She attended Santa Monica High School, graduating in 1927, then immediately ran off to Berkeley to attend the University of California, Berkeley. She later changed the spelling of her surname when she began her career, reportedly because 'Stuart' would fit better on a marquee. Gloria's younger brother Frank took the surname Finch, later becoming a sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times. A half-sister, Patsy - Patricia Marie Finch - was born in 1924. Finch, a native of Kentucky, who owned a local funeral parlor and held oil leases in Texas. Her mother got a job in the Ocean Park, California, Post Office to support her children. When Gloria was nine years old, her father, who had been appointed a judge and was about to take the bench, was hit by a car and died. A second brother, Thomas, died in infancy. Gloria's brother, Frank, came eleven months later. Her father, Frank Stewart, was an attorney representing many Tongs in San Francisco. Her mother, Alice Vaughan Deidrick Stewart, was born in Angels Camp, California. Stuart was born Gloria Frances Stewart in Santa Monica, California, a third-generation Californian. She was the oldest person to be nominated for a competitive Oscar, for her role in Titanic, at the age of 87.

She appeared as Claude Rains' sweetheart in The Invisible Man, and as the elderly Rose Dawson Calvert in the Academy Award-winning film Titanic.

Stuart had a Hollywood career which spanned (with a long break in the middle) from 1932 until 2004 where she appeared on stage, television and in film, for which she was best-known. Gloria Frances Stewart, known by the stage name Gloria Stuart, (J– September 26, 2010) was an American actress, activist, painter, bonsai artist and fine art printer and printmaker.

I Just Kept Hoping by Gloria Stuart