Henri de la Falaise

Biography

Henri de la Falaise was a French aristocrat brought to America after meeting and falling in love with Gloria Swanson while working as her interpreter on Madame Sans-Gêne (1925). A World War I veteran of the French army, a few years prior to his work on the film he had been awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French government for bravery during World War I. Although a Marquis, he was not a rich man, and his new wife's fortune far outstripped his own when they were married in early 1925. Gloria found him a minor job in the film industry, but the difference in their professional standings was difficult to surmount. Swanson drifted into the arms of film producer Joseph P. Kennedy (the father of American President John F. Kennedy); meanwhile, Henri had already met--and possibly begun an affair with--his future wife, actress Constance Bennett. After their marriage in 1931, he became a low-key film director and producer, before returning to obscurity with his third wife, Emmita. Swanson helped to smuggle the couple from besieged France during WWII. Henri again fought in the war and was awarded a second Croix de Guerre. Swanson described him as the love of her life, and the abortion of his child in 1928 at the height of her fame because of studio pressures one of her greatest tragedies.