That movie, however, departs from the trope by making both actress and stranger much younger. He would slay, "I have no idea! 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 pool was used in its empty condition in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). Around this time he also appeared in 21 Hours at Munich (1976). She felt that Wilder used her name in a past-tense context, and she was offended. It was a gift from her lover, automobile magnate Walter Chrysler. An ending for the film was cobbled together, but the movie was never shown in the U.S. When Peavey heard the moans I am the ghost of William Desmond Taylor. (Gloria Swanson's TV star - she has one for TV and one for film - is very near by at 6301 Hollywood Blvd). Read and download theDen of Geek SDCC 2019 Special Edition Magazineright here! In the film Gloria is seen playing cards with three silent film stars: Buster Keaton, H.B. A new 4K high-definition scan was done in 2008 for the film's release on Blu-ray disc. Director Billy Wilder Writers Charles Brackett Billy Wilder D.M. "[18] Rumors at the time had it that Hepburn wanted a family, but when Holden told her that he had had a vasectomy and having children was impossible, she moved on. Gillis: "Yes I was murdered." [39] On a trip to Africa, he fell in love with the wildlife and became increasingly concerned with the animal species that were beginning to decrease in population. Sands had forged Taylors name on checks and wrecked his car the summer before and left footprints on Taylors bed after a burglary. 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. But attempts to turn the movie into a stage musical began almost immediately, spearheaded by none other than Gloria Swanson. 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.. Carol Burnett spoofed the film several times on her TV variety show. Cecil B. DeMille agreed to do his cameo for a $10,000 fee and a brand-new Cadillac. De Mille, and Max von Mayerling. 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 This dynamic served them well for years, each man's extreme tendencies being balanced by the other's, but during Sunset Boulevard it finally became unworkable. 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. Marshman Jr. Sunset Boulevard was the last time Brackett and Wilder collaborated on a film. When Norma visits DeMille at Paramount, he's in the midst of shooting Samson and Delilah, which really is what he was up to at the time. Holden turned the tables on Lucille Ball when he appeared as a guest star on I Love Lucy at The Brown Derby. Norma wound up sitting in Mr. DeMilles chair. 13 Close-Up Facts About Sunset Boulevard - Mental Floss Sunset Boulevard's cinematographer, John Seitz, said Wilder "had wanted to do The Loved One, but couldn't obtain the rights." (She liked it.). in West Hollywood. This wasn't the original opening and was filmed long after completion of filming. 1851 Ivar Street was the address of the Alto Nido Apartments, where he lived, sometimes worked and, ultimately died in 1941. If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. To help promote the film, Gloria Swanson did a three-month tour of 36 cities in America and Canada. [44] After his death, Powers set up the William Holden Wildlife Foundation at Holden's Mount Kenya Game Ranch. He always wished that I would get an Oscar. Realizing that former actress Hopper would easily dominate the scene, Parsons declined, even though she and Wilder were friends. Von Stroheim didnt know how to drive, and the scene where hes driving the exotic leopard-upholstered Isotta-Fraschini was shot as the car was being towed. The 2014 book by William J. Mann, Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood, names Ross Blackie Madsen Sheridan as the killer, based on a death bed confession from actress Margaret Gibson, who beat a 1917 rap on prostitution and opium dealing. For Swanson, whose career was already being threatened by the advent of talkies, Queen Kelly was another blow. 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." Holden was reunited with Wilder in Stalag 17 (1953), for which Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor. When Powers returned to California, she went to his penthouse apartment in Santa Monica but couldn't get in. cynical Hollywood survivor played by William Holden. The "fee" for renting the Jean Paul Getty mansion was for Paramount to build the swimming pool, which features so memorably. There once was a time in this business when they had the eyes of the whole world. [10] RKO borrowed him for Rachel and the Stranger (1948) with Robert Mitchum and Loretta Young. In the movie when a cop tries to call in to the coroners office, he cant get an open line because Hedda Hopper is on the phone in Normas room, talking to the Times City Desk and that is more important. [38], Holden maintained a home in Switzerland and also spent much of his time working for wildlife conservation as a managing partner in an animal preserve in Africa. Principal photography took place from 11 April to 18 June 1949. They eventually worked together on several films and became close friends. Mary Pickford, Pola Negri, and Greta Garbo turned down the role. But it's also a love story, and the love keeps it from becoming simply a waxworks or a freak show. Billy Wilder was actually friendlier with the other leading gossip columnist of the day, Louella Parsons. Sunset Boulevard, Clip, William Holden, Gloria Swanson, 1950 'Sunset Blvd.': 15 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About - Moviefone Gloria Swanson's career was not revitalized by this film. What is the streaming release date of Sunset Blvd. 