When filming began, William Holden was 31 and Gloria Swanson was 50, the same stated age as her character. [46] Rumors existed that he was suffering from lung cancer, which Holden had denied at a 1980 press conference. Sunset Blvd. Ready? Taylor had a British accent and the imposter sounded like he came out of Chicagos south side. Getting the role was a lucky break for Holden, as Montgomery Clift was initially cast but backed out of his contract. His killer was never identified. For the cover photo of the very first issue, in April 1951, of what many consider the most important film magazine of all time, the Paris-based "Cahiers du Cinema, " the editors chose the image of Gloria Swanson and William Holden in her screening room. As day breaks. Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! Included among the American Film Institute's 1998 list of the Top 100 Greatest American Movies. Cecil B. DeMille agreed to do his cameo for a $10,000 fee and a brand-new Cadillac. Carol Burnett spoofed the film several times on her TV variety show. You see, this is my life, she promised. Mrs. Getty divorced her millionaire husband and received custody of the house; it was she who rented it to Paramount for the filming. Holden paid it forward, becoming Hepburns guardian angel.. He became bitter about the throwaway roles Hollywood kept giving him. Billy Wilder originally wanted another silent star, Pola Negri, to take the part of Norma Desmond. 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. It made him a true front ranked star after years of being an actor slogging through a series of largely forgottable films (and performances). And so tonight, my golden boy, you got your wish". He had made Swanson a star by. In his place, Wilder hired Buster Keaton. He stayed at Paramount for The Remarkable Andrew (1942) with Brian Donlevy, then made Meet the Stewarts (1943) at Columbia. But she wanted to rewrite her dialogue (as was her custom)a nonstarter for Wilder, who seldom let his actors change their lines even slightly from what was on the page. Billy Wilder was a friend of the danish silent movie star Asta Nielsen, and based the Norma Desmond caracter on her. But attempts to turn the movie into a stage musical began almost immediately, spearheaded by none other than Gloria Swanson. But it's also a love story, and the love keeps it from becoming simply a waxworks or a freak show. They stayed that way even if the pictures got small. While Hollywood Blvd. Vega subsequently confirmed that this was a reference to Holden.[50]. Joe Gillis: Wait a minute, haven't I seen you before? Cinematographer John Seitz put a mirror on the bottom of the pool and filmed the reflection. Wilder was no fan of improvisation and was very protective of his words. and was "a loner," according to Edwards, who wasn't surprised that Holden's body went so long without being discovered. The only extant film elements were 35mm inter-positives struck in 1952, which had undergone a great deal of decay. Gloria Swanson and Nancy Olson also co-starred in Airport 1975 together. The producer in the film was originally called Kaufman and was to be played by Joseph Calleia. 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. He was perfection on- and off-screen. Later in the film Max tells Gillis that he was the silent-movie director who discovered Norma and put her in films. One of only 13 films to be nominated for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Director. The house was owned by the J. Paul Getty family. 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. That's a reference to the traditional grey morning suit worn by the groom at a formal wedding. 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!) "Sometimes he'd just get in his car and drive," the director told the AP. In 2007 the American Film Institute ranked this as the #16 Greatest Movie of All Time. 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 original nitrate negatives for the film have long disappeared. 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. Every woman was in love with him. (1950), Cecil B. DeMille, who plays himself in the film, directed H.B. Sunset Boulevard told an old familiar story. Holman was 16 years older than him and was afraid people would think the movie was a parody of their relationship. When Peavey heard the moans I am the ghost of William Desmond Taylor. Billy Wilder was actually friendlier with the other leading gossip columnist of the day, Louella Parsons. In subsequent years, two lawsuits have been filed against Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, claiming that Sunset Blvd. He just didnt have what it takes. For television roles in 1974, Holden won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his portrayal of a cynical, tough veteran LAPD street cop in the television film The Blue Knight, based upon the best-selling Joseph Wambaugh novel of the same name.[31][4]. 