The producer in the film was originally called Kaufman and was to be played by Joseph Calleia. 3.48. See production, box office & company info. Still, whatever hard feelings there may have been between Swanson and von Stroheim, they were gone by the time Sunset Boulevard came along. Sunset Boulevard (1950) 1950, 1h 50min - Drama Gloria Swanson, as Norma Desmond, an aging silent-film queen, and William Holden, as the struggling young screenwriter who is held in thrall by her madness, created two of the screen's most memorable characters in "Sunset Boulevard." The general consensus was that the two titans had canceled each other out, leaving the field clear for Holliday. A week later she heard the news of Holden's death on her car radio. The home was built in 1923 for businessman William O. Jenkins. All of the silent film stars mentioned by Norma, Joe, Betty and Max were either dead or no longer active in films by 1950. When Norma visits Cecil B. Our friendship never waned. Hollywood was known for its excesses long before Michael Jackson hit town. Billy Wilder wanted a fresh face for the part of Betty Schaefer. For purposes of authenticity Erich von Stroheim and Nancy Olson wore their own clothes in the film. Holden had a supporting role in Ashanti (1979) and was third-billed in another disaster film, When Time Ran Out (1980), which was a flop. This ushered in the peak years of Holden's stardom. in 1911 when the Nestor Film Company moved from New. Holden was born William Franklin Beedle, Jr., on April 17, 1918, in O'Fallon, Illinois, son of Mary Blanche Beedle (ne Ball), a schoolteacher, and her husband William Franklin Beedle, an industrial chemist. London Boulevard (2010) was based on the Ken Bruen novel that was inspired by Sunset Boulevard and features the same trope of an aging actress as the stranger caught in her web. Montgomery Clift was originally cast as Joe Gillis but quit the production two weeks before filming began because he had already played the kept man of a wealthy older woman in The Heiress (1949). Or shall I call my servant? The next decade saw Holden's career flourish. She burst into tears upon completion of the scene. So speaking of funerals, heres the great real life murder mystery we teased in the opening. Minters mother Charlotte Shelby was a manipulative stage mother who owned a rare .38 caliber pistol that fired unusual bullets very similar to ones found inside Taylor. It was a gift from her lover, automobile magnate Walter Chrysler. She reportedly told Clift shed kill herself if he made the movie. It was built in 1924 by William Jenkins, at a cost of $250,000. Holden was best man at the wedding of his friend Ronald Reagan to actress Nancy Davis in 1952. Paramount was more than happy to be the subject of the film, and didn't ask for the studio to be disguised. This car has been on display at the National Automobile Museum in Turin, Italy since 1972. Vega subsequently confirmed that this was a reference to Holden.[50]. The truth of the matter was that Bing Crosby was one of the very few actors to whom Billy Wilder had borne a grudge, mainly because Crosby had done the unthinkable during filming of The Emperor Waltz (1948), and ad-libbed dialog, something he and Bob Hope had done for years as standard operating procedure in their breezy "Road" pictures. Wilder was no fan of improvisation and was very protective of his words. While Hollywood Blvd. X. American actress Gloria Swanson in a promotional portrait for 'Sunset Boulevard', directed by Billy Wilder, 1950. They stayed that way even if the pictures got small. Only 950 were made from 1924 to 1931. In their scene together in Artie's bathroom Gillis mentions to Betty in his dramatic flirtation about having spent "12 years in the Burmese jungle", when coincidentally, just a few years later his character, Shears, finds himself lost there in David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai. The undertaker, who appears for a few seconds early on with the white casket for Norma's deceased pet chimp, was veteran actor Franklyn Farnum, who played extras in over 1,000 films during his lengthy but unsung career. At one point Norma mentions working with Mabel Normand and Marie Prevost. [14], Holden made a third film with Wilder, Sabrina (1954), billed beneath Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. Holden had another hit with The World of Suzie Wong (1960) with Nancy Kwan, which was shot in Hong Kong. Holden had another good break when he was cast as Judy Holliday's love interest in the big-screen adaptation of the Broadway hit Born Yesterday (1950). Sunset Boulevard English audio Gloria Swanson, as Norma Desmond, an aging silent-film queen, and William Holden, as the struggling young screenwriter who is held in thrall by her madness,. Peavey reportedly wore flashy golf clothes but didnt own golf clubs and had been arrested for social vagrancy and booked on lewd and dissolute charges just a few nights before the murder. It's the pictures that got small" was #91. (1950), Cecil