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. (1950) in Australia? [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. Was the inspiration for Metallica's 1997 song "The Memory Remains". was better known as the seat of the film industry in 1950, the Los Angeles film industry actually began on Sunset Blvd. Wilder told the actors to kibbutz and let him shuffle. Haines declined and fellow screen veteran H.B. . She declined the offer. (1950) was plagiarized from other scripts. Bogart was not especially friendly toward Hepburn, who had little Hollywood experience, while Holden's reaction was the opposite, wrote biographer Michelangelo Capua. "Variety" ran a front-page review, and this led to a belated release of Swanson's version in 1957 (the year of Stroheim's death). Make-up designer Wally Westmore found that Gloria Swanson's face belied her age and wanted to make her look older. 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. He called it "that goddamned butler role" for the remaining seven years of his life. The older actor prided himself on needling people and he needled the shit out of Holden on the first movie, and the second movie was worse because Holden started dating Audrey Hepburn during filming. I instantly fell in love - both with the movie itself and with its handsome 32-year old male lead, William Holden. (A few months later, Hepburn met Mel Ferrer, whom she later married and with whom she had a son Sean Hepburn Ferrer. Cecil B. DeMille appears in the film on a studio set. Sunset Boulevard mixed fiction with the realities of filmmaking. Joe Gillis' typewriter is a portable manual Remington Rand Noiseless Model 7. She said it was a blackmail scheme gone wrong. The photos of the young Norma Desmond that decorate the house are all genuine publicity photos from Gloria Swanson's heyday. The restoration was performed at Lowry Digital by Barry Allen and Steve Elkin. At one point, Norma decides the time is right to send Gillis script to DeMille because is a Leo. Gillis: "Well, I had a few extra holes in me, two in the chest and one in the stomach." A second film with Seaton did not do as well, The Proud and Profane (1956), where Holden played the role with a moustache. We'll hear two of his visits to Suspense, beginning with the New Orleans jazz . His body was found four days later. "We didn't need dialogue. It was only natural that he should film several sequences on the studio's backlots. Despite the 19 year gap in their ages, Holden and Swanson died just 2 years apart from each other- Holden in 1981 at age 63 and Swanson in 1983 at age 84. But Hollywood press has always had clout. As the band plays 'Diane', we also see Desmond ascending her staircase. Sunset Boulevard told an old familiar story. Cinematographer John Seitz put a mirror on the bottom of the pool and filmed the reflection. Even though it wasn't the last scene filmed, Billy Wilder threw a party for her as soon as the shot was finished. Forensic evidence recovered at the scene suggested that he was conscious for at least half an hour after the fall. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett met with Greta Garbo and tried to convince her to make a comeback in the role of Norma Desmond. But it could just as well have been Joes headquarters, Schwabs Drug Store, a kind of combination office, coffee clutch, and waiting room where actors and writers wait for the gravy train. Joe Gillis: You're Norma Desmond. "[13] Paramount reunited him with Nancy Olson, one of his Sunset Boulevard costars, in Union Station (1950). In her private screening room, with butler Max running the projector, Norma cuddles up with Joe to watch one of her own films. The first of four films in which William Holden and Nancy Olson appeared. #7. Later in the film Max tells Gillis that he was the silent-movie director who discovered Norma and put her in films. And, of course, a pool. In 1972, Holden began a nine-year relationship with actress Stefanie Powers and sparked her interest in animal welfare. That's the end.". Watch 'Sunset Boulevard (1950)' Online Streaming (Full Movie) | PlayPilot Norma's bed originally belonged to French actress/singer Gaby Deslys. Charles Brackett and Wilder were just as adamant that nothing in their scripts should be changed, and nothing new added. This car has been on display at the National Automobile Museum in Turin, Italy since 1972. Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die," edited by Steven Schneider. Location scenes at Norma Desmond's mansion were shot not on Sunset Boulevard but on Wilshire Boulevard. The movie opens with a shot of a dead guy floating face down in a pool, and the dead man himself tells us that its Joe Gillis getting bloated in the chlorine. Gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, who plays herself in the movie, wrote that Billy Wilder was crazy about Evelyn Waughs book The Loved One, and the studio wanted to buy it.. Gloria Swanson worked closely with Edith Head on Norma's clothes to achieve just the right look: grandly expensive but slightly out of date. The drugstore where Joe Gillis meets up with his old movie industry friends is Schwab's Pharmacy, then a real pharmacy/soda fountain at the intersection of Sunset Blvd. Gordon Cole was a real person in the art department for DeMille's Samson and Delilah (1949) and later in The Ten Commandments (1956). And if you find it a little odd to hear dead men telling their own tales via narration, it is less strange than hearing it from a bunch of corpses with toe-tags talking it over in the LA county morgue, which was the way the movie was originally shot. "Lonely, alone, without dignity.". Holden acted in Executive Suite (1954), The Country Girl (1954) with Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly, The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), and Picnic (1955). From the right angle, the camera could shoot the reflected image in the mirror without ever going underwater itself. 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. 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. (1950), as a way of "art imitating life." The next decade saw Holden's career flourish. This is absolutely true, Nancy Reagan continued consulting her astrologer long after she stopped parking at studio lots. And here is how he obtained his new movie tag. 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. Ironically, the last films that Gloria Swanson made for Paramount were not at this famous facility. But along with the accolades came a dependence on alcohol that would play a major role in his tragic end. Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard took the tinsel out of Tinseltown, the gild off the golden boy, and the cover off a forgotten murder. To publicize the film, Paramount sent Gloria Swanson on a cross-country tour, paying her $1,000 a week for her services. Her character's age was 22 but she was 21 at the time of filming. We all are." Swanson was told "She can't show herself, Gloria, she's too overcome. She looks like a mannequin of a . In those days there were no buttons on formal shirts. Wilder and his co-writers reversed several elements, and there was no official connection between the movie and Waugh's book. . Warner, who appears as one of "The Waxworks", had been Gloria Swanson's leading man in Zaza (1923). Despite the 19 year gap in their ages, Holden and Swanson died just 2 years apart from each other- Holden in 1981 at age 63 and Swanson in 1983 at age 84. 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. A true Hollywood horror story. Gillis: "No, swimming pool." Read more of his work here or find him on Twitter @tsokol. Gloria Swanson brings sunshine into every room as silent screen idol Norma Desmond. Eventually it wasn't Wilder who shouted "Cut!" Neither did Toward the Unknown (1957), the one film Holden produced himself. In 2007 the American Film Institute ranked this as the #16 Greatest Movie of All Time. In fact, Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett even went to Pickfair to pitch the story to Pickford, but her horrified reaction as the story progressed made them stop halfway through and apologize to her. They had to have the ears of the old place, too. but Holden's wife, Ardis (Brenda Marshall), who happened to be on set that day. Among the many past associations embedded in Sunset Blvd. +10 More . As this film opens, William Holden's character Joe Gillis describes himself as a Hollywood screenwriter "living in an apartment house above Ivar Street." 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. He stayed true to his word. Sunset Boulevard now begins with police cars racing to Norma Desmond's house, where a dead body is floating in the pool. There were no shortage of suspects. The director turned actor was still able to steer the expensive Italian car into the Paramount gate. The film was the favorite of Sci-Fi author J.G. 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 moment he discovers that life could be beautiful, Norma slits her wrist with Joes razor. 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. Gloria Swanson became so identified with the demanding, irascible Norma that later generations of fans were startled to discover her serene, easy-going, naturalist personality in real life. [32] Also in 1974, Holden starred with Paul Newman and Steve McQueen in the critically acclaimed disaster film The Towering Inferno,[33] which became a box-office smash and one of the highest-grossing films of Holden's career. Oh, and while were at it, Wilder didnt submerge any cameras to get that underwater shot. Sunset Boulevard - Paramount Originals (includes Limited Edition With the help of his partners, he created the Mount Kenya Game Ranch and inspired the creation of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation. Episode 68 - William Holden-Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radi Sunset Boulevard - General Discussions - TCM Message Boards Joe could have slept with Norma and loved Betty, and owned the pool that would be his final resting place. Cecil B. DeMille: at the studio during Norma's visit. 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. Joe Gillis mentions that the painting of wild horses that covers the projection screen in Norma Desmond's mansion was given to her by "some Nevada Chamber of Commerce." When Joe tells Betty that next time he will write "The Naked and the Dead", he is referring to the best-seller written by Norman Mailer and published in 1948. 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. This was the last major Hollywood feature film to be shot on nitrate stock. [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. Billy Wilder's sixth film in a row for Paramount Pictures. 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. [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. To get around the restrictions of the Breen Code, the script was submitted piecemeal, several pages at a time. For this Lamarr wanted $25,000 (which would be about $250,000 in 2015 dollars). [2] He had two younger brothers, Robert Westfield Beedle and Richard Porter Beedle. and was "a loner," according to Edwards, who wasn't surprised that Holden's body went so long without being discovered. He had made Swanson a star by. He followed it with a romantic comedy, Dear Ruth (1947) and he was one of many cameos in Variety Girl (1947). It was this astonishing footage that rekindled interest in the film. Movie audiences in the nave early days of film sometimes didnt know that somebody had to sit down and write a movie. He earned an Oscar nomination for "Sunset Boulevard" and won an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 for his role in "Stalag 17," per IMDb. 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. . Fred MacMurray and Gene Kelly both turned down the role of Joe Gillis. 