He was perfection on- and off-screen. The audience left 20 years ago. This wasn't the original opening and was filmed long after completion of filming. cynical Hollywood survivor played by William Holden. Hola Elige tu direccin Pelculas y Series de TV. About 10 minutes later, Holden passed out and died from blood loss. But it wasn't a mistake. 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. The veteran actress particularly wanted to see what Mary Pickford felt and was disappointed to see that she had left. There are several references to Gloria Swanson's actual career in the film. Queen Kelly nearly ruined both of their careers: von Stroheim was replaced as director midway through after complaints from Swanson about the racy material and arguments with the producer (JFK's father!) Every woman was in love with him. Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder and D. M. Marshman Jr. Online Film & Television Association Awards, "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." Sands disappeared after the murder. The butler stonewalls Joe from the outside world until hes rolling up twenties tight enough snort through to deal with even the shortest withdrawal from the big empty house. Episode 68 - William Holden-Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radi 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. But it originally began in the L.A. county morgue, with toe-tagged corpsesincluding Joe'sspeaking to each other (in voiceover) about how they died. Bogart was not especially friendly toward Hepburn, who had little Hollywood experience, while Holden's reaction was the opposite, wrote biographer Michelangelo Capua. 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. Norma telling studio guard Jonesy that without her there would be no Paramount Studios is not a far-fetched notion. They had faces. Sunset Boulevard now begins with police cars racing to Norma Desmond's house, where a dead body is floating in the pool. In 1986 Nancy Olson became the last surviving member of the cast. The antique car used as Norma Desmond's limousine is an 1929 Isotta-Fraschini Tipo 8A, a luxury car made in Italy, and once belonged to 1920s socialite Peggy Hopkins Joyce. [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. Holden had another hit with The World of Suzie Wong (1960) with Nancy Kwan, which was shot in Hong Kong. But who could play the silent film diva? "[13] Paramount reunited him with Nancy Olson, one of his Sunset Boulevard costars, in Union Station (1950). It is one of the most indelible films you will ever see. William Holden: Golden Boy of Hollywood Starred in 'Sunset Boulevard Joe insists hes not a Hollywood whore, but he accepts Normas gifts, gold cigarette cases, a platinum watch, suits, shirts, and shoes that would impress Rudy. 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. The Tragic 1981 Death Of Sunset Boulevard Star William Holden. 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. After a private screening for Hollywood dignitaries, Barbara Stanwyck knelt in front of Gloria Swanson and kissed the hem of her skirt. Holden was still an unknown actor when he made Golden Boy, while Stanwyck was already a film star. 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. With the help of his partners, he created the Mount Kenya Game Ranch and inspired the creation of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation. Billy Wilder wanted Hedy Lamarr to appear in a cameo in the scene where Norma and Joe visit Cecil B. DeMille at Paramount. A Western at MGM, Escape from Fort Bravo (1953) did much better, and the all-star Executive Suite (1954) was a notable success. 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. Holman was 16 years older than him and was afraid people would think the movie was a parody of their relationship. Features the only Oscar-nominated performances of Erich von Stroheim and Nancy Olson. 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. An ending for the film was cobbled together, but the movie was never shown in the U.S. . The film and actors was excellent and lived up to our expectations. Ballard, who used to impersonate Norma descending the stairs. For the clip of the vintage film that Norma was watching Paramount couldn't find anything suitable so Gloria provided it from her own collection. Dont bother with a rewrite, man, take it direct! That's the end.". This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 22:44. Although a registered Republican, he never involved himself in politics. Holden starred in the 20th Century Fox film Apartment for Peggy (1948). Film News. 3.48. Billy Wilder was actually friendlier with the other leading gossip columnist of the day, Louella Parsons. Billy Wilder wanted a fresh face for the part of Betty Schaefer. Sunset Blvd. (1950) - Trivia - IMDb Warner, who appears as one of "The Waxworks", had been Gloria Swanson's leading man in Zaza (1923). 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." Carol Burnett spoofed the film several times on her TV variety show. Youre killing yourself for an empty house. Eugene Walter was a prolific Hollywood screenwriter of the 1920s and 1930s. Sunset Boulevard is also a reflection of Hollywood through a glass, darkly. (She liked it.). Hack screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) accidentally falls in with faded screen legend Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Cinematographer John Seitz put a mirror on the bottom of the pool and filmed the reflection. Wilder told the actors to kibbutz and let him shuffle. This film is in the Official Top 250 Narrative Feature Films on Letterboxd. He received an eight-month suspended sentence for vehicular manslaughter. In 1989 the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress selected this as one of 25 landmark films of all time. The much sought after but highly finicky leading man accepted the role, then backed out. 