The movie's line "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." Her character's age was 22 but she was 21 at the time of filming. Sunset Boulevard, the 1950 film noir classic directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, did a lot to change that and other myths of old Hollywoodlike the real-life murder at the heart of the story. Well, in the end, he got himself a poolonly the price turned out to be a little high, so Paramount paid to have one installed on the condition that if Mrs. Getty didnt like it, theyd remove it after filming was over. A version of how he obtained his stage name "Holden" is based on a statement by George Ross of Billboard: "William Holden, the lad just signed for the coveted lead in Golden Boy, used to be Bill Beadle [sic]. In 1998 the American Film Institute selected this as the 12th greatest film of the 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time. No one wants to get caught by surprise anymore. On the morning of February 1, 1922, Taylor--who had been romantically involved with her-- was shot and killed in his Hollywood bungalow. Later in the film Max tells Gillis that he was the silent-movie director who discovered Norma and put her in films. William Holden returns to find that Gloria Swanson has tried to slash her wrists in 'Sunset Boulevard', directed by Billy Wilder. Still, whatever hard feelings there may have been between Swanson and von Stroheim, they were gone by the time Sunset Boulevard came along. The film originally opened and closed the story at the Los Angeles County Morgue. [35] Holden starred in The Earthling,[36] as a loner dying of cancer at the Australian outback and accompanying an orphan boy (Ricky Schroder). read more: Can The Biblical Epic be Resurrected? . Her friend George Cukor, who initially recommended her for the part, told her, "If they want you to do ten screen tests, do ten screen tests. For added meta-truthfulness, Wilder wanted to have that film's lead actress, Hedy Lamarr, be there too, so that DeMille could ask her to let Norma sit in her chair (you know, those behind-the-scenes chairs that have the star's name on them). The producer in the film was originally called Kaufman and was to be played by Joseph Calleia. cynical Hollywood survivor played by William Holden. In a scene described by director Billy Wilder as one of the best he'd ever shot, the body of Joe Gillis is rolled into the morgue to join three dozen other corpses, some of whom--in voice-over--tell Gillis how they died. Watch Sunset Boulevard: Centennial Collection, When Norma Desmond says to the guard at the "Paramount Studio" gates, "Without me there wouldn't be any 'Paramount Studio'" the words could apply to, When Max is telling Joe about directing Madam's first pictures, there is a bad dub of the word "sixteen". Marshman Jr. Stars William Holden Gloria Swanson Erich von Stroheim See production, box office & company info Add to Watchlist 701 User reviews 196 Critic reviews 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,. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett almost came to blows over the montage depicting Norma's preparations for her comeback. She is still waving proudly to a parade which had long since passed her by. 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. Norma telling studio guard Jonesy that without her there would be no Paramount Studios is not a far-fetched notion. The young actor also got to work with George Raft and Humphrey Bogart in the gangsters on parole movie,Invisible Stripes. Microphones would catch the last gurgles, and Technicolor would photograph the red, swollen tongues. Norma Desmond was the greatest of them all. 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. Normands career never recovered after word of her addiction leaked out and she died of tuberculosis on Feb. 23, 1930. Two years later, he was praised for his Oscar-nominated leading performance in Sidney Lumet's classic Network (1976),[34] an examination of the media written by Paddy Chayefsky, playing an older version of the character type for which he had become iconic in the 1950s, only now more jaded and aware of his own mortality. Hollywood was known for its excesses long before Michael Jackson hit town. Marshman Jr. Sunset Boulevard was the last time Brackett and Wilder collaborated on a film. The veteran actress particularly wanted to see what Mary Pickford felt and was disappointed to see that she had left. The two actors never worked together in another film. In one week, she received 17,000 fan letters. Gloria Swanson's career was not revitalized by this film. In 1954, Holden was featured on the cover of Life. "Twin Peaks" also features characters named Chester Desmond and Norma Jennings, in reference to Norma Desmond. Warner (one of the four "Waxworks" at the bridge party) in The King of Kings (1927). When two more test audiences reacted the same way, Wilder cut the scene and the movie was saved. Neither was The Revengers (1972), another Western. In 1986 Nancy Olson became the last surviving member of the cast. Erich von Stroheim, who made the masterpiece Greed in 1924, directed Swanson in Queen Kelly (1928), the flick Holdens character cuddles up with Norma to watch in the dark screening room of the dark mansion. On the last day of shooting, Swanson drove back to the house she, her mother and daughter shared during production, announcing "there were only three of us in it now, meaning that Norma Desmond had taken her leave.". He followed it with a romantic comedy, Dear Ruth (1947) and he was one of many cameos in Variety Girl (1947). Jay Livingston, Ray Evans: The Paramount songwriting duo is seen at the piano at Artie Green's New Year's Eve party. 