B. DeMille, who plays himself in the film, directed H.B. In the fall of 1981, the television actor Stefanie Powers, who was dating William Holden, was in Hawaii filming the ABC show "Hart to Hart" when Holden stopped answering his phone. No one wants to get caught by surprise anymore. Yes, this is Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. Editorial Reviews. was better known as the seat of the film industry in 1950, the Los Angeles film industry actually began on Sunset Blvd. The name was then changed to Millman and finally to Sheldrake and was played by Fred Clark. As a practical joke, during the scene where William Holden and Nancy Olson kiss for the first time, Billy Wilder let them carry on for minutes without yelling "Cut!" Norma Desmond was the greatest of them all. It was named after a major street that runs through Hollywood, the center of the American film industry . William Holden says his birthday is December 21st. Sunset Boulevard, one of Hollywood's most cruelly accurate depictions of itself, is now 65 years oldolder, even, than its main character, who's washed up at 50. Brackett thought the sequence was cruel in its emphasis on what age had done to the one-time beauty, but Wilder insisted it was essential to show how driven she was in her pursuit of youth. Gloria Swanson brings sunshine into every room as silent screen idol Norma Desmond. "I left countless messages but received no answer." April 17 marks the 100th birthday of William Holden, who is ranked No. And, of course, a pool. Holden, just 63 when he died, had most recently appeared in the Blake Edwards' film "S.O.B." (1966), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), Network (1976), Coming Home (1978), Reds (1981), Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and American Hustle (2013). Film debut (uncredited) of Yvette Vickers. On the Columbia lot is an assistant director and scout named Harold Winston. When the movie first dropped, Louis B. Mayer, the Mayer in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, told everyone who would listen that Wilder disgraced the industry that made him and fed him, and urged that he be tarred and feathered, and run out of Hollywood. Wilder, who had been feeding himself for quite some time, told Meyer to go fuck himself. Montgomery Clift was originally cast as the writer but dropped out two weeks before the shoot. Since 2006, he has overseen the Bayou City History blog, which covers various aspects of Houston's history. His deal was considered one of the best ever for an actor at the time, with him receiving 10% of the gross, which earned him over $2.5 million, however, Holden stipulated that he should only receive a maximum of $50,000 per year from the film. This parallel narrative--two perspectives from the same character, one omniscient, the other blissfully ignorant--that converge at the moment of Joe's death, are a major reason the film retains such dramatic and emotional power. is directed toward his associate producer, Henry Wilcoxon, who had starred in his epics Cleopatra (1934), The Crusades (1935) and Unconquered (1947), later moving to a position behind the camera as DeMille's associate, which he held until the older man's death in 1959. Wilder, ever the merry prankster, told Holden and Olson to keep kissing until he called "cut": he was going to fade out at the end of the scene, and he needed to make sure the kiss didn't end prematurely. The veteran actress particularly wanted to see what Mary Pickford felt and was disappointed to see that she had left. Director Cecil B. DeMille, a pioneer of silent Hollywood who was still a top director when "Sunset Boulevard" was shot in 1949, also famously played himself. Gloria Swanson's career was not revitalized by this film. (Norma Desmond would be quick to point out that, thanks to computers and iPads, the pictures have gotten even smaller. Billy Wilder had worked on a script for a Swanson picture years earlier called "Music in the Air (1934)" and had forgotten about it. One of only 13 films to be nominated for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Director. Oh, and while were at it, Wilder didnt submerge any cameras to get that underwater shot. The whole place seemed to have been stricken with the kind of creeping paralysis, out of beat with the rest of the world, crumbling apart in slow motion. William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 - November 12, 1981) was an American actor and murderer, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. We had faces" was #13. She turns out to be a multimillionaire silent screen icon played by the legendary Gloria Swanson and she leaves him all her money, which shes already spent, and face down in a pool. These include Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Rudolph Valentino, Rod La Rocque, Vilma Bnky, Mabel Normand, Marie Prevost, Pearl White, and Douglas Fairbanks. All I know is that she's meshuggah, that's all. After all, it's about a dethroned queen." Buscar Amazon.com.mx. She worked closely with Gloria Swanson on Norma Desmond's wardrobe, as she figured Swanson would have had a better idea of what women of that time would have worn and what they would be wearing now. That's the end.". Dont bother with a rewrite, man, take it direct! Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! When Norma is telling Joe about how rich she is, she mentions a beach house and downtown real estate. Holden continued to work steadily for the next decade, but Hollywood often had no idea what to do with him. on the corner of Crenshaw and Irving. His co-star Barbara Stanwyck, a screen. Sometimes its interesting to see just how bad, bad writing can be. The pool was used in its empty condition in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). Well, not a comeback, a return, a return to the millions of people who have never forgiven her for deserting the screen. She reads everyone and everything in Hollywood, except Joes script. According to Gloria Swanson's daughter, Michelle Amon, her mother stayed in character throughout the entire shoot, even speaking like Norma Desmond when she arrived home in the evening after filming. The movie featured the famed director Erich von Stroheim, who made photographs of Gloria Swanson move so beautifully the world was enthralled, as Max Von Mayerling, the director who made, married, and divorced the enthralling Norma Desmondand then gave up his career in film to be her slave in butlers clothing. Sunset Boulevards cinematographer John Seitz said Wilder had wanted to do The Loved One, but couldnt obtain the rights. British author Evelyn Waughs satirical 1948 novel was about a failed screenwriter who lives with a silent film star and works in a cemetery. Paramount reunited him with Nancy Olson, one of his Sunset Boulevard costars, in Union Station (1950). Studs and cufflinks were inserted into the shirt holes to secure the garment. They eventually worked together on several films and became close friends. Realizing that former actress Hopper would easily dominate the scene, Parsons declined, even though she and Wilder were friends. A second film with Seaton did not do as well, The Proud and Profane (1956), where Holden played the role with a moustache. The movie's line "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." The clips in Sunset Boulevard were the first time American audiences saw it. A few years later, Stephen Sondheim became interested in writing a musical version of his own, working with writer Burt Shevelove (with whom he ended up writing A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum). In an interview Wilder gave in 1996 he claimed that the film which eventually became SUNSET BOULEVARD began as a comedy for Mae West and Marlon Brando. (She liked it.). 1751 Vine is still a parking lot across the street from the landmark, Capitol Records building and is the address of both Billy's Wilder's and Barbara Stanwyck's "Hollywood Walk of Fame" stars that were dedicated in 1960. The latter was shot in Africa and sparked Holden's fascination with the continent that was to last for the rest of his life. The footage we see is from Queen Kelly (1929), which starred Gloria Swanson and was directed by Max himself, Erich von Stroheim. The role of Norma Desmond was initially offered to Mae West (who rejected the part), Mary Pickford (Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett realized when talking to her that her image as "America's Sweetheart" made her unsuitable for the part), and Pola Negri (Billy Wilder rejected her as her thick accent would cause too many problems) before being accepted by Gloria Swanson. The house was owned by the J. Paul Getty family. White, pink, or maybe bright flaming red. The film was the favorite of Sci-Fi author J.G. New York-born novelist and screenwriter Brackett was head of the Screen Actors Guild in the late 1930s, and president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1949 to 1955. The death was just one of many infamous Hollywood scandals of the 1920s, which included the Roscoe Arbuckle bottle rape trial, the death of Olive Thomas, the mysterious death of Thomas H. Ince, and the drug-related deaths of Wallace Reid, Barbara La Marr, and Jeanne Eagels. Wilder used real names like Darryl Zanuck, Tyrone Power, and Alan Ladd. He was also one of many stars in Feldman's Casino Royale (1967). Oh, wake up, Norma. For television roles in 1974, Holden won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his portrayal of a cynical, tough veteran LAPD street cop in the television film The Blue Knight, based upon the best-selling Joseph Wambaugh novel of the same name.