"MY FATHER'S NAME WAS JOSEPH!" Gloria was irritated as hell and not taking any more crap from this interview up to this point. I loved it. 😂

I've never laughed so hard in my life. Gloria was NOT having any of Barbra's mess. LMAO

OMG Gloria looks phenomenal. Look at her face, her hair , her body and listen to her youthful voice!

How precious to hear her sing. What an amazing movie Sunset Boulevard is.

She was so beautiful even up until her last days. She took care of herself so well.. What a GEM!

she aged extremely well, not just her looks, but her voice as well.

Gloria Swanson comes across as straightforward and doesn't put on airs. Barbara Walters on the other hand is pretentious, affected, and full of herself.

I'm just pleased that 40-years after her death, people still know of (and love) Gloria ... whereas four months after toxic Walters is gone no one will give two sh^ts.

Gloria Swanson shows great intelligence and class. Barbara Walters and Eunice Kennedy..not so much.

Barbara Walters is a terrible interviewer-embarrassing. Gloria, on the other hand, was a wonderful woman and I feel very privileged to have known her. Sometime, when the weather was good for it, she would call and invite me to come over nd get some sun in her garden. Her apartment was on the ground floor and that garden was the open space we see in this clip.

She's adorable! Such an elegant woman, Barbara was annoying even then, ugh.

Gloria was brilliant, stunningly beautiful and epitomized true grace and talent from beginning to end. One of my absolute favorites!

Ms Swanson was smoooking hot even in her 80's. Wow.

How absolutely rude to ask Gloria if people are surprised she's not senile. How old is Barbara Walters now? Wonder how she would feel being asked such a demeaning question?

Barbara was THE worst interviewer. It was ALL about her.

"How can anyone look at a flower and be an atheist......I don't know." So true!

Ms Swanson has such a soothing and comforting voice I love her

Gloria Swanson was BEAUTIFUL even at that age!!!!

WOW! Gloria Swanson in 1981 was incredibly beautiful. Wise, feminine, articulate, and sharp!

The journalist is horrid, aggressive and awful. Gloria instead such an intelligent, talented and beautiful soul. Wonderful actress. One of the best

I think it's hilarious that Barbara thinks of herself as a journalist and a superb interviewer!

Rest in peace Gloria Swanson.

I was lucky enough to see this interesting lady in person and she was as real as any one of us and totally engaging.

OMG I was shocked on minute 7:38 when she starts singing, ,I didn't know she sang so well she still had a wonderful voice at age 84 and she looked beautiful probably without any plastic surgery I dare to guess. not like today where people use and abuse botox and horrible procedures that transform their faces. Good for you GLoria. RIP . you were a true movie star !!!!!

I am confident that Gloria Swanson will be remembered LONG after Eunice Kennedy Shriver is forgotten.

Just like Barbara to continue the 'affair with Joe Kennedy' questions for over half the interview. She's symbolic of what's been wrong with so-called journalism for a hundred years. Here you sit with arguably the greatest actress of a by-gone era (right behind Lillian Gish).... an America National Treasure...nothing more interesting or significant to ask? Really?

What an amazing and powerful woman she was! In this interview, more than in any other I've seen, she seems to come off the screen and you can almost feel her breath on your face as if she were in the room with you. She pulls up the veil, and reveals the woman she is.

Yes, I agree with many people here. The interviewer wanted made of it pure sensationalism by asking almost all the time about Mrs. Swanson's relationship with Mr. Kennedy. Besides, how rudely judgemental she was. Gloria Swanson had a very rich life regarding a huge diversity of experiences and so many much more interesting and wise questions could have been done to her. She was amazingly patient and polite with journalists. I remember when she gave an interview to Mike Wallace. He was deeply disrespectful to her and she kept her class heroically. She was an amazing woman who deserved to be celebrated not insulted this way. Unbelievable!!

And now reading that letter??? What a bulldog!! Shame on her and 20/20!!!!!

Ms. Swanson sings so easily, with pretty modulated emotion, most could not do it at her age.

