Billy Wilder originally approached William Haines to play one of Norma's bridge partners. When he appeared in the innovative Hollywood director Rouben Mamoulian's Golden Boy (1939), he was hailed as exactly that, but had seen his stock fall, largely through his problems with alcohol and a string of unmemorable films in the 1940s. Wilder told the actors to kibbutz and let him shuffle. When Norma visits Cecil B. Set designer Hans Dreier had in fact been the interior designer for the homes of former silent stars Bebe Daniels, Norma Shearer and Pola Negri. David Lynch is an avid fan of the movie, having referenced it in films such as Inland Empire (2006), Mulholland Drive (2001)--which has a similar title and theme about the misfortunes of aspiring artists in Hollywood--and the television show Twin Peaks (1990), where Lynch himself played an FBI Bureau Chief named Gordon Cole. This indicates that he is smoking filterless cigarettes, which was the norm for that era until filters became the standard after the mid-'50s. Taylor had a British accent and the imposter sounded like he came out of Chicagos south side. 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. . in 1911 when the Nestor Film Company moved from New. The first draft of the film was a straightforward comedy about a has-been actress making a comeback, and Wilder saw Mae West in the role. Sunset Boulevard 1950, William Holden, Gloria Swanson, full movie She was nominated for the first Academy Award in the Best Actress category. The last name of the studio executive played by Fred Clark is Sheldrake. Sunset Boulevard is a noir film and like many of the post-World War II dark classics, it is covered with a thick sheen of cynicism. Peavey died in a San Francisco asylum, where he was being treated for syphilis-related dementia, in 1931. 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). [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. At one point, Norma decides the time is right to send Gillis script to DeMille because is a Leo. [2] He had two younger brothers, Robert Westfield Beedle and Richard Porter Beedle. read more: Can The Biblical Epic be Resurrected? It's the pictures that got small," was voted #24, out of 100. director of photography Film Editing by Arthur P. Schmidt . Prior to joining the Houston Chronicle, Gonzales worked as a night cops reporter at The. Salome was a wonderful part for Norma Desmonds celluloid comeback. The audience left 20 years ago. 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. Swanson and von Stroheim are playing themselves in that scene. Paramount reunited him with Nancy Olson, one of his Sunset Boulevard costars, in Union Station (1950). Nothing else! Microphones would catch the last gurgles, and Technicolor would photograph the red, swollen tongues. Joe Gillis' typewriter is a portable manual Remington Rand Noiseless Model 7. Haines, whose career had ended because of his homosexual off-screen life, was too happy in his new profession as an interior decorator to want to call attention to his past as an actor. Sunset Boulevard (DVD, 2017) UK Region 2 release with extras. [28] Columbia would not meet Holden's asking price of $750,000 and 10% of the gross for The Guns of Navarone (1961); the amount of money Holden asked exceeded the combined salaries of stars Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn.[29]. Mary Pickford, Pola Negri, and Greta Garbo turned down the role. In 1972, Holden began a nine-year relationship with actress Stefanie Powers and sparked her interest in animal welfare. but Holden's wife, Ardis (Brenda Marshall), who happened to be on set that day. Filtered cigarette packs always open at the filtered end, which meant he would've been lighting the filter otherwise. To everyone's surprise, Judy Holliday won the Best Actress Oscar in 1951 for Born Yesterday (1950), beating Gloria Swanson in this film, and Bette Davis in All About Eve (1950). When Joe and Norma sit down to watch one of her old movies, Joe pulls out a cigarette and places the bottom end in his mouth. The directions given by the Paramount guard for Norma and Joe to go meet Cecil B. DeMille on "Stage 18" is accurate: this stage, one of the largest on the Paramount lot, was known for years as "The DeMille Stage" and now is called "The Star Trek Stage", as all the "Trek" movies and some scenes from the TV shows have been shot there (the TV series, from Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) onward, had its main sets right across the studio street on Stages 8 and 9, which are right below the second-floor office occupied by Betty Schaefer in this film. Ironically, the last films that Gloria Swanson made for Paramount were not at this famous facility. In 1998 the American Film Institute selected this as the 12th greatest film of the 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time. The stars read the stars. They stayed that way even if the pictures got small. The next decade saw Holden's career flourish. Sondheim respectfully stopped work on the project and, on the same grounds, later declined an offer to write the score for a proposed movie remake., Additional Sources: cynical Hollywood survivor played by William Holden. 