (which is so beautiful, my favorite place to see films) to see The Phantom of the Opera with Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin. I had seen pictures of Lon in makeup, but when his mask is first pulled off and you see his face, I actually let out a "Oh wow!" Pictures really don't do the job justice. Seeing him interact with other characters and the expressions he made were incredible. I remember thinking that he really was the master and someone truly to admire. Mary Philbin on the other hand...beautiful, angelic face.

But her acting was laughably over the top at some points in the film. Buster Keaton, in my opinion, is the master of slapstick comedy. He did his own stunts and wrote his own films and directed them...etc. Lon did his own incredible, intricate makeup and really became engrossed in the characters he played. He sadly was struck down by illness when he was only 47 years old. It would have been great to see what else he could have accomplished. Lon Chaney was born Leonidas Frank Chaney on April 1, 1883 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His parents Frank and Emma were both deaf and mute so Lon learned early how to communicate with them through hand gestures and facial expressions. Lon joined older brother John, and they were joined later by brother George and sister Caroline. In 1902, he began to appear on stage and travel with various theatre and vaudeville shows. He ended up in California in 1910. He signed with Universal Studios in 1912 and stayed with them until 1917, playing bit roles. He won many of the roles by demonstrating his excellent makeup techniques.

He began to gain some notoriety and so he asked for a raise. This was denied. The studio head actually told him that he "wouldn't be worth more than a hundred dollars a week." Needless to say, Lon left the studio. In 1918, Lon really made his mark on the film industry when he appeared in the film Riddle Gawne. Within a year, he became THE character actor that all others looked up to (They still should! Actors today have nothing on the greats of old Hollywood). His two most famous films, The Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame are still notable today for Lon's amazing makeup and characters. He preferred to view his roles as "extraordinary characterizations" rather than just makeup on an actor. Lon's last film was a talkie, a remake of his 1925 film, The Unholy Three. He actually signed a sworn statement saying that the five main voices heard in the film were all his. So, not only was he an excellent actor in pantomime, but he also had a great talent for voices.

While filming his next movie in 1929, he took ill with pneumonia and eventually was diagnosed with lung cancer. It was said that the cause had been him having inhaled crushed gypsum (being used for fake snow on a film). This may not of helped his condition, but it wasn't the main cause. It eventually surfaced later on that Lon had been a heavy smoker. He underwent aggressive treatments for weeks but to no avail. Lon Chaney passed away on August 26, 1930 in Los Angeles, California. He was interred next to his father in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn in Glendale, California. For reasons unknown, his grave is unmarked. Lon was married twice. First to fellow actress and singer Cleva Creighton in 1905. He was 23, she was only 16. They had one son in 1906 named Creighton. The marriage began to get rocky after the two relocated to California and in 1913, Cleva attempted suicide by ingesting mercury bichloride (the same thing that killed Olive Thomas). Not only did this attempt fail but it also ruined her singing voice for good.

The scandal surrounding the attempted suicide led the couple to divorce in 1915. Lon's second marriage was to a chorus girl named Hazel Hastings in 1915. There isn't much known about Hazel, but what is known is that hers and Lon's marriage was a good one. The couple regained custody of Creighton who had spent most of his childhood bouncing back and forth from house to house and eventually ended up in boarding school. Creighton Chaney is better known today as Lon Chaney Jr. He appeared in a number of horror films, including The Wolf Man in 1941. His father tried to dissuade his son from entering show business and encouraged him to go to college instead. Also interesting to note that Jr. was told growing up that his mother had died, and wasn't made aware of the fact that she was still living until after his father died. He himself passed away in 1973 of heart failure. In 1957, James Cagney starred in the bio-film Man of a Thousand Faces. As usual, the plot of the film is highly fictionalized but it helped revive the interest in Lon that had waned over the years.

Had he not died, he would have starred in Dracula rather than Bela Lugosi. That would have been pretty cool to see........however, Bela IS Dracula. He was a very private man, and was rarely seen out on the town. But those who worked with him, including Joan Crawford and Loretta Young, he was a great man and very helpful to other actors. Joan Crawford and Lon While filming Hunchback at Notre Dame, he wore heavy makeup over one eye and had to go for weeks only using one eye. Because of this, he became very short sighted and had to wear glasses for the rest of his life. Lon actually wrote the entry on makeup for an edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Supposed to be distantly related to Dick Cheney. That sucks. Lon and Mary Philbin "The parts I play point out a moral. They show individuals who might have been different , if they had been given a different chance." ~ Lon Chaney Posted by Miss Gloria Swanson I was watching the documentary Swanson and Valentino the other day, and first off, just have to recommend it. Not only does it focus on these two superstars but the clips that it shows are amazing.

For instance, the clips they showed from Valentino's funeral were incredible. You can see Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford walk into the church for the ceremony as well as the honorary pallbearers walking in front of the coffin (which included Fairbanks and Joseph Schenck). The one big surprise was the interview that the documentarians did with Gloria Swanson. I don't know about you, but when I see her, I think of her as being this larger than life diva character like Nazimova or Negri. But, when Gloria talked, she had the sweetest, kindest voice and I loved listening to her talk about her memories of her films. When you hear her talk in Sunset Blvd she speaks like that diva character, but in real life, she was a sweet lady and definitely one of the silent screen greats. Gloria Swanson was born Gloria May Josephine Swanson on March 27, 1899 in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents were Joseph and Adelaide Swanson. Joseph Swanson was a soldier in the US Army, so as a result, the family ended up moving around a lot during Gloria's childhood.

