A life less ordinary

I know what you’re going to say, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. But alas, it was the cover that first attracted me to Swanson on Swanson, the autobiography of Hollywood legend Gloria Swanson. Found in my favourite second hand book shop, I paid the grand sum of £1 for the dusty paperback, yet it has become one of my favourite books.

Despite having never heard of Miss Swanson prior to reading the book, I loved it, and have read it a number of times since. Gloria Swanson has a unique perspective on Hollywood having worked in the movie business from 1915 through to 1950, in both silent movies and the talkies’, alongside some of the biggest names in movie history, such as Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino and Cecil B. DeMille. But what I really loved about this book was Swanson’s honesty. This is no fluffy Hollywood fairy tale. Swanson’s career weathered multiple marriages, affairs, scandals and financial problems, but Swanson doesn’t hold back on a single detail. Profiling both her brightest and darkest periods, this book tells the story of an amazing woman. Strong, talented, beautiful and incredibly smart, Swanson is the stuff from which legends are made, and in my opinion she doesn’t get half the recognition she deserves.