Gloria Swanson

She appeared in at least one episode as herself. on the night she passed away, all the marquee lights on Broadway were dimmed in honor and tribute of one of its greatest and brightest stars. Gloria Swanson was the favorite actor of the character Granny, from The Beverly Hillbillies. At 8:00 P.M. and one for television at 6301 Hollywood Blvd. Gwen Verdon died quietly in her sleep at the home of her daughter, Nicole Fosse, in Pomfret, Vermont, at age seventy-five. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame - one for motion pictures at 6748 Hollywood Blvd. Verdon also played Alora in the movie Walking Across Egypt (1999) and appeared in the movie Bruno, which was released in 2000.

Gloria Swanson died on Easter Monday 1983, was cremated, and her ashes buried at the Church of Heavenly Rest in New York City. In 1999, Verdon served as artistic advisor and consultant on the stage biography of her late husband's life in theatre, the current stage musical Fosse, and her daughter, Nicole, was credited with "special thanks." The show received the Tony for best musical. Her last acting role was in the television horror film Killer Bees in 1974, though she also appeared as herself in the movie Airport 1975 which was also released in 1974. Verdon appeared as the mother of Alice in the movie Alice (1990) and as Ruth in Marvin's Room (1996). Her last Hollywood movie was Three for Bedroom C in 1952, although she did appear in the Italian movie Mio figlio Nerone. She continued to instruct dance and musical theatre and to act, including receiving three Emmy Award nominations for appearances on Magnum PI (1988), Dream On (1993) and Homicide (1993). Swanson made it into the talkies, even singing in Music in the Air, and she hosted a television anthology series, Crown Theatre with Gloria Swanson, in which she occasionally acted. Verdon was accompanying Fosse to the 1987 revival of Sweet Charity in Washington and held him in her arms when he suffered a fatal heart attack on the walk outside the theatre.

When Swanson starred in the 1950 Sunset Blvd., it is scenes of Queen Kelly that her character, Norma Desmond, is watching (with von Stroheim playing her butler). She played character parts in such movies as The Cotton Club (1984), Cocoon (1985) and Cocoon: The Return (1988). She was romantically linked to the elder Kennedy at the time. After playing Roxie Hart in Chicago, Verdon concentrated on straight acting. Kennedy. She developed a close working relationship with Fosse's domestic companion, actress Ann Reinking, and even instructed for Reinking's musical theatre classes. Kennedy, Sr., the father of President John F. They remained close friends and were collaborators and co-workers on projects like Chicago (1975), her last major Broadway role in which she played murderess Roxie Hart, and the musical Dancin' (1978), as well as his autobiographical movie, All That Jazz (1979).

Swanson's 1929 film Queen Kelly, was directed by Erich von Stroheim and produced by Joseph P. In 1971, Verdon filed a legal separation from Fosse because of his open extramarital affairs, but they never divorced. She starred in the 1922 silent film Beyond the Rocks with Rudolph Valentino. The show became a Broadway cult classic and was followed by a movie version starring a younger redheaded dancer, Shirley MacLaine, which Verdon helped choreograph. DeMille, and he turned her into a romantic lead. In 1966, she returned to the stage in the role of Charity in Sweet Charity, which like many of her earlier Broadway triumphs was choreographed by her longtime husband, Bob Fosse. She played many Mack Sennett slapstick comedies, but in 1919 she signed with Cecil B. After the birth of her daughter, Verdon took time off.

Her film debut was in 1915, as an extra in The Fable of Elvira and Farina and the Meal Ticket, but she was a star by the next year, in A Dash of Courage. She and Henaghan had one son, Jim Henaghan (born 1943); she and Fosse had a daughter, Nicole Fosse (born 1963). Born Gloria May Josephine Svensson in a military base in San Juan, Puerto Rico to a Swedish-American father, she grew up in Puerto Rico, Chicago, and Key West, Florida. Verdon had two husbands, tabloid reporter James Henaghan (married 1942-divorced 1947) and Bob Fosse (married 1960-his death 1987). Gloria Swanson (March 27, 1897 - April 4, 1983) was an American actress. She also won a Grammy Award for the cast recording of Redhead. 1929 - Best Actress in a Leading Role - Sadie Thompson. She received a total of four Tonys; for Can-Can (1953), Damn Yankees (1955), New Girl in Town (1957) and Redhead (1959), a murder-mystery musical.

1930 - Best Actress in a Leading Role - The Trespasser. She won another Tony and went to Hollywood to repeat her role in the movie version, Damn Yankees (1958). 1951 - Best Actress in a Leading Role - Sunset Blvd.. The musical ran for 1,019 performances. Swanson's final marriage was to William Dufty (author of Lady Sings the Blues) in 1976. Verdon played the Devil's disciple who entices a baseball aficionado to sell his soul to play for the Washington Senators. Davy: they divorced in 1946. She would forever be identified with her role as the vampish Lola in Bob Fosse's Damn Yankees (1955), which is based on the novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant.

In 1945 Swanson married William N. With flaming red hair and a sassy, ill-mannered attitude, Verdon was considered the best dancer on Broadway in the 1950s and 1960s. Their marriage produced a daughter Michelle Bridget Farmer, and ended in divorce in 1934. Gwen Verdon received a pay raise and her first Tony Award for her triumphant performance. In 1931, Swanson married Michael Farmer; although frequently described as a "sportsman," the only evidence of his prowess was his frequent betrothals. The audience thundered her name until the startled actress was brought out of her dressing room in her bathrobe to take a curtain call. This marriage ended in divorce in 1930. But on opening night her Garden of Eden number stopped the show.

She conceived a child with him, and had an abortion, which she says, in her autobiography, Swanson on Swanson, she regretted. With her role reduced to barely more than an ensemble part, Verdon threatened to walk out of Can-Can, formally announcing her intention to leave by the time the show premiered on Broadway. He became a film executive. Lilo was displeased with all the attention Verdon received and demanded her role be cut to only two featured dance numbers. Her third husband was a French aristocrat, Henry de la Falaise, Marquis de la Falaise, in 1925. Out-of-town reviewers hailed Verdon's interpretation of Eve in the Garden of Eden ballet and said it outshone the show's star. Their daughter Gloria was born in 1920; they divorced in 1923. Her breakthrough role came when she was cast by choreographer Michael Kidd as the second female lead in Cole Porter's musical Can-Can (1953), which starred French prima donna Lilo.

She married Herbert K. Somborn, owner of the Brown Derby restaurant, in 1919. Verdon started out on Broadway as a "gypsy," going from one chorus line to another. She married actor Wallace Beery in 1916; they divorced in 1919. During her five-year employment with Cole, she took small roles in movie musicals as a "specialty dancer." She also gave dance instruction, with trainees including such big name stars as Jane Russell, Lana Turner, Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe. Her quest for work led to a job as assistant to choreographer Jack Cole, whose work was respected by both Broadway and top Hollywood movie studios. After her divorce, she intrusted her young son, Jimmy, to the care of her parents.

In 1945, she appeared as a dancer in the movie musical The Blonde From Brooklyn. Verdon then shocked her parents and instructors when she abandoned her budding career to elope with her first husband. While in high school, she was cast in a revival of Show Boat. She attended Hamilton High School in Los Angeles and also studied under the renowned ballet master Ernest Belcher.

Gwen was a solo ballerina. At age eleven, she appeared in the musical/romance movie The King Steps Out (1936), which was directed by Josef von Sternberg and starred Grace Moore and Franchot Tone. She went on to study multiple dance forms, from tap, jazz, ballroom and flamenco, to Balinese and juggling. By the age of six, feisty redheaded Gwen was performing on stage as a tap dancer.

Little did Gwen or her mother know she would one day become a famous Broadway star. Gertrude Verdon placed Gwen in dance classes at the age of three and ballet began strengthening her legs and improving her carriage. As a child, Gwen was afflicted with rickets, which left her legs so badly bent and misshapen she was called "Gimpy" by other children and spent her early years in orthopedic boots and stiff braces. They were also "show people," Joseph being an electrician at MGM Studios and Gertrude a former member of the Denishawn dance troupe and a veteran of Vaudeville.

Gwen's parents were English immigrants by way of Canada. Her brother was William Farrell Verdon (August 1, 1923-June 10, 1991). She was born Gwyneth Evelyn Verdon in Culver City, California, the second child of Joseph William Verdon (December 31, 1896-June 23, 1978) and Gertrude Lilian Standring (October 24, 1896-October 16, 1956). Gwen Verdon (January 13, 1925 - October 18, 2000) was an acclaimed Tony Award winning American dancer and actress.