Gloria Swanson, Barbara Walters, 1981 Interview

how many times have you seen the movie Sunset Boulevard scheduled on television do you think the story of Norma Desmond the main character is more or less the life story of the star of the movie Gloria Swanson well now at last Gloria Swanson has written her memoirs she has opened her life to public View and here tonight she talks about it for the first time with Barbara Walters Hugh glorious Swanson has left nothing out in this account of her personal and professional life Above All She discusses the relationship that has in the past only been whispered about her affair with Joseph P Kennedy father of Senator Kennedy and the late president that romance broke up her third marriage and may have hurt a lot of other people but it's her determination now to bring this story to the public and she has her reasons for it she is a phenomenon glorious Swanson throughout the 20s she epitomized the great silent movie Queen glamour mystery and Adventure today at age 81 she is is an amazement she cultivates her own garden in the middle of New York City where she's lived for 40 years she lives alone but has an off again on again relationship with her sixth husband William dufty a health food addict long before it was popular she cooks her own food and lectures anyone who listen on what to eat her own frame is Tiny 95 lb 5 0 in high energetic and active she lives very much in the present was recently named chairman of the New York State senior citizen for Ronald Reagan Gloria Swanson was born in Chicago in 1899 an only child as it happened one of the first motion picture studios sna was located in Chicago and Gloria began to act bit Parts there when she was 14 one of her first roles was playing a typist in the movie with Charlie Chaplain Gloria went to Hollywood when she was only 16 with a letter of introduction to ma senet the king of comedy one of her first major roles was Teddy at the throttle she would make over 30 movies in Rapid succession in the next 10 years she didn't really like slapstick rolls like this one and manhandled but they brought her her first national recognition sa Thompson a Samuel Goldwin picture was considered almost too risque to release at the time but Gloria won an Oscar nomination for her role in it by the time she was 25 she was a world famous star in the meantime her personal life was even more hectic than the early days of the studios Gloria Swanson eloped with Wallace be when she was just 17 she separated from him two months later her second husband was Herbert samborn they had a daughter when she was 20 and two years later in 1922 glorya adopted a son whom she named Joseph he died at the age of 46 in 1924 Gloria took a third husband a French Marquee HRI de after the wedding she was welcomed back to America as the biggest star in the world but in 1927 while still married she met a Boston businessman named Joseph Kennedy who wanted to become a movie Mogul and produce wanton pictures an Irish Catholic married then with eight children Joe Kennedy took over Gloria Swanson's life managing her financial affairs and hiring her French husband to keep him in Europe as it turned out Queen Kelly was the only movie produced for her and it was a disaster Swanson and Kennedy parted in the late 20s she blames him now for ruining her financially then her husband also divorced her but she was to marry three more times the last 40 years have brought a quieter life and time to spend with her children five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren there was also her fabulous comeback in the film Sunset Boulevard she made Sunset Boulevard in 1950 the story of a silent screen star desperately clinging to her past her name in the film Norma [Music] Desmond you see this is my life it always will be nothing else just us the camera and those wonderful people out there in the dark all right Mr deil I'm ready for my [Music] closeup her portrait was so convincing that many people today think Gloria Swanson is that character many people thought many people still think it was my that it was you I mean they expect a lady to sit here today my dear and talk with them yes do you find that people expect you to be that lady bite them that you might bite them yeah you know the people are terrified of me because of that role a lot of people look at me as if I'm going to go you know off the beam any moment and suddenly talk how did she talk oh Max Max you know that kind of a voice and that isn't me at all not there's no I don't know anyone like that in California but you come here to do an interview or I come here to do an interview and you are holding the red carnation which is a a somewhat theatrical is it y well I did this first to give up cigarettes you just had something to hold something to hold all right I can sit like I like it better with the flaw well so it's colorful and every now and again I you know when I look at a thing like this how anyone can ever be an atheist I don't know a people surprised that you are that your mind is so alert I mean did they expect you to be a whole other kind of person sort of senile and and lost and vacant and yes because when I was out on the coast doing a a um TV be careful of the caes not that of the C listen without looking at them I'm stepping over them I've been doing it for years and they and well some people who know me that hair would say look don't worry about you isn't she tired don't you want to sit down that isn't me and then they're told that I have a tremendous amount of energy and I'm just getting into around 11: at night maybe I get my second win were you worried having been a very big silent St that when talkis came in that you wouldn't make it no because I didn't understand the foolishness of that first of all we weren't de mutes when we were making silent pictures you couldn't have a love scene where you're supposed to say I adore you and be saying would you like to have a cup of tea it wouldn't come out the same see but we feel though that it killed off many careers well in a way I suppose it did because a lack of confidence can do that to a person you see I didn't want to be a movie star I want to be an aror S did you ever see music in the air I sang like a bird do you still sing didn't you hear me in the bathroom no could you do it I could find one one what I