Unlike most of her fellow actors, Gloria did not intend on going into show business. What got that idea into her head was a chance meeting at a film studio in Chicago. She merely went by to check the Essanay studios with her mother and aunt and was asked to come back and appear in a bit part. She made her film debut in 1914 in The Song of Soul, but only as an extra. Two years later, in 1916, she moved to California to appear in films for Mack Sennett. Even though her film beginnings were in slapstick, it didn't mean that Gloria liked it. In fact, she hated it and tried her hardest to be uncooperative. In the film Male and Female Gloria filmed a scene where she laid down next to a lion and it put its paw on her back. This was filmed without any stunt doubles to her urging and against the wishes of all who worked on the film. Within about two years time, her star was rising higher and higher. She appeared with the screen's leading lover at the time (and her good friend) Rudolph Valentino in 1922's Beyond the Rocks.

(This film had been declared lost for awhile, and was rediscovered in 2004. How amazing is that? It really gives you hope for the other films considered lost. The film is really good too, I definitely recommend it). In 1927, she was asked to join the newly established film company United Artists, which had been formed by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith. She chose not to accept and stayed with Paramount. She had free reign there and wanted to keep it that way. Gloria did make a smooth transition into talkies, but her career stalled. She instead chose to move to New York and appear on stage, start a clothing line, and have her own television show. In 1950, Gloria had what a lot of old movie stars wish they could have...a second chance at stardom.

Surprisingly, a lot of of former silent film stars (like Mae Murray, Pola Negri, Mary Pickford, Norma Shearer, and Mae West) declined the role of Norma Desmond because they didn't want to play a "has been." Or in the case of Greta Garbo, they just weren't interested at all. Gloria had to submit to a screen test (which she hated) but eventually, she got the part. She was nominated a second time for an Oscar, but lost to Judy Holliday. (Personally, I think they should have given it to Gloria. Yes, Judy did a fantastic job in Born Yesterday and is adorable, but she plays the same characters in a majority of her films. Gloria came back from a film hiatus and nailed it!) She made a few more films after Sunset Boulevard and still remained involved in the film industry. She wrote articles for magazines and made public appearances. She also penned her autobiography. Gloria Swanson passed away due to a heart ailment on April 4, 1983. She was cremated and interred at the Episcopal Church of Heavenly Rest in New York City.

And even though her death made headlines that called her "the greatest star of them all," her funeral was attended by family members only. Oh, where to begin when it comes to Gloria's love life! She was married 6 times! Her first marriage was to actor Wallace Beery. They met while working together for Mack Sennett and eventually married in 1916. The marriage was not a good one, especially considering the fact that Beery got drunk on their wedding night and raped his new bride. She thought things would get better when she found out she was pregnant, but it was not to be. She woke up one morning with a bad stomach, so Beery went to the pharmacy to get her something to ease the pain. Gloria said she remembers waking up later and being told that she had lost her baby. Apparently, whatever Beery retrieved from the pharmacy was some type of poison. They divorced in 1919. Her second marriage was to Herbert Somborn, president of Equity Pictures. They married shortly after her divorce from Beery in 1919. Apparently it too was not a great marriage from the beginning.

Gloria saw Somborn as more of a father figure and companion instead of a husband. They did have a daughter named Gloria (I hate when people do that) in 1920 and later adopted a son Joseph in 1923, during divorce precedings with Somborn. The third husband was Marquis Le Bailly de la Falaise de la Coudraye (seriously) and they married in 1925. Gloria did conceive his child at one point, but had it aborted, a decision she later regretted. The marriage didn't have any problems at first, until the affairs on both sides started. She had been having an affair with Joseph Kennedy, patriarch of the Kennedy clan, and Coudraye had been seeing actress Constance Bennett, who he would later marry. Gloria and the Marquis divorced in 1931. On to husband number four! After her divorce from the Marquis was finalized in 1931, she married Michael Farmer. They had a daughter Michelle in 1932, but divorced two years later in 1934. Husband number five was William Davey who she married in 1945.

Apparently Gloria tried to help him with his increasing drinking problem, he was not having any of it, and just packed up and left. The marriage lasted 45 days. Her sixth and final marriage was to writer William Dufty in 1976. They remained married until her death. One of her best friends was actress Lois Wilson. She also was once close friends with actress Blanche Sweet, but a guy came between them and a fight erupted, and Gloria never forgave her. Gloria also had a beautiful singing voice and at one point when she was younger, she considered being an opera singer. "I have decided that when I am a star, I will be every inch and every moment a star." ~ Gloria Swanson Posted by

Question: Which 1920s film star's third husband was Henri Le Bailly de la Falaise, Marquis de la Coudraye?
Answer: Gloria Swanson