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. read more: Key Largo, Lauren Bacall, and the Definitive Post-War Film. 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. Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge were famous for owning downtown real estate in Los Angeles and San Diego. Their partnership ended in a professional and gentlemanly mannerthere was no airing of any dirty laundrybut it did end.. ), a woman who trades on charms that have . After returning from France, she shot her last Paramount films--Stage Struck (1925), The Untamed Lady (1926) and Fine Manners (1926)--at the studio's lot in Astoria, Queens, NY. Marlon Brando was considered, but the producers thought he was too much of an unknown as a film actor. The latter was shot in Africa and sparked Holden's fascination with the continent that was to last for the rest of his life. It was a big hit, as was The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), a Korean War drama with Kelly.[20][21]. 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. It always will be! With unofficial permission from Paramount, she worked for a few years with writer Dickson Hughes and actor Richard Stapley developing a show called Starring Norma Desmond (later changed to Boulevard). He starred in Sam Peckinpahs masterwork Western The Wild Bunch. Besides Tyrone Power, other stars mentioned when Joe Gillis is pitching his "baseball" picture to the producer are Alan Ladd, William Demarest and Betty Hutton. After all, it's about a dethroned queen." Holden's first starring role was in Golden Boy (1939), costarring Barbara Stanwyck, in which he played a violinist-turned-boxer. are shown stenciled on the curb of that street. Norma's "gondola bed" was originally white, and was featured in Twentieth Century (1934) with Carole Lombard and John Barrymore. Both Mary Astor and Miriam Hopkins starred in TV versions of the film in 1955 and 1956, respectively. (1950), Cecil B. DeMille, who plays himself in the film, directed H.B. When she received her Honorary Oscar at the 1982 Academy Award ceremony, Holden had died in an accident just a few months prior. You see, this is my life, she promised. DeMille." Old whores dont fuck for fun, as the old saying goes. 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. Every character is jaded, except the oldest players. 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". Hedda Hopper: at the top of the stairwell as Norma descends toward the cameras. Bogart took the part hoping it would pair him back up with his wife Lauren Bacall. The original nitrate negatives for the film have long disappeared. The script (which was to be a vehicle for her comeback) was submitted to Cecil B. DeMille who sent it back. He received an eight-month suspended sentence for vehicular manslaughter.[1]. 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]. Sure she was a forgotten silent star, living in exile, screening her old movies and dreaming of a comeback. The next decade saw Holden's career flourish. She was nominated for the first Academy Award in the Best Actress category. The others were Union Station (1950), Force of Arms (1951), and Submarine Command (1951). The name was then changed to Millman and finally to Sheldrake and was played by Fred Clark. . (1940) followed by the role of George Gibbs in the film adaptation of Our Town (1940), done for Sol Lesser at United Artists.[8]. The apartments, and the "Alto Nido" sign out front that is glimpsed briefly in the film, are still there. After the. 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. Gloria Swanson almost considered rejecting the role of Norma Desmond after Billy Wilder requested she do a screen test for the role. Billy Wilder's terrifying valentine to Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard (1950), features one of the most indelible of all screen performances: Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond. This ushered in the peak years of Holden's stardom. Holden made a fourth and final film for Wilder with Fedora (1978). These actors were bigger than life. It is also one of the most frequently misquoted movie lines, usually given as, "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. taste bar and kitchen missouri city. Getting the role was a lucky break for Holden, as Montgomery Clift was initially cast but backed out of his contract. American actress Gloria Swanson in a promotional portrait for 'Sunset Boulevard', directed by Billy Wilder, 1950. Youre killing yourself for an empty house. On February 7, 1955, Holden appeared as a guest star on I Love Lucy as himself. This can be deduced from the fact that when he pulls one out of the pack he turns the bottom end up to his mouth. Some, including Holden himself and one of his close confidants, could foresee the death (per The Huntsville Item). Holden starred in the 20th Century Fox film Apartment for Peggy (1948). Cecil B. DeMille had a pet name for Gloria Swanson: "Young Fellow". Sunset Boulevard 1950, William Holden, Gloria Swanson, full movie These towns were favored because they were on the way to Palm Springs where, after collecting the audience reaction cards, studio personnel would then go to relax and determine what changes should be made to the previewed films. "Twin Peaks" also features characters named Chester Desmond and Norma Jennings, in reference to Norma Desmond. Erich von Stroheim dismissed his participation in this film, referring to it as "that butler role.". For purposes of authenticity Erich von Stroheim and Nancy Olson wore their own clothes in the film. A neglected house gets an unhappy look. Sunset Blvd. (1950) - Trivia - IMDb Sunset Boulevard (DVD, 2017) UK Region 2 release with extras. .
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