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. Hack screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) accidentally falls in with faded screen legend Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Holman was 16 years older than him and was afraid people would think the movie was a parody of their relationship. Those offices later became the home of the "Star Trek" art department. Billy Wilder wanted a fresh face for the part of Betty Schaefer. Holman was reportedly worried the film would parody their relationship and told Clift she would commit suicide if he played the role. Gloria Swanson played her final descent on the staircase barefoot, as she was terrified of tripping in high heels. Billy Wilder was frustrated with people assuming that the ending was meant to be ambiguous and asking him what happens to Norma after the final dissolve. Sunset Blvd. (1950) - Trivia - IMDb Holden starred in the 20th Century Fox film Apartment for Peggy (1948). [12] Swanson later said, "Bill Holden was a man I could have fallen in love with. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . Columbia put Holden in a Western with Jean Arthur, Arizona (1940), then at Paramount he was in a hugely popular war film, I Wanted Wings (1941) with Ray Milland and Veronica Lake. Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard took the tinsel out of Tinseltown, the gild off the golden boy, and the cover off a forgotten murder. Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard is one of his three or four masterpieces, a seminal Hollywood black comedy-satire, which unlike most films keeps improving with the passage of time.. Benfiting from a glorious and iconic cast, the film concerns a faded silent film star, played by Gloria Swanson (in a variation of her own onscreen persona), who lives in the past with her butler (and former . I didn't know. words "Sunset Blvd." Ultimately she retired completely from films, making only sporadic appearances, notably in Airport 1975 (1974). Clift was also wary of appearing in the film because he, like the character of Joe, was having an affair with a wealthy older former actress, Libby Holman. The film's narrative structure bears a marked resemblance to that of American Beauty (1999). The director turned actor was still able to steer the expensive Italian car into the Paramount gate. Yeah. Billy Wilder was a friend of the danish silent movie star Asta Nielsen, and based the Norma Desmond caracter on her. Swanson made the transition to talkies with The Trespasser in 1929. [30] Holden made a Western with Ryan O'Neal and Blake Edwards, Wild Rovers (1971). And, of course, a pool. But she fits it like a round peg in a square hole. But Hollywood press has always had clout. ", The scene of Max playing Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" at the organ might well have been an inspiration for Lurch at the harpsichord in the TV series "The Addams Family.". The As far as being a forgotten star, past her prime, Norma is only 50 in the movie, Swanson was 53 when she made it and was herself very busy on the then-new medium of television. Other actresses considered for Norma Desmond were Mae West (who wanted to rewrite the dialogue), Mae Murray, and Mary Pickford. 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. Rudy's shoeshine stand at the parking lot where Gillis hides his car from the creditors was inspired by Oscar Smith's shoeshine stand located just inside the Bronson Gate at the old Paramount Studios, which was a popular hangout for gossip and socializing while Billy Wilder was building his career there. She is ever the star. Wilder wanted Hedy Lamarr to sit in for a cameo, but she wanted $25,000. (1950) in Australia? Bogart took the part hoping it would pair him back up with his wife Lauren Bacall. [16] Holden recalls their romance:.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, Before I even met her, I had a crush on her, and after I met her, just a day later, I felt as if we were old friends, and I was rather fiercely protective of her, though not in a possessive way. And what faces. 