Barbara Walters made herself look like a Mean Girl in this interview. I use to admire her, but The View is completely beneath her, and this much earlier interview makes me understand why she ended up with The View. When I was younger, I thought she was a "real" journalist.

Gloria Swanson a Legend

Gloria Swanson handles Barbara Walters with patience , firmness and grace.

Gloria so natural, so romantic. More early "Hollywood" less Kennedy would have been nice.

Gloria was one tough old time Chicago broad, I'm telling you. She is exactly like the fiery old dames I grew up around in Chicago in the 70s. Watching her is like sitting down with my Grandmas, or my great aunts and/or their friends. They loved to talk about the old days, and the men in the other room were just as much fun to listen to. Yes indeed, Gloria could have hung around at my house and fit right in, a martini in hand. She's just like them. The most glamourous of them all, wow what a woman.

Barbara Walters is the most overrated TV personality in history. In this interview, equipped only with an ounce of National Enquirer level of decency and a pound of moxy, she badgers, an eledrly woman, one of the most important actresses in the history of cinema, about a love affair. This is the kind of trash with which Walters made a name for herself. She's a shameless, pushy, creep. How else could a mediocre interviewer with a laughable speech impediment have climbed her way to the top of her business? This interview was so beneath Gloria Swanson's dignity -- painful to watch.

They set Gloria Swanson up by making her go on and on about Joe Kennedy when she clearly wanted to move on and then having the letter ready to read at the end. Shame on Barbara Walters.

Wow. She got Gloria all angered. I would have told Barbara to read the book. Anything she needed to know about that topic was in the book. And it really is. She lays it all on the line about her and Joe Kennedy.

Words cannot express how much I loathe Barbara Walters......

Fascinating! The way Gloria Swanson transcended her period as a global megastar of the silent screen is a masterclass in growth and adaptation. She continued to act and for a long time anchored her own rado show. She then moved into advocacy for healthy eating and healthy living, for which her amazing vitality was an object lesson. In this sense she was the very opposite of Normal Desmond, the crazed, Heversham-esque prisoner of her early success. IMHO Barbara Walters and the Kennedy family showed themselves poorly on contrast to the authenticity and pure class of Miss Swanson. Thank you Miss Swanson. Vale!

I had the god given privilege to watch Miss Gloria Swanson film a scene from Airport 77 at Dulles International Airport and may I say before during and after her scene She is the most elegant classy regal poised soft spoken grand legend icon a true lady in every sense of the word and when she spoke and every she speaks nothing else in the surrounding world exists.💖

The opportunity to talk to an amazing star who had the most amazing life and interests and the questions were mainly about an affair. Trashy

Gloria Swanson looks great at 81. Mrs. Shriver would have done herself a favor by not commenting at all (let alone with a single-spaced multiple page novel she wrote). Swanson was right to say Joe Kennedy was unsophisticated. He was a hick.

Barbara was on a mission. Kennedy money reaches all. Shame its a woman set to try and hurt another woman. Gloria, glorious indeed and class all day long.

Barbara Walters was a very lucky person to have been granted an audience with the Queen of the screen... What a woman... The glorious Gloria...🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺

I read the book 3 times it was that good ! Why is it always the women who gets the BS for the affair . Joe Kennedy used her & when he was done he walked out & never looked back . I also would like to say that Gloria got three Jewish men out of Germany during world war 2 & brought them here to work on a business that she owned . I also think that Eunice Kennedy should take a look at her father & not put all the blame on Miss Swanson , it takes two to tango ( Just Saying )...

Stupid interview... All the BS about Joe Kennedy.. it upset her.. so lame.. she didnt come off very well.. Barbara was aggressive and interrupted Miss Swanson.. not very uplifting to someone who was a great star in her day and amazing dame.

Barbara is just rude

Wonderful singing voice!!!!

What a jewel. I’ve always loved Gloria Swanson, those gorgeous eyes. We all wish we could be this amazing at 81.

In the end who will remember Eunice Kennedy Shriver? She'll just be a footnote. I'll wager Gloria will be remembered for a long time just due to Sunset Boulevard. More of her silent movies are coming out on blu-ray and dvd so hopefully they will also stand the test of time. Zaza (1923) was just released by Kino Lorber Video.

As others have said, Walters carping on and on about the Joe Kennedy affair is really low class. Gloria had this wonderful career but the only thing Barbara Walter's cared about was the affair and trying to shame her for it. Walter's reading that letter at the end of the broadcast was mean spirited.

READ HER BOOK WHEN IT CAME OUT AND WAS WOWED BY HER TENACITY!

Joe Kennedy sounds scary seeing Gloria's reactions and expressions...

Those Kennedy's are sick people. That last quote from Eunice Shriver is discusting, to dismiss Swanson's life as less important than her mother's. The Kennedy's were a distructive force in the 60's, let's hope we will never have to deal with them again. Guess we are lucky they didn't bump Swanson off like Marilyn Monroe for daring to talk about her own life.

Barbara Walters had to be one of the worst interviewers. The segment on Joseph P. Kennedy was interesting because Gloria Swanson made it so, despite the inane questions.

How dare Walters dredge up Swansons relationship with Kennedy in such a accusatory diabolical tasteless way!!!!! It was an attack and Gloria was gracious and a lady and Barbara a fiend for her hypocritical rants on Gloria when history shows the Kennedy men had an abhorrent disregard for the sanctity of their own marriages!

Back then women were saught out. She speaks here truth. No one can judge. She was a Brilliant beautiful woman.

We don’t care what you like Barbara, your interviewing a REAL movie star an icon, Gloria has sooo much more class then you will ever dream of having!

What impact will Gloria Swanson have???? Some balls that dame had coming out with that!

What a charming, intelligent, down to earth lady GS is compared to the classless, fake, rude, ba- ba- wa- wa.

Alan, I cannot thank you enough for posting this! I have been dying to see this interview and haven't been able to track it down. Thank you, thank you, thank you! If you should ever have anything more about Miss Swanson I would love if you would be so kind as to share it as well!

I think Eunice Shriver was a bit snotty to write that.

At 81, still as sultry and gorgeous as ever. Could've had any man she wanted at that age. I wish more girls were like her.

Gloria Swanson was beautiful, talented, articulate, elegant, intelligent and charming. Barbara Walters, on the other hand, is none of those things.

OMG Barbara asked such inappropriate questions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really hate her!! Gloria on the other hand...knew how to keep her composure. What a lovely lady!!

Ooh Ms. Swanson got pissed off..and somebody needs to tell Ms. Smug Kennedy Shriver that the joy Ms. Swanson brought to millions with her art is just as valuable as anything Rose Kennnedy did

Love Miss Swanson-A great ICON of our times! She is charming, persuasive, a marker of how to present yourself as a human being. Her performances are unmatched and she should have won the Oscar for Sunset. Unfortunately, Bette Davis came out with "All About Eve" a great, great movie and Judy Holiday won. Still believe the Academy had intense trouble with the choice-so the underdog won. I am not trying to say Holiday did not have some good films-but in this year the competition surpassed her completely. Between Davies and Swanson-OH MY GOSH-the two Golden Gates of Hollywood! It would interesting to have a conversation with one of the chairs of the Academy of that time. I am sure they were tangled with their decision.

What a beautiful and charming lady. Even when she was older. RIP Gloria. Lived in Puerto Rico during her childhood also. And learned Spanish.

So wonderful to see Miss Swanson. Just saw Glenn Close (again) in Sunset Blvd...and thought of Miss Swanson and all she represented

My first time watching this video and whoever manages this content.Gloria Swanson could whip as whole bunch of actors of Hollyweird into shape in 2019. What a graceful elegant woman. Wow, 81 years old and looks really good. She really took care of herself, and not in a vain way but you can see she was healthy, alert, and whip sharp. When she said " we weren't death mutes when we were making silent pictures. She was sharp! I watch sunset blvd and was actually frightened. She was good. She can rest easy because she left gems with us today.

Gloria Swanson was the only one out of all the kennedys or Barbara Walters with any grace ,kindness or sincerity

Gloria Swanson! What a class act! Forget Barbara Walters. She should have got an Oscar for “Sunset Boulevard”! What a perfect Lady! People can’t act like her anymore. Or be her. For sure.