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. Also, the house didn't have a pool, so Paramount paid to have one installed on the condition that if Mrs. Getty didn't like it, they'd remove it after filming was over. [23][24] Picnic was his last film under the contract with Columbia. 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.". 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: William Holden 15 greatest films ranked: 'Sunset Boulevard' and more 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. Her character's age was 22 but she was 21 at the time of filming. To shoot Joe and Norma dancing together at her New Year's Eve party, cameraman John F. Seitz used a dance dolly---a wheeled platform attached to the camera. Director Billy Wilder Writers Charles Brackett Billy Wilder D.M. It made him a true front ranked star after years of being an actor slogging through a series of largely forgottable films (and performances). 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. Sunset Blvd. Norma is Scorpio, and Mars had been transiting Jupiter for weeks and that was the day of greatest conjunction. The address of Norma Desmond's house is given as 10086 Sunset Boulevard. A new 4K high-definition scan was done in 2008 for the film's release on Blu-ray disc. read more: Can The Biblical Epic be Resurrected? As this film opens, William Holden's character Joe Gillis describes himself as a Hollywood screenwriter "living in an apartment house above Ivar Street." 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. Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die," edited by Steven Schneider. 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. She was disappointed to see that all the parts she was offered subsequently were watered-down versions of Norma Desmond. 10060 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, California, USA. It was the same technique he had used to shoot Rudolph Valentino's tango in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921). April 17, 2019 6:00AM. It also alludes to the fact that Pomona was one of three towns in California's Inland Empire region (Riverside and San Bernardino were the others) that were frequently used during Hollywood's Golden Age for testing preview audiences' reactions to unreleased films. Paramount reunited Bracken and him in Young and Willing (1943). The actor got up and tried to staunch the blood pouring from his forehead but never called 911, which might have saved his life, per the biography. This was the last major Hollywood feature film to be shot on nitrate stock. Joe Gillis: You're Norma Desmond. 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. Watch 'Sunset Boulevard (1950)' Online Streaming (Full Movie) | PlayPilot Ultimately she retired completely from films, making only sporadic appearances, notably in Airport 1975 (1974). A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return. In the opening scene of the 1950 film "Sunset Boulevard," the cynical screenwriter turned gigolo Joe Gillis lies floating in a swimming pool, blood seeping from his lifeless body. The next decade saw Holden's career flourish. . The character of Joe Gillis was very much in tune with William Holden's standing at the time. [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. Getty always wanted a pool, the poor dope. This one had it in spades. The black studs on Joe's shirt front were probably onyx, black opals, or even black pearls. Norma's butler, Max, who used to be one of her directors is played by Erich von Stroheim, who directed Swanson in the movie Queen Kelly (1932), clips from which are used in the scene where Norma and Joe watch one of her old films. Hola, identifcate . Well, they kissed, and kissed, and kept kissing, and the crew began to snicker, and finally Marshall's voice rang out: "Cut, dammit!" His co-star Barbara Stanwyck, a screen. At the end of her acceptance speech, she paid him a personal tribute: "I loved him very much, and I miss him. 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). Louis B. Mayer's reaction is well documented but Mae Murray also found the film offensive. Mae West rejected the role of Norma Desmond because she felt she was too young to play a silent-film star. 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. Included among the American Film Institute's 1998 list of the Top 100 Greatest American Movies. Still, whatever hard feelings there may have been between Swanson and von Stroheim, they were gone by the time Sunset Boulevard came along. We had faces" was #13. 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. The exterior shots were of a house located not on Sunset but Irving Boulevard, near the corner of Wilshire, owned by the J. Paul Getty family. Marshman Jr. was hired to help batten down a script that was giving Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett great difficulty. Talk! In a case of life mirroring art, she outlived him. 