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. The Tragic 1981 Death Of Sunset Boulevard Star William Holden. She hates all of Joes writing except for about six pages. The musical version of the movie opened in London on July 12, 1993, and ran 1529 performances. They had to have the ears of the old place, too. "Lonely, alone, without dignity.". ), and he calls her "young fellow." Co-writer D.M. [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]. It was the same technique he had used to shoot Rudolph Valentino's tango in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921). Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge were famous for owning downtown real estate in Los Angeles and San Diego. In fact, such was the buzz about the film during production that the viewing of the dailies became one of the hottest tickets on the lot. 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. Old whores dont fuck for fun, as the old saying goes. She burst into tears upon completion of the scene. When Artie Green introduces Joe to other guests at his New Year's Eve party, he jokingly refers to him as "the well-known screenwriter, uranium smuggler and Black Dahlia suspect", a reference to the infamous unsolved L.A. murder case in 1947 of an aspiring actress known as The Black Dahlia, who was found murdered and dismembered on a street in Los Angeles. They eventually worked together on several films and became close friends. Sunset Boulevard Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images . If Gillis is accurate in stating that his meeting with Norma occurred some six months prior, the action of the film takes place between mid-November 1948 and mid- May 1949. (The book is about a failed screenwriter who works for a cemetery and lives with a forgotten silent-film star.) Wilder and Brackett told everyone at Paramount and the Production code that the screenplay was based on the story A Can of Beans by Wilder, Brackett, and D.M. Was Oscar-nominated in all the major categories--Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Screenplay--but only won in the last category. His Mount Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki (founded 1959) was popular with the international jet set. They had faces. is a 1950 American black comedy [1] [2] film noir [3] directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett. Culture Editor Tony Sokol cut his teeth on the wire services and also wrote and produced New York CitysVampyr Theatreand the rock operaAssassiNation: We Killed JFK. [10] RKO borrowed him for Rachel and the Stranger (1948) with Robert Mitchum and Loretta Young. Billy Wilder originally approached William Haines to play one of Norma's bridge partners. Warner, who appears as one of "The Waxworks", had been Gloria Swanson's leading man in Zaza (1923). William Holden says his birthday is December 21st. Sunset Blvd. (1950) - Trivia - IMDb Im not giving anything away here. Around this time he also appeared in 21 Hours at Munich (1976). Beedle grew up in South Pasadena, California. William Holden - Biography - IMDb 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. SUNSET BOULEVARD: The Making of the Billy Wilder Classic "[13] And Wilder commented "Bill was a complex guy, a totally honorable friend. The Den of Geek quarterly magazine is packed with exclusive features, interviews, previews and deep dives into geek culture. Seleccionar el departamento en el que deseas buscar. [14], Holden made a third film with Wilder, Sabrina (1954), billed beneath Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. 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. In the scene where Norma is showing Joe her silent movies, one of them is Queen Kelly (1932), which was filmed at Paramount's Astoria Studios in Astoria, Queens, NY. Originally Billy Wilder wanted both of Hollywood's top gossip columnists--Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons--reporting from Norma's mansion at the end and fighting over the phone. Billy Wilder was actually friendlier with the other leading gossip columnist of the day, Louella Parsons. Director Cecil B. DeMille, silent film actors Buster Keaton, H. B. Warner, and Anna Q. Nilsson played waxy versions of themselves. The only Best Picture Oscar nominee of the year to be also nominated for Original Screenplay. One of the few showy bits of camerawork in the film is near the beginning, when the corpse floating in Norma Desmond's pool is seen from underneath. Fred MacMurray and Gene Kelly both turned down the role of Joe Gillis. 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". Billy Wilder was a friend of the danish silent movie star Asta Nielsen, and based the Norma Desmond caracter on her. (She liked it.). The name Norma Desmond was a combination of early Hollywoods comedy star Mabel Normand and her lover, silent film director William Desmond Taylor. 