We didn't need dialogue, we had faces.

Gloria Swanson still possessed a wonderful open classic smile that captures a viewers attention.

Gloria left a more lasting legacy than Rose

Those ladies are no more,she has more class in her pinky finger than Barbara has in her whole body.

Gloria looked fabulous! What an American Treasure and shows what healthy living can do. I love her singing....still so youthful...what a life she lived!

I want to be like Gloria when I grow up! What an amazing lady she was :)

A classy star, and a beautiful woman. I'm grateful I got to meet and speak with her in the mid-70s on filth avenue, in New York, City.

She was not here for Barbara and her bs on that day. She let her have it. Such an amazing beauty

Barbara Walters was never as good as an interviewer as she gets the credit for. This is a prime example.

Gloria Swanson 81 years old, God Bless her. Barbara same old questions. Miss Swanson experienced so much in her life, not just a small portion...kennedy

Ms Shriver could have shown much more class, I read Ms Swanson's book,I found her honesty refreshing,and she was far more fair when talking about Kennedy than most of us would be. It is a great read,and she was a brave woman who made some poor decisions along the way,you might say like the rest of us........................

Extremely coherent actress. Wonderful woman. Fabulous singing voice.

Gloria was 80 but her energy was that of one in their 40's or 30's ..Fabulous Lady.. thank you for Sunset BLD, Gloria

An absolutely beautiful, stunning woman blessed with fantastic genes! A mysterious woman who was complicated and groundbreaking WELL before her time. They do not make them like her anymore!

To think that she turned down a $1,000,000 per year contract in the 20's(before there was income tax) and moved to a new studio United Airtist..she had balls!

Rose knew. She also knew Joe was a serial adulterer and Gloria was one of many. She chose to look the other way and enjoy the spoils of wealth and power.

Thank you very much for this!

Gloria Swanson's autobiography is one of the finest and most memorable books I've ever read. (I read it twenty years ago!) She was brilliant. Celebrity talks don't always reveal the genius inherent in individuals. Writing will. This woman revealed events that are indescribable. She talked about going to a special kind of Japanese temple in a special religious sort of park. ( I am remembering this so not every detail is perfect.) - I believe she was in her sixties or older when she went there. The Japanese have this religious park, temple, ritual garden - whatever, for women that have had an abortion can come to. I'm not remembering this right - you must read this book, male or female - but there were sort of crosses with white ribbons tied to them or something. I don't think they were crosses, but whatever. It was something like small posts with white and red ribbons blowing in the wind. She rec'd one of these and knelt on the ground and wept, mourning. The whole chapter was what lead to the end of the book. It was on such a profound statement about not only her life but the value of life in general. - Sorry, my attempt to describe this remarkable book is failed. Imagine where she went and who she knew and what she learned in her magnificent life. Much for all of us to learn. - Shoot, I gotta get it out and read it again!

How unbelievably rude Barbara Walters is even pointing her finger!

If I had a wish to be able to choose one from all the dead actors to come back to life, she's the one actress whom I would love to meet.

What a classy lady! I loved hearing her sing! Barbara on the other hand....

Yet another gem. Thanks again for all the work sharing!!!

1981 😭😭😭😭 the world was soon to lose one of the best actresses in movie history

Gloria handled herself so classy here. She wasn’t having what Barbara was giving.

She seemed like a lovely, lovely lady. She also had a magnificent singing voice. Too bad the modern technological, and recording era wasn't up to snuff when she was actively working. We are all deprived of not having, clear NON-SCRATCHY voice samples of her work. Such a loss both professionally and personally as members of the audience. R.I.P, dear Gloria.

10:54 that response and look in her eyes speaks volumes

Cannot stand Barbara Walters!!! It is fine to ask a couple of questions about Joe Kennedy since Ms. Swanson wrote about it, but I wanted to know more about her life. Then she touches Ms. Swanson's hand so as to try to calm her down after making her mad. And then she continues to ask her about why she had written her book and about her son. How on earth did this woman Walters, ever get as popular as she was?? She makes me sick!!