This is the only image most people see of Gloria Swanson in SUNSET BOULEVARD, but she was actually quite attractive in it from what I remember. A dark and fascinating movie that most skip because of that stupid still.
I used to get Gloria Swanson mixed up with Greta Garbo, the few times I would think of those early film days. Gloria was American, Greta was a Swede.
Actually, she’s pretty attractive in the movie if you watch the entire thing. She was only 52 years old and she looks it in the film. I think it was Carol Burnett who implanted the idea that Swanson looked worse than she did.
Gloria Swanson was wonderfully creepy in Sunset Boulevard, and yes, she was beautiful. They call her a washed up has been in the film...and she’s only in her early fifties! Old at the time.