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. Clift's biographers say it was because he had a strong following among older women, who wrote him letters describing how they'd like to mother him, and he didn't want to encourage such behavior. Because all three audiences inappropriately found the morgue scene hilarious, the film's release was delayed six months so that a new beginning could be shot. The only addition was the swimming pool, which wasn't equipped with a means of circulating the water so it was useless after filming. "Sometimes he'd just get in his car and drive," the director told the AP. He was a genuine star. This was a first for Gloria Swanson, but proved a big boon in helping her develop her character's descent into madness. Zach Laws, Chris Beachum. Sunset Boulevard mixed fiction with the realities of filmmaking. The movie premiered in the days of restricted language, not so long after Rhett Butler controversially told Scarlett OHara he didnt give a damn what happened to her in Gone With the Wind, a classic Paramount passed on because who wanted to see Civil War picture? But the old guard thought Wilder and his co-writer Charles Brackett fashioned a rope that could strangle this business of show by writing words, words, and more words. Warner, and Anna Q. Nilsson. American actress Gloria Swanson in a promotional portrait for 'Sunset Boulevard', directed by Billy Wilder, 1950. In 1973, Holden starred with Kay Lenz in a movie directed by Clint Eastwood called Breezy, which was considered a box-office flop. Boulevard du crpuscule : Amazon.com.mx: Pelculas y Series de TV Wilder was no fan of improvisation and was very protective of his words. It was not particularly successful. Newspapers printed love letters between 19-year-old former child star and screen idol Mary Miles Minter and Taylor. For Swanson, whose career was already being threatened by the advent of talkies, Queen Kelly was another blow. For the record, the other 12 films to achieve a similar feat are Mrs. Miniver (1942), Johnny Belinda (1948), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), From Here to Eternity (1953), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? It was the same technique he had used to shoot Rudolph Valentino's tango in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921). Unlike the character she played, Gloria Swanson had accepted the fact that the movies didn't want her anymore and had moved to New York, where she worked on radio and, later, television. William Holden: Golden Boy of Hollywood Starred in 'Sunset Boulevard Holdens last movie, Blake Edwardss S.O.B., was another masterpiece of Hollywood cynicism. SUNSET BOULEVARD: The Making of the Billy Wilder Classic The Academy Award-winning actor William Holden, born William Beedle Jr., on April 17, 1918, in O'Fallon, Illinois, began his career with 1939s "Golden Boy," per Britannica. This is absolutely true, Nancy Reagan continued consulting her astrologer long after she stopped parking at studio lots. It was built in 1924 by William Jenkins, at a cost of $250,000. After graduating from South Pasadena High School, Holden attended Pasadena Junior College, where he became involved in local radio plays. Costume designer Edith Head found working on the film to be one of her greatest challenges. Billy Wilder went into production with only 61 pages of script finished, so he had to shoot more or less in chronological order. Free Postage. Swanson herself reportedly asked him to do it. Although she had long before ruled out the possibility of a movie comeback, she was nevertheless highly intrigued when she got the offer to play the lead. But it's also a love story, and the love keeps it from becoming simply a waxworks or a freak show. Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder retained the term of endearment for the scene in which DeMille greets Norma Desmond at the door of the sound stage. [41], Holden was married to actress Brenda Marshall from 1941 until their divorce in 1971. According to Cameron Crowe, who shadowed Billy Wilder in his twilight years, a typical day in his office would consist of him answering numerous phone calls from people requesting to remake this film, and he would inform them that he didn't own the rights and promptly hang up. She reads everyone and everything in Hollywood, except Joes script. Warner took the part. 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." See, Bettys a message gal, not a virgin, and there are no whores in Hollywood. The only extant film elements were 35mm inter-positives struck in 1952, which had undergone a great deal of decay. And so tonight, my golden boy, you got your wish". Sunset Boulevard is also a reflection of Hollywood through a glass, darkly. In one week, she received 17,000 fan letters. Sunset Boulevard (film) - Wikipedia In later interviews, Davis admitted that she thought Swanson's work in the film was absolutely outstanding. This is a reference to the now-mad Norma's final possession by the character of Salome, with whom she'd been so obsessed. When crew members asked Billy Wilder how he was going to shoot the burial of Norma's monkey, one of the film's most bizarre scenes, he just said, "You know, the usual monkey-funeral sequence.". was better known as the seat of the film industry in 1950, the Los Angeles film industry actually began on Sunset Blvd. It's probably just as well, since the darker, more nuanced story that eventually emerged was quite different from West's wheelhouse anyway. It was meant to be slightly humorous in a morbid way, but the audience at the first test screening found it flat-out hysterical, setting the wrong mood for the rest of the picture. Eventually it wasn't Wilder who shouted "Cut!" Sunset Boulevard (styled in the main title on-screen as SUNSET BLVD.) Next image (0) (0) No one wants to get caught by surprise anymore. GLAMOROUS MEN: WILLIAM HOLDEN: At some point, "Sunset Boulevard" It has to be an opera. For this Lamarr wanted $25,000 (which would be about $250,000 in 2015 dollars). Wilder asked how much shed charge just to shoot the chair and Lamarr said $10,000. DeMille." It's the *pictures* that got small. 