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. Norma's "gondola bed" was originally white, and was featured in Twentieth Century (1934) with Carole Lombard and John Barrymore. "Twin Peaks" also features characters named Chester Desmond and Norma Jennings, in reference to Norma Desmond. . 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. The latter was shot in Africa and sparked Holden's fascination with the continent that was to last for the rest of his life. I didn't know. 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. The only Best Picture Oscar nominee of the year to be also nominated for Original Screenplay. 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. No one wants to get caught by surprise anymore. Warner (one of the four "Waxworks" at the bridge party) in The King of Kings (1927). Winston was one of those who discovered the Golden Boy newcomer and who renamed himin honor of his former spouse!"[3]. We were close friends for many years. Holden's career took off again in 1950 when Billy Wilder tapped him to play a down-at-heel screenwriter taken in by a faded silent film actress (Gloria Swanson) in Sunset Boulevard. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett almost came to blows over the montage depicting Norma's preparations for her comeback. 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". Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). Warner took the part. At the end, they stood and cheered for Gloria Swanson's return. She worked closely with Gloria Swanson on Norma Desmond's wardrobe, as she figured Swanson would have had a better idea of what women of that time would have worn and what they would be wearing now. Wilder wanted Hedy Lamarr to sit in for a cameo, but she wanted $25,000. The look of pain sustained two fine films 'The Wild Bunch' and 'Network' so that we rubbed our eyes to recall the fresh-faced enthusiast from Golden Boy. It would not be turned into a motion picture until: The Naked and the Dead (1958). He did another Western at Columbia, Texas (1941) with Glenn Ford, and a musical comedy at Paramount, The Fleet's In (1942) with Eddie Bracken, Dorothy Lamour, and Betty Hutton.[9]. 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. They eventually worked together on several films and became close friends. He was also one of many stars in Feldman's Casino Royale (1967). [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. 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. Wilder told the actors to kibbutz and let him shuffle. 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. The forensics team rolled him over and saw he had been shot at least once in the back with a small-caliber pistol. This parallel narrative--two perspectives from the same character, one omniscient, the other blissfully ignorant--that converge at the moment of Joe's death, are a major reason the film retains such dramatic and emotional power. What is the streaming release date of Sunset Blvd. She is ever the star. She can sense the hot spot of every light and has never lost the wonderment of movies. Who didnt then? Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard" is the portrait of a forgotten silent star, living in exile in her grotesque mansion, screening her old films, dreaming of a comeback. To get around the restrictions of the Breen Code, the script was submitted piecemeal, several pages at a time. 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. The writer was almost all washed up, one step ahead of the finance company, parking his car in a lot behind the shoeshine parlor run by Rudy, a guy who never asked any questions about finances because he could just look at the peoplesr heels and know the score. At Cecil B. DeMille's first appearance, his on-set cry of "Wilcoxon!" 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. He made two more films with Olson: Force of Arms (1951) at Warner Bros. and Submarine Command (1951) at Paramount. read file from blob storage c#; ted dwane and isabel soden; best seats at belk theater charlotte; my rabbit ate ibuprofen Before he became a kept man for Norma Desmond, he was thinking of wrapping up the whole Hollywood deal and trying to get his old job back as a newspaperman in Dayton, Ohio. When Joe and Betty stroll around the studio back lot they pass through the Washington Square set that was used in The Heiress (1949). Brackett and Wilder worked together on more than a dozen movies including The Lost Weekend. Billy Wilder had worked on a script for a Swanson picture years earlier called "Music in the Air (1934)" and had forgotten about it. This was the last major Hollywood feature film to be shot on nitrate stock. This inter-positive was scanned at 2,000 lines of resolution and electronically restored for the 2002 DVD reissue. Holden continued to work steadily for the next decade, but Hollywood often had no idea what to do with him. William Holdens Joe Gillis helps a timid soul named Norma Desmond cross a crowded street on Paