All That Glitters: Joe Kennedy and Gloria Swanson
The mogul, the missus, the movie star, and the marquis
Long before Jack Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe were dancing in the sheets, there was Joe Kennedy Sr. and silent screen superstar Gloria Swanson. The movie star and the mogul quickly cultivated a relationship, both professional and personal, that would change the course of their lives and careers, and not necessarily for the better.
Gloria Swanson and Joe Kennedy’s fateful first meeting took place on November 11, 1927. Romance was not a motivating factor, at least not for Gloria. Swanson wanted to pick Kennedy’s brains regarding her complicated finances, so Joe agreed to meet Gloria for lunch.
At the time, Swanson was one of the biggest names in Hollywood and among the first megastars of the motion picture industry. She oozed sex, sophistication, and glamour, and was one of the highest-paid stars of the silent era.
Swanson was also a member of United Artists, the production company formed by Tinseltown luminaries including Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and D.W. Griffith. Gloria quickly discovered that complete financial, artistic, and technical control over one’s films sounds great in theory until you’re wearing a dozen different ill-fitting hats.