well my wonderful one whenever I'm Dreaming love love light ging I see my wonderful one in the shadow Twilight in Sil Moonlight there's none like you I adore you my life I live for you my wonderful Wonder one lovely you're marvelous that's an 81y old man listen I don't know I don't know many people who sing like this Acappella you're Wonder well anyway I that was my first ambition to be grown up have a lot of children and be an offering so you grew up you became a movie actress and you didn't have a lot of children no well outside of that it was all fun oh yes it was all it was exciting and I've been blessed and I have done made many mistakes some of which I'm very sorry about especially if I've hurt anybody cuz GL I can't stand I want to talk to you about an aspect of your life that uh has always been written about somewhat secretly which you write about very openly and we talked about the fact that you were married six times and to men who were very weak mostly but one man who was very strong was a man you didn't marry and that was Joe Kennedy MH you write for the first time openly that he was your lover tell me about him well he was like a banker he was a man who had he loved to laugh had great humor he was not very sophisticated in so far as knowing the right thing to do um there was a certain navity I suppose about him like giving me a corsage of orchids which I want to scream about because that was the mental picture of a star in California not one orid you know they had to go from here down and trail on the floor you know they call it glamour I hate the word glamour Joe Kennedy came into your life to finance your movie yes and fell in love with you were you in love with him I can't answer that because I don't know CU other in love with and a l you were married when you met Joe Kennedy and you were in love with your husband yes and you had an affair with Joe Kennedy for how long well when he came into my life he he went out of it and came back and went on he was always trying to you know no matter what happened there he was and um he was obsessed with you and you were the glamous actor and I was something he' never seen before it was just like the boys from college when the moment they got into New York they were going out with all the actresses and here was Joe Kennedy right yes and had by the time he met you eight children eight children didn't you feel guilty this married man children I went through absolute hell of course I was guilty why then did you keep on keep on tried to you didn't know the man you said he was a strong man this man uh accomplished anything I think he wanted to and he wanted you including putting his son in the white house did you know that that was one of his dreams no I thought maybe he might have wanted to be CRA you went on a trip that seems so bizarre even by today's standards you and Joe Kennedy went to Europe with Mrs Joe Kennedy Rose Kennedy and her sister what was that like the mistress the husband the wife and I friend of with me it was absolutely Madness and crazy and I said this can't be it shouldn't be I'll come on another boat please you can't do that please when you say he was obsessed he obsessed with me he was and you write in the book that Rose Kennedy could not have been more motherly darling woman sweet and you said that even when you saw him paying great attention to you as he did she never got upset never apparently I just couldn't understand it you said she's either what was you said she's either a better actress than I am or she's I have I wrot a BL yeah what do you think it was I don't know but do you think she ever knew about you I don't know does it bother you today to know that Mrs Kennedy is still alive that Senator there are sisters and that you and I for the first time writing about Joe Kennedy and telling the truth about because if I hadn't they would have had my my adopted boy his son don't you realize why I wrote my book I never wanted to write my book and if I did and I did start it I said I want this to be printed after I'm dead because I don't want to face this Dre the reason I wrote it is because I've have seen the books that had been written about celebrities where the author hasn't been within 100 miles of the person they're writing about and because the people in the Pol when the political thing was coming up they were always trying to attach my this poor boy I didn't realize this even when I read the book you had an adopted son named Joseph and my father's name was Joseph but people have said that this is the illegitimate son of Joe Kennedy yes but I didn't the boy was born in 1922 November we I never did know whether it was the 31st the 30th or the 31st and you met Joe Kennedy in 1927 yes and this is why you wrote the book yes did anyone in the Kennedy family try to have you not write about him in this book never I never had one call as a matter of fact I had a letter from Ted sometime twice I had two letters never answered them he wanted me to write something about his father to put in the album or something why didn't you answer because what was I going to write Hugh glorious Swanson may not have heard from anybody in the Kennedy family about her book but we did I received this letter from Unice Kennedy shrier enclosing a statement she sent to various newspapers in the interest of fairness I'll quote from part of it I can tell you that my mother is totally honest in her conviction that her 45y year marriage to my father was the happiest part of her life my father shared with her the raising of the children the creation of a stable and loving home between the age of 80 and 90 my mother also wrote her autobiography it inspired people everywhere Gloria Swanson's autobiography written at 80 may make her a popular figure but what lasting value has her life left us that's the letter H from Unice Kennedy rver thank you Barbara we will be right back

Channel: Alan Eichler

Views: 537,746

Keywords: Gloria Swanson (Film Actor), Barbara Walters (Celebrity), Silent Film (Film Genre), Interview, Television Program (Media Genre), Film (Media Genre), Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (Politician), Eunice Kennedy Shriver (Organization Founder), Sunset Boulevard (Award-Winning Work)

Id: bMTKC5r2eUM

Length: 14min 57sec (897 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 29 2015