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. Confess, Peavey, he laughed in the ghosts face. But before that happened, it appeared in Rebel Without a Cause as the abandoned mansion in which the kids hang out. The young actor also got to work with George Raft and Humphrey Bogart in the gangsters on parole movie,Invisible Stripes. Holden paid it forward, becoming Hepburns guardian angel.. Fat Man: "A husky fellow like you?" So they opened their big mouths and out came talk. Sunset Boulevard Ending Explained: Hollywood Is Always Hungry For The was voted #6 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by "Premiere" magazine in 2007. 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. 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. The four films were released between August 1950 and November 1951. Warner, and Anna Q. Nilsson. Sunset Boulevard is no. [40], Holden had a daughter born in 1937 from his relationship with actress Eva May Hoffman. We were close friends for many years. That movie, however, departs from the trope by making both actress and stranger much younger. She reportedly told Clift shed kill herself if he made the movie. The body was found by Henry Peavey, who took over for convicted embezzler Edward F. Sands as Taylors valet. "[4], For his contribution to the film industry, Holden has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1651 Vine Street. William Holden says his birthday is December 21st. William Holden - Wikipedia [43] Capucine and Holden remained friends until his death in 1981. 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. Other actresses considered for Norma Desmond were Mae West (who wanted to rewrite the dialogue), Mae Murray, and Mary Pickford. It's kind of sweet, actually. [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. Those offices later became the home of the "Star Trek" art department. A disagreement over the montage where Norma puts herself through hell getting thinner and younger for her comeback nearly resulted in physical violence: Brackett thought it was too mean, while Wilder felt it was necessary to show what lengths a desperate actor would go to in Hollywood. She burst into tears upon completion of the scene. Filtered cigarette packs always open at the filtered end, which meant he would've been lighting the filter otherwise. In accordance with his wishes, no funeral or memorial services were conducted. Erich von Stroheim dismissed his participation in this film, referring to it as "that butler role.". Film debut (uncredited) of Yvette Vickers. Mary Pickford lived in seclusion, away from the public eye, while both Mae Murray and Clara Bow had well documented struggles with mental illness. Joes voice even starts to take on more and more of her theatrical flourish after too much exposure. This makes her the youngest of the cast members, excluding any extras. While in Italy in 1966, Holden was responsible for the death of another driver in a drunk-driving incident near Pisa. Wilder used real names like Darryl Zanuck, Tyrone Power, and Alan Ladd. Billy Wilder originally wanted another silent star, Pola Negri, to take the part of Norma Desmond. It was a gift from her lover, automobile magnate Walter Chrysler. 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. He was Judy Hollidays tutor in Born Yesterday (1950) and played a war correspondent in Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955). He just didnt have what it takes. 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. Norma Desmond: Get out! [47], President Ronald Reagan released a statement: "I have a great feeling of grief. Whether he was the washed up screenwriter of Sunset Boulevard or the reluctant hero of The Bridge on the River Kwai, Holden kept audiences engrossed. Gloria Swanson does a famous impression of Charles Chaplin as the "Little Tramp," but Chaplin's name is never mentioned. Cecil B. DeMille: at the studio during Norma's visit. "I left countless messages but received no answer." Eventually it wasn't Wilder who shouted "Cut!" When Powers returned to California, she went to his penthouse apartment in Santa Monica but couldn't get in. or "Boulevard"? We all are." 25 on AFI's list of all-time great leading men. In Billy Wilder's film, Erich von Stroheim plays the butler of Gloria Swanson's forgotten silent-film star. Sunset Boulevard (film) - Wikipedia So Wilder gave up, and DeMille (who was already being compensated) gave Norma his own chair.. The house was owned by the J. Paul Getty family. 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. It was not particularly successful. The film's narrative structure bears a marked resemblance to that of American Beauty (1999). 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. 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 also used Sheldrake as the last name of Fred MacMurray's character in "The Apartment". William Holden: The Golden Boy of Vintage Hollywood - Variety 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. Holden, who was at this point dependent on alcohol, said, "I really was in love with Audrey, but she wouldn't marry me. William Holden | Biography, Movies, Death, & Facts | Britannica You used to be in silent pictures. Norma is perceived as the evil force, even if she uses a white phone while Betty is relegated to a poor black phone. Swanson was told "She can't show herself, Gloria, she's too overcome. A true Hollywood horror story. [46] Rumors existed that he was suffering from lung cancer, which Holden had denied at a 1980 press conference. He became bitter about the throwaway roles Hollywood kept giving him. [7], Back at Paramount, he starred with Bonita Granville in Those Were the Days! Who didnt then? The producer in the film was originally called Kaufman and was to be played by Joseph Calleia. 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. Norma is at the edge of insanity through the whole movie, but that doesnt mean shes not fun. Sunset Boulevard (styled in the main title on-screen as SUNSET BLVD.) Sunset Boulevard DVD Special Collector's Edition William Holden Gloria 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. Realizing that former actress Hopper would easily dominate the scene, Parsons declined, even though she and Wilder were friends. The first of four films in which William Holden and Nancy Olson appeared. 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). 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. Holden turned the tables on Lucille Ball when he appeared as a guest star on I Love Lucy at The Brown Derby. The film originally opened and closed the story at the Los Angeles County Morgue. It was named after a major street that runs through Hollywood, the center of the American film industry . However, he knew that her arch-rival Hedda Hopper had trained as an actress and would therefore be more convincing onscreen. [26], He made another war film for a British director, The Key (1958) with Trevor Howard and Sophia Loren for director Carol Reed. When Norma is telling Joe about how rich she is, she mentions a beach house and downtown real estate. (Norma Desmond would be quick to point out that, thanks to computers and iPads, the pictures have gotten even smaller. Holden continued to work steadily for the next decade, but Hollywood often had no idea what to do with him. in West Hollywood. This indicates that he is smoking filterless cigarettes, which was the norm for that era until filters became the standard after the mid-'50s. 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. 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. She looks like a mannequin of a . A week later she heard the news of Holden's death on her car radio. To help promote the film, Gloria Swanson did a three-month tour of 36 cities in America and Canada. His Mount Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki (founded 1959) was popular with the international jet set. Suratt believed that DeMille's epic, "The King of Kings" (released in 1927) was based on her screenplay and filed a $1,000,000 plagiarism suit which was settled out of court in 1930. He loves Norma so much, he even forges thousands of pages of fan mail, just to feed her delusion. a mean old woman who looks and acts a little like Ma Bates if she'd been dead for several years but was somehow still just as talkative and feisty. Normand was the last person known to have seen Taylor alive and she was grilled by the Los Angeles Police Department as a result. Haines declined and fellow screen veteran H.B. It was widely known as a top Hollywood hangout for many actors, directors, writers and producers. It's the pictures that got small," was voted #24, out of 100. Oddly enough, the reclusive Greta Garbo granted permission to use her name, though when she saw the film itself she was sorry she had done so. Just us and the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark! Norma Desmond didnt need dialogue, she can say whatever she wants with her eyes. 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. 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. He directed classic films like Double Indemnity, Ace in the Hole, The Apartment, The Lost Weekend, Stalag 17, Witness for the Prosecution, Sabrina, and Some Like It Hot. and Crescent Heights Blvd. 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. He played Rafts kid brother, who was following in his gangster footsteps and needed to be set straight. GLAMOROUS MEN: WILLIAM HOLDEN: At some point, "Sunset Boulevard" Schwab's was torn down in 1988 to make way for a movie theater and a shopping center. 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. The others were Union Station (1950), Force of Arms (1951), and Submarine Command (1951). "I knew he was off the wagon," she recalled in her memoir "One from the Hart." Since he had classic good looks, an expressive voice, and was an excelle Brackett thought it was too mean while Wilder felt it was necessary. For the first industry screening, Paramount executives invited several silent-film stars. (A few months later, Hepburn met Mel Ferrer, whom she later married and with whom she had a son Sean Hepburn Ferrer. West wanted to rewrite her dialogue. Holman was reportedly worried the film would parody their relationship and told Clift she would commit suicide if he played the role. Well, not everybody! Thirty-one years later, the actor who played Gillis, William Holden, met his end. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett's 17th and final screenplay collaboration. Gillis: "Yes I was murdered." read more: Key Largo, Lauren Bacall, and the Definitive Post-War Film. 'Sunset Blvd.': 15 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About - Moviefone [17], Their relationship did not last much beyond the completion of the film. See production, box office & company info. H.B. At Cecil B. DeMille's first appearance, his on-set cry of "Wilcoxon!" Perhaps one of the reasons Swanson got the job was because director George Cukor mentioned that the actress once lived in a mansion on Sunset Boulevard.

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