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. When Norma Desmond says to the guard at the "Paramount Studio" gates, "Without me there wouldn't be any 'Paramount Studio'" the words could apply to Gloria Swanson herself, as she was the studio's top star for six years running. [2] He had two younger brothers, Robert Westfield Beedle and Richard Porter Beedle. We were close friends for many years. Sunset Boulevard mixed fiction with the realities of filmmaking. After graduating from South Pasadena High School, Holden attended Pasadena Junior College, where he became involved in local radio plays. Wilder told the actors to kibbutz and let him shuffle. Holden, who was at this point dependent on alcohol, said, "I really was in love with Audrey, but she wouldn't marry me. The address of Norma Desmond's house is given as 10086 Sunset Boulevard. He is the TV Editor at Entertainment. An ending for the film was cobbled together, but the movie was never shown in the U.S. This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 22:44. On the basis of this film and largely due to his continuing association with director Billy Wilder, Holden would reach the zenith of his career from 1950-'57. Norma Desmond: I *am* big. Sunset Boulevard is also a reflection of Hollywood through a glass, darkly. Gillis: "Yes I was murdered." It is also one of the most frequently misquoted movie lines, usually given as, "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. That's the end.". As the band plays 'Diane', we also see Desmond ascending her staircase. The photos of the young Norma Desmond that decorate the house are all genuine publicity photos from Gloria Swanson's heyday. [7], Back at Paramount, he starred with Bonita Granville in Those Were the Days! The great big white elephant of a mansion on Sunset Boulevard was actually on Wilshire Boulevard and would be used again as the abandoned mansion in the film Rebel Without a Cause. The home was built in 1923 for businessman William O. Jenkins. 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). Principal photography took place from 11 April to 18 June 1949. Costume designer Edith Head found working on the film to be one of her greatest challenges. When Peavey heard the moans I am the ghost of William Desmond Taylor. When filming began, William Holden was 31 and Gloria Swanson was 50, the same stated age as her character. 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. Location scenes at Norma Desmond's mansion were shot not on Sunset Boulevard but on Wilshire Boulevard. And what faces. Holden paid it forward, becoming Hepburns guardian angel.. On the Columbia lot is an assistant director and scout named Harold Winston. GLAMOROUS MEN: WILLIAM HOLDEN: At some point, "Sunset Boulevard" Sure she was a forgotten silent star, living in exile, screening her old movies and dreaming of a comeback. While in Italy in 1966, Holden was responsible for the death of another driver in a drunk-driving incident near Pisa. His killer was never identified. "[4], For his contribution to the film industry, Holden has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1651 Vine Street. This was the last major Hollywood feature film to be shot on nitrate stock. "I know how it's going to be," Holden said (per The Huntsville Item). In subsequent years, two lawsuits have been filed against Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, claiming that Sunset Blvd. He played Rafts kid brother, who was following in his gangster footsteps and needed to be set straight. He was named one of the "Top 10 Stars of the Year" six times (19541958, 1961), and appeared as 25th on the American Film Institute's list of 25 greatest male stars of Classical Hollywood cinema. Throughout Hollywood history many film stars, and/or single films, were responsible for saving ailing studios. Without Norma Desmond, there wouldnt be any Paramount Pictures. When Powers returned to California, she went to his penthouse apartment in Santa Monica but couldn't get in. Gordon Cole was a real person in the art department for DeMille's Samson and Delilah (1949) and later in The Ten Commandments (1956). Norma goes to visit Cecil B. DeMille, several of whose films Swanson had starred in. ), a woman who trades on charms that have . Someone who said they were a doctor said Taylor died of a stomach hemorrhage and then disappeared. She is ever the star. director of photography Film Editing by Arthur P. Schmidt . Norma Desmond says that she paid $28,000 for the Isotta-Fraschini car in 1929. On the night of November 12, 1981, Holden consumed somewhere between eight and 10 drinks in a short amount of time, according to "William Holden: A Biography." [23][24] Picnic was his last film under the contract with Columbia. . These include Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Rudolph Valentino, Rod La Rocque, Vilma Bnky, Mabel Normand, Marie Prevost, Pearl White, and Douglas Fairbanks. ), It came out the same year as another behind-the-scenes showbiz classic, All About Eve, which took most of the Oscars. Norma wound up sitting in Mr. DeMilles chair. It was Erich von Stroheim who suggested the revelation that Max was writing all of Norma's fan mail. The Pharmacy was filmed only 500 feet (150 meters) from a scene in Armed and Dangerous (1986) & Falling Down (1993), The parking lot behind Rudy's Shoeshine where Joe Gillis pulls his car out of is 1751 Vine Street - about a half a block North of Hollywood Blvd (you can tell by the scene's POV of the Taft building that sits on the corner of Hollywood and Vine). But Hollywood press has always had clout. Oh, wake up, Norma. The general consensus was that the two titans had canceled each other out, leaving the field clear for Holliday. Norma, the aging silent-movie star who ensnares down-at-the-heels screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden), is the vamp become vampire (look at those clawlike hands! But before that happened, it appeared in Rebel Without a Cause as the abandoned mansion in which the kids hang out. Warner, and Anna Q. Nilsson. A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return. It