1851 Ivar Street was the address of the Alto Nido Apartments, where he lived, sometimes worked and, ultimately died in 1941. Sunset Boulevard, Clip, William Holden, Gloria Swanson, 1950 Cecil B. DeMille: at the studio during Norma's visit. 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). The killing and the media circus that followed it hurt the industry. [27] He played an American Civil War military surgeon in John Ford's The Horse Soldiers (1959) opposite John Wayne, which was a box-office disappointment. But before you hear it all distorted and blown out of proportion, before those Hollywood columnists get their hands on it, maybe youd like to hear the facts, the whole truth. All of the silent film stars mentioned by Norma, Joe, Betty and Max were either dead or no longer active in films by 1950. The 49-year-old film directors body was found on the morning of Feb. 2, 1922, inside his bungalow at the Alvarado Court Apartments in Westlake, Los Angeles. The first name of the Joe Gillis character was Dan in an early draft of the screenplay, then altered to Dick, and finally to Joe just before filming began. The clips in Sunset Boulevard were the first time American audiences saw it. A true Hollywood horror story. The Tragic 1981 Death Of Sunset Boulevard Star William Holden. Brackett and Wilder worked together on more than a dozen movies including The Lost Weekend. As the band plays 'Diane', we also see Desmond ascending her staircase. The car William Holden drives is a P15 Plymouth Special DeLuxe convertible, a model that was produced from 1945-49. Art director John Meehan experimented until he came up with the idea to shoot the scene through a mirror at the bottom of the studio water tank. She burst into tears upon completion of the scene. The restoration was performed at Lowry Digital by Barry Allen and Steve Elkin. In his place, Wilder hired Buster Keaton. (Gloria Swanson's TV star - she has one for TV and one for film - is very near by at 6301 Hollywood Blvd). Both Keaton and Hopper died the same day, on February 1, 1966, at the ages of 70 and 80 respectively, both in Los Angeles. 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." They swore each other off over the montage where Norma struggles to lose weight for her comeback. He said hed already played a young kept man in the film The Heiresswith Olivia De Havilland, and in real life with his relationship with older singer Libby Holman. "I left countless messages but received no answer." From the right angle, the camera could shoot the reflected image in the mirror without ever going underwater itself. Holden made a fourth and final film for Wilder with Fedora (1978). 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. You used to be big. Sunset Boulevard is no has-been, though. It was a gift from her lover, automobile magnate Walter Chrysler. . Gordon Cole was a real person in the art department for DeMille's Samson and Delilah (1949) and later in The Ten Commandments (1956). William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 November 12, 1981) was an American actor and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. 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. on the corner of Crenshaw and Irving. At Columbia, he starred in film noirs, The Dark Past (1948), The Man from Colorado (1949) and Father Is a Bachelor (1950). The film originally opened and closed the story at the Los Angeles County Morgue. He played an older version of Joe in Sidney Lumets classic Network (1976), written by the cynical Paddy Chayefsky. Also in 1969, Holden starred in director Terence Young's family film L'Arbre de Nol, co-starring Italian actress Virna Lisi and French actor Bourvil, based on the novel of the same name by Michel Bataille. Ready? (A few months later, Hepburn met Mel Ferrer, whom she later married and with whom she had a son Sean Hepburn Ferrer. For purposes of authenticity Erich von Stroheim and Nancy Olson wore their own clothes in the film. The larger version is seen at the temple that Samson brings down in the movie Samson and Delilah (1949), which Cecil B. DeMille was shooting when Norma visits him at Paramount. "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. Editorial Reviews. At Paramount, he was in a comedy with Ginger Rogers that was not particularly popular, Forever Female (1953). It was largely from his association with Wilder that Holden would enjoy the greatest acting successes of his career in the 1950s. Norma telling studio guard Jonesy that without her there would be no Paramount Studios is not a far-fetched notion. Sunset Boulevard Review (1950) Classic Film | William Holden | Gloria The two actors never worked together in another film. He just didnt have what it takes. Since he had classic good looks, an expressive voice, and was an excelle Norma Shearer turned down the role of Norma Desmond as she didn't want to come out of retirement and also found the part to be highly distasteful. Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die," edited by Steven Schneider. It's the pictures that got small" was #91. The building manager found the body of the legendary actor who starred in 70 films and was a good friend of President Ronald Reagan nearly a week later, per The Washington Post. He followed it with Damien: Omen II (1978) and had a cameo in Escape to Athena (1978), which co-starred his real-life love interest Stefanie Powers. Norma Desmond: I *am* big. Confess, Peavey, he laughed in the ghosts face. There are several references to Gloria Swanson's actual career in the film. That's a reference to the traditional grey morning suit worn by the groom at a formal wedding. Wilder and his co-writers reversed several elements, and there was no official connection between the movie and Waugh's book. [47], President Ronald Reagan released a statement: "I have a great feeling of grief. "[13] Paramount reunited him with Nancy Olson, one of his Sunset Boulevard costars, in Union Station (1950). Erich von Stroheim, who directed Swanson in Queen Kelly (1932), plays Max the butler, who serves as the projectionist in the scene. 3.48. Although they don't have a scene together in this film, Hedda Hopper and Buster Keaton had worked together in the 1932 comedy Speak Easily (1932), both were among the many stars appearing in the 1931 two-reeler The Stolen Jools (1931), and they both appeared in a 1958 episode of The Garry Moore Show (1958) that also featured Carol Burnett, who years later would spoof the Norma Desmond character regularly on her own variety show. The investigation found that in the weeks just prior to his death, Taylor had been making some pretty delusional statements about his place in the world and some of his friends thought he had recently gone insane. This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 22:44. Read more of his work here or find him on Twitter @tsokol. [7], Back at Paramount, he starred with Bonita Granville in Those Were the Days! H.B. Wilder's version is the one they went with (he was the director, after all), but the argument marked a turning point for him, and he decided never to work with Brackett again. William Holden, original name William Franklin Beedle, Jr., (born April 17, 1918, O'Fallon, Illinois, U.S.found dead November 16, 1981, Santa Monica, California), American film star who perfected the role of the cynic who acts heroically in spite of his scorn or pessimism. After working on Sunset Boulevard, Swanson remarked, Bill Holden was a man I could have fallen in love with. Film News. (1950) in my head, and I'd always sort of related to that character floating in . A modern-girl Jiminy Cricket, Betty asks, Dont you sometimes hate yourself? and Joe corrects her, Constantly.. The Tragic 1981 Death Of Sunset Boulevard Star William Holden Holden, just 63 when he died, had most recently appeared in the Blake Edwards' film "S.O.B." At one point Norma mentions working with Mabel Normand and Marie Prevost. The statuette on the telephone table at Artie Green's new years party is a model of the Philistine god, Dagon. [40], Holden had a daughter born in 1937 from his relationship with actress Eva May Hoffman. Holden did a sports film at Columbia, Boots Malone (1952), then returned to Paramount for The Turning Point (1952). Such extravagances were so commonplace that when Wilder was planning to shoot the funeral of Normas chimpanzee, the director told the crew to just set-up the usual monkey-funeral sequence.. But attempts to turn the movie into a stage musical began almost immediately, spearheaded by none other than Gloria Swanson. [45], According to the Los Angeles County Coroner's autopsy report, Holden bled to death in his apartment in Santa Monica, California, on November 12, 1981, after lacerating his forehead from slipping on a rug while intoxicated and hitting a bedside table. The same musical quote from "Salome" is used again as she descends the stairs, where Waxman segues into his own original musical statement of "The Dance of the Seven Veils". Sands had forged Taylors name on checks and wrecked his car the summer before and left footprints on Taylors bed after a burglary. [26], He made another war film for a British director, The Key (1958) with Trevor Howard and Sophia Loren for director Carol Reed. Wilder almost hired Broadway star Marlon Brando, who would make his screen debut in The Men in 1950.
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