She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress , most famously for her turn in Billy Wilder 's Sunset Boulevard , which earned her a Golden Globe Award.
Swanson was born in Chicago and raised in a military family that moved from base to base. Her infatuation with Essanay Studios actor Francis X. Bushman led to her aunt taking her to tour the actor's Chicago studio. The year-old Swanson was offered a brief walk-on for one film and eventually a stock-players contract, beginning her life's career in front of the cameras. Swanson left school, and was soon hired to work in California for Mack Sennett 's Keystone Studios comedy shorts opposite Bobby Vernon.
She starred in a series of films about society, directed by Cecil B. DeMille , including Male and Female In , Swanson joined United Artists as one of the film industry's pioneering women filmmakers.
She produced and starred in the film Sadie Thompson , earning a nomination for Best Actress at the first annual Academy Awards. Her sound film debut performance in 's The Trespasser earned her a second Academy Award nomination. Queen Kelly β29 was a box-office disaster, but is remembered as a silent classic.
After almost two decades in front of the cameras, her film success waned during the s. Swanson received renewed praise for her return to the screen in her role as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard She made only three more films, but guest-starred on several television shows, and acted in road productions of stage plays. Army, the family moved frequently. She spent some of her childhood in Key West , Florida, where she was enrolled in a Catholic convent school, [ 5 ] and in Puerto Rico , where she saw her first motion pictures.
