Gloria Swanson insisted on doing the scene with the lion in the silent film MALE AND FEMALE (1919)
SILENCE IS GOLDEN Gloria Swanson insisted on doing the scene with the lion in the silent film MALE AND FEMALE (1919). At first Director Cecil B. De Mille was opposed to the idea of having his leading lady in perilous danger with a man-eating lion. However, DeMille finally agreed in doing the scene with Swanson and the lion with two lion tamers standing by. According to Miss Swanson, the lion killed someone two weeks later. is carrying in the movie was a real leopard. It had killed a man in a nearby zoo and was to be euthanized, but director Cecil B. De Mille refused to have it killed. The leopard was drugged with chloroform before it was let near the actor, who then did the scene carrying the animal on his shoulder. insisted on doing the sequence with the lions herself, even after director Cecil B. De Mille had scrapped the idea for safety reasons. According to Swanson in her 1980 autobiography, there were two trainers on the set, along with Swanson's father. One of the reas...