[31][4]. His body was found four days later. Kodak would discontinue to manufacture it altogether in 1953. Norma Desmond promised she would never desert her audience again. So they opened their big mouths and out came talk. Sunset Boulevard (styled in the main title on-screen as SUNSET BLVD.) The stars read the stars. According to a statement director King Vidor made in 1968, the Los Angeles police detective who was assigned to the case was told to lay off about a week into the investigation. In the movie, an aide tells Cecil B. DeMille "Gordon Cole has been trying to reach you". Mary Pickford lived in seclusion, away from the public eye, while both Mae Murray and Clara Bow had well documented struggles with mental illness. The first of four films in which William Holden and Nancy Olson appeared. The writers feared that Hollywood would react unfavorably to such a damning portrait of the film industry, so the film was code-named "A Can of Beans" while in production. [23][24] Picnic was his last film under the contract with Columbia. Billy Wilder wanted Hedy Lamarr to appear in a cameo in the scene where Norma and Joe visit Cecil B. DeMille at Paramount. This is absolutely true, Nancy Reagan continued consulting her astrologer long after she stopped parking at studio lots. (A few months later, Hepburn met Mel Ferrer, whom she later married and with whom she had a son Sean Hepburn Ferrer. Her character's age was 22 but she was 21 at the time of filming. In Billy Wilder's film, Erich von Stroheim plays the butler of Gloria Swanson's forgotten silent-film star. This film is in the Official Top 250 Narrative Feature Films on Letterboxd. The mansion belonged to the second Mrs. Jean Paul Getty, who rented it on condition that if she did not like the swimming pool the studio would have to add for the film, it would cover it over and restore the original landscaping. Sometimes hetinkles the wheezing gothic ivories like Lurch in the original TV series The Addams Family, playing the recognizable strains of The Phantom of the Opera. Holden's films continued to struggle at the box office, however: Paris When It Sizzles (1964) with Hepburn was shot in 1962 but given a much delayed release, The 7th Dawn (1964) with Capucine and Susannah York, a romantic adventure set during the Malayan Emergency produced by Charles K. Feldman, Alvarez Kelly (1966), a Western, and The Devil's Brigade (1968). "Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60-minute radio adaptation of the movie on September 17, 1951, with Gloria Swanson and William Holden reprising their film roles. One of his father's grandmothers, Rebecca Westfield, was born in England, while some of his mother's ancestors settled in Virginia's Lancaster County after emigrating from England in the 17th century. Joe Gillis is seen reading the book "The Young Lions" by Irwin Shaw, a best-selling World War Two novel of the time, Montgomery Clift, who was originally offered the part of Joe Gillis, later played one of the leads in the film adaptation of that book The Young Lions (1958), though it was not directed by Billy Wilder. But as commentator Steve Sailer points out, more than one contemporary source mentions it as an inspiration. As the band plays 'Diane', we also see Desmond ascending her staircase. He received an eight-month suspended sentence for vehicular manslaughter.[1]. Holden's first starring role was in Golden Boy (1939), costarring Barbara Stanwyck, in which he played a violinist-turned-boxer. Co-writer D.M. ), a woman who trades on charms that have . He stayed true to his word. Florabel Muir, the New York Daily News Hollywood correspondent, thought Peavey was the murderer and tried to ambush him into a confession. This promised to go the limit. His co-star Barbara Stanwyck, a screen veteran and one of the greatest actors of all time, coached and promoted Holden personally. The two actors never worked together in another film. The movie was previewed with this opening, in Illinois, Long Island (NY) and Poughkeepsie (NY). April 17, 2019 6:00AM. Microphones would catch the last gurgles, and Technicolor would photograph the red, swollen tongues. He played an older version of Joe in Sidney Lumets classic Network (1976), written by the cynical Paddy Chayefsky. [5][6], Next he starred with George Raft and Humphrey Bogart in the Warner Bros. gangster epic Invisible Stripes (1939), billed below Raft and above Bogart. William Holdens Joe Gillis helps a timid soul named Norma Desmond cross a crowded street on Paramounts back lot. was voted #6 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by "Premiere" magazine in 2007. [22] The golden run at the box office continued with Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), from a best-selling novel, with Jennifer Jones, and Picnic (1955), as a drifter, in an adaptation of the William Inge play with Kim Novak. After living in the home for a year he moved, and the house sat vacant for a little over a decade, earning the moniker "The Phantom House" in the process. (1954). Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard" is the portrait of a forgotten silent star, living in exile in her grotesque mansion, screening her old films, dreaming of a comeback. (1950) in my head, and I'd always sort of related to that character floating in . Charles Brackett and Wilder were just as adamant that nothing in their scripts should be changed, and nothing new added. After Salome, she planned to make another picture and another picture. The photos of the young Norma Desmond that decorate the house are all genuine publicity photos from Gloria Swanson's heyday. She looks like a mannequin of a . De Mille, and Max von Mayerling. As DeMille was directing Lamarr at the time in Samson and Delilah (1949), this would have been no problem. Norma telling studio guard Jonesy that without her there would be no Paramount Studios is not a far-fetched notion. Sad as this may sound, to the day he died, Holden insisted Bogart was a bastard. (as Arthur Schmidt) They swore each other off over the montage where Norma struggles to lose weight for her comeback. The much sought after but highly finicky leading man accepted the role, then backed out. It always will be! American Film Institute On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder, by Ed Sikov, 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. Norma's buying Joe a fine woolen topcoat would be mostly an affectation in sunny Los Angeles. Holden had his most widely recognized role as "Commander" Shears in David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) with Alec Guinness,[25] a huge commercial success. [4] He made a sex comedy with David Niven for Otto Preminger, The Moon Is Blue (1953), which was a huge hit, in part due to controversy over its content. The British author's satirical The Loved One was published in 1948, after Waugh had spent time in Hollywood observing the film industry and, of all things, the funeral industry. Marshman Jr. was hired to help batten down a script that was giving Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett great difficulty. Billy Wilder originally wanted another silent star, Pola Negri, to take the part of Norma Desmond. But when Sondheim pitched the idea to Billy Wilder at a party, Wilder said, "You can't write a musical about Sunset Boulevard. The movie begins about five oclock in the morning, left coast time. Included among the 25 films on the American Film Institute's 2005 list of AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores. Schwab's Pharmacy was filmed only 500 feet (145 meters) from where Robert "D-Fens" Foster shot out the phone booth in Falling Down (1993). The film's narrative structure bears a marked resemblance to that of American Beauty (1999). In those days there were no buttons on formal shirts. Sunset Boulevard DVD (2007) William Holden, Wilder (DIR) cert PG Amazing Value. Director Cecil B. DeMille, silent film actors Buster Keaton, H. B. Warner, and Anna Q. Nilsson played waxy versions of themselves. Previous image. The old movies needed neither color nor dialogue. They had faces. director of photography Film Editing by Arthur P. Schmidt . But along with the accolades came a dependence on alcohol that would play a major role in his tragic end. She liked Holden and went out of her way to help him succeed, devoting her personal time to coaching and encouraging him, which made them into lifelong friends. [26], He made another war film for a British director, The Key (1958) with Trevor Howard and Sophia Loren for director Carol Reed. On February 7, 1955, Holden appeared as a guest star on I Love Lucy as himself. Norma Desmond says that she paid $28,000 for the Isotta-Fraschini car in 1929. Sunset Boulevard turns the tables on film noir by casting Joe in the oldest role on the books. Mrs. Getty divorced her millionaire husband and received custody of the house; it was she who rented it to Paramount for the filming. And here is how he obtained his new movie tag. Some, including Holden himself and one of his close confidants, could foresee the death (per The Huntsville Item). In the penultimate scene, as Max tells Norma that "the cameras have arrived," the high strings in composer Franz Waxman's Oscar-winning score quote a chord from Richard Strauss's "The Dance of the Seven Veils" from his opera "Salome". Sands had forged Taylors name on checks and wrecked his car the summer before and left footprints on Taylors bed after a burglary. After a private screening for Hollywood dignitaries, Barbara Stanwyck knelt in front of Gloria Swanson and kissed the hem of her skirt. Gordon Cole was a real person in the art department for DeMille's Samson and Delilah (1949) and later in The Ten Commandments (1956). A modern-girl Jiminy Cricket, Betty asks, Dont you sometimes hate yourself? and Joe corrects her, Constantly.. When Peavey heard the moans I am the ghost of William Desmond Taylor. In 1986 Nancy Olson became the last surviving member of the cast. A Western at MGM, Escape from Fort Bravo (1953) did much better, and the all-star Executive Suite (1954) was a notable success. [2] He had two younger brothers, Robert Westfield Beedle and Richard Porter Beedle. They thought the actors made it up as they went along. There's a little dig in the scene when Cecil B. DeMille finds out that Paramount has been calling Norma Desmond because it wants to rent her car for "the Crosby picture."
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