I just could not finish this book. I thought that reading a book about a glamorous movie star would seem, well, glamorous. But so far, it just seems like "And then she was in another movie. And then she was in another movie." I'm sure that she had a fascinating life. I should not be so bored by her biography. ( )

I enjoyed reading this bio on actress Gloria Swanson and felt the author tracked down numerous sources. He certainly pointed out discrepancies between the facts and what Gloria reported in her own autobiography Swanson on Swanson. Additionally, he interviewed many who knew or worked with Swanson to get their take. Unlike the other reviewers, I felt you did get a picture of someone who worked her way up but then once she became a star, she really went overboard – not just with spending, but having herself carried to a film set in a sedan chair. As the films changed, she continued to ask for her high salary and had a hard time adjusting to less fame and less income. However, she always seemed to be doing her best to make money. At times she was working as a travel agent or with a line of clothes she had her name on. The success of Sunset Boulevard stereotyped her and after that she always seemed to be offered roles as a demented silent movie queen although she had a nice turn on Burke’s Law and the Carol Burnett show. Her interest in eating healthy and staying away from white sugar came years before the current trend. I think the end of the book said it best in that during her later years, the remaining silent stars (Chaplin, Pickford, etc.) looked up to her as being a true screen legend. I had no problems with the writing style and the footnotes and bibliography were well documented. The author let us know what happened to her children but I would have liked to have known if any of her grandchildren took up acting. I would have liked more photographs as well. Overall, I thought this gave you a good look at the early history of film and one of its most glamorous (Swanson herself hated being called that) stars. ( )