Gloria Swanson originally consulted Edmund Goulding to help her complete Queen Kelly (1932), the unfinished silent epic she'd started with Erich von Stroheim, but he told her it was old-fashioned and to make a talking picture instead. He wrote the script in conjunction with Swanson and Laura Hope Crews in three weeks at Swanson's home. The movie was in theaters by the end of the year and Swanson recouped enough money to pay off Queen Kelly's backers.
Restored by George Eastman House, this film made its long awaited television debut 14 December 2011 on Turner Classic Movies.
Remade in 1937 as That Certain Woman, starring Bette Davis in the Swanson role.
With her second best actress Oscar nomination, Gloria Swanson became the first star to be nominated in two different years, previously nominated for Sadie Thompson (1928).
With The Trespasser (1929), Gloria Swanson had one of the biggest hit talkie debuts of any silent star.