"I am big, it's the pictures that got small." One of the classic lines in movies was spoken in Billy Wilder’s classic " Sunset Boulevard " (1950) by the star who was really big during the Silent Film era and early talkie days, and known as ' Queen of the Movies’, Gloria Swanson. Her performance in that immortal movie in which her reel-role had many parallels to her real life earned her the third Oscar nomination. The movie was named 12th in the ‘Top 100 Movies of All Time’ by the American Film Institute. She plays the an ageing actress who refuses to call it a day and seeking her lost youth takes a young lover, an aspiring screenwriter (William Holden). In the most famous scene she descends the spiral staircase duly made- up, and surrounded by photo journalists and the lot and says that she is ready for her close-up to be taken by the director, the great Cecil B. De Mille who plays himself in the movie!

Her other two Oscar nominations were for " Sadie Thompson" (1928, based on the famous Somerset Maugham short story, ‘The Rain’)… "The Trespasser" (1929). However she was moulded into a top star by CBD. The movie maestro however remarked, " The public, not I, made Gloria Swanson a star."

Born Gloria Josephine Mae Swenson in Chicago on March 27, 1897 she took her bow in 1913 and in 1916, she married the later day star Wallace Beery, then unknown, and the first of her six husbands.

However Gloria created history at another higher level with her celebrated lover who strongly wished to be her seventh husband. A figure of American History Joseph P. Kennedy, the founding father of the legendary Kennedy Clan and its wealth. An adventurous wheeler-dealer he made millions as liquor baron, Wall Street operator and more, and entered the motion picture world not only for producing pictures and putting up studios but also for its more excitingly delightful perks. Not surprisingly Gloria became his willing mistress and made movies financed by him. He was painting ‘Gay Paree’ red with his mistress while his devoted Catholic wife Rose was delivering his child in America. That was not all. When his father passed away he did not bother to attend his funeral, being again in France with Gloria. Many articles and books have been written about their rollicking randy affair and Rose Kennedy in her memoirs denied many claims made by Gloria. According to some, JPK even tried to bribe the Catholic Church to find out ways and means to marry Gloria but that did not work out in spite of his billions.

Her popular and hit movies include, "Don't Change Your Husband" (1919, Cecil B. De Mille)… "Bluebeard's Eighth Wife" (1923)… "Why Change Your Wife? (1920)… "Sunset Boulevard" (1950)…"Airport" (1975, she played herself).

During mid-1920s, Gloria was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood and is believed that she earned and splashed over $8 million during that decade. Even in her later years she was quite active appearing in movie compilations often playing herself. She passed away in 1983 when she was 86. The charisma of Gloria Swanson remains indelibly etched  to this day,  in the hearts, minds and souls of nostalgia buffs around the world...