Why Gloria Swanson Should Be Your Lifestyle Muse
Long Before Frank Sinatra, this Hollywood legend did it her way
“I was in a business of make believe to entertain people but I’ll be damned if I want to eat make believe food!” — Gloria Swanson
Back in 1950, Gloria Swanson achieved the comeback of all comebacks when the former silent film queen gave a career defining performance in the classic Sunset Boulevard. Most people today associate her with that film and her role as the reclusive (and delusional) former star, Norma Desmond. What’s forgotten is that Ms. Swanson was a healthy-eating, yoga-practicing feminist way ahead of her time.
Unlike the fictional Norma Desmond, who needed Hollywood and the fans’ adoration as we need oxygen, Gloria was always her own woman — even during a time when women were seen and not heard. The petite star (she was just under five feet tall) blazed out trails for women that we still follow today. She was running a production company before the age of thirty when the goals of most women were to marry and reproduce. She was doing it in a male-dominated entertainment business. Gloria turned female expectations on its ears…