:11:05
This was not some actor in the part.
:11:08
This was a person
who had knowledge of all this.
:11:12
"Queen Kelly" is the film we see
in her screening room,
:11:16
when she shows Bill Holden
her glorious past.
:11:20
When she stands in front of her image
and does that creepy gesture,
:11:24
it's even more creepy because
that film ruined her career.
:11:29
It was financed by Joe Kennedy,
the father of JFK and RFK.
:11:34
He was also, apparently,
Swanson's lover at the time.
:11:38
She called him from the set and said,
:11:42
"Come out here!
A madman is directing this!"
:11:45
She meant Erich von Stroheim.
:11:48
To watch him on the set,
:11:50
he always arrived completely
dressed in his butler's uniform.
:11:56
He always wore his white gloves
and sat in his chair.
:12:01
We all had chairs with our names
and he'd look until he found his.
:12:05
I'd bounce around and sit on
anybody's chair. He would sit on his.
:12:11
He would inch it closer and closer
to the camera,
:12:15
because he was so fascinated
with what Billy was up to.
:12:20
"Queen Kelly" caused bitterness
between von Stroheim and Swanson.
:12:25
By 1950, they had patched things up
and there was no rancour on the set.
:12:31
They respected each other
and had worked with each other enough,
:12:35
they saw the best in each other.
:12:38
Understand, I discovered her when
she was sixteen. I made her a star.
:12:45
I cannot let her be destroyed.
:12:48
Von Stroheim ending up
a ruined film director,
:12:52
acting as the star's butler,
:12:55
actually was, in some sense,
an accurate depiction of him then.