was George Cukor who suggested Gloria Swanson for the role of Norma Desmond. Gillis smokes unfiltered cigarettes in the film. Sunset Boulevard's cinematographer, John Seitz, said Wilder "had wanted to do The Loved One, but couldn't obtain the rights." The black studs on Joe's shirt front were probably onyx, black opals, or even black pearls. Queen Kelly nearly ruined both of their careers after Joe Kennedy, JFKs dad who produced the film, replaced von Stroheim as director because Swanson complained about the racy material. was better known as the seat of the film industry in 1950, the Los Angeles film industry actually began on Sunset Blvd. At the end of her acceptance speech, she paid him a personal tribute: "I loved him very much, and I miss him. That movie, however, departs from the trope by making both actress and stranger much younger. Zach Laws, Chris Beachum. But it's also a love story, and the love keeps it from becoming simply a waxworks or a freak show. Talk! The next decade saw Holden's career flourish. 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. The movie's line "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up" was voted the #7 movie quote by the American Film Institute. It was a the kind of a place crazy movie people built in the crazy 20s. X. Part of the dialogue goes: Fat Man: "Where did you drown? For Swanson, whose career was already being threatened by the advent of talkies, Queen Kelly was another blow. It is because of Sunset Blvd., for certain, that my mind could ever go there. Some speculated it was because he was dating an older woman at the time (actress Libby Holman, 16 years his senior) and didn't want people to think the movie was a parody of that relationship. The two stars had never expressed any hostility towards each other over the failure of Cecil B. DeMille and Stroheim made many recommendations to Wilder during the making of the film, including having his character write all of Norma Desmond's fan mail, and, more importantly, to use footage from "Queen Kelly" as an excerpt from one of Desmond's great silent films. A week later she heard the news of Holden's death on her car radio. When filming began, William Holden was 31 and Gloria Swanson was 50, the same stated age as her character. The character of Joe Gillis was very much in tune with William Holden's standing at the time. She puts on a show playing a Max Sennett bathing girl and Charlie Chaplins Tramp character, though Maxs bad timing is a little too on the nose. 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. However, DeMille insisted that Lamarr be paid $25,000 for the privilege, so the idea was quickly dropped. William Holdens Joe Gillis helps a timid soul named Norma Desmond cross a crowded street on Paramounts back lot. 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. And here is how he obtained his new movie tag. 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. There were three young directors who showed promise in those early days of silent film, D.W. Griffith, Cecil B. In 2007 the American Film Institute ranked this as the #16 Greatest Movie of All Time. Wilder changed the scene so that DeMille offered Lamarr's chair to Norma without Lamarr being present. The finest things in the world have been written on an empty stomach, and Wilder and Brackett rewrote the story as adrama. Stanwyck went to bat for Holden when he was going to be replaced in Golden Boy (1939) and Wilder's collaboration with Holden in the 50s starting with Sunset Boulevard revitalized his career (including the Best Actor Oscar for Stalag 17 (1953). The actor-turned-director-turned-actor-again, who had indeed been one of the great silent-filmmakers, winced at playing a character so self-referential and demeaning, but he needed the money. Sunset Boulevard (DVD, 2017) UK Region 2 release with extras. 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. "[13]:174 The interactions between Bogart, Hepburn and Holden made shooting less than pleasant, as Bogart had wanted his wife, Lauren Bacall, to play Sabrina. In her private screening room, with butler Max running the projector, Norma cuddles up with Joe to watch one of her own films. Swanson agreed to the audition, and won the role. In accordance with his wishes, no funeral or memorial services were conducted. 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. For scenes in which he drove, the car was towed by another car. Well, they kissed, and kissed, and kept kissing, and the crew began to snicker, and finally Marshall's voice rang out: "Cut, dammit!" It was a big hit, as was The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), a Korean War drama with Kelly.[20][21]. ", 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.". 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). He rose to prominence with his role in the movie "Sunset Boulevard" (1950), which landed him his first Best Actor Oscar nomination. [12] Swanson later said, "Bill Holden was a man I could have fallen in love with. 12 Sep. WILLIAM HOLDEN: At some point, "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) played at The Silver Screen. Oscar and Emmy winner William Holden was one of Hollywood's biggest stars for decades, with his performances as cynical, conflicted men winning acclaim and awards. Billy Wilder quickly offered the role to Fred MacMurray, who turned it down because he didn't want to play a gigolo. 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. About 10 minutes later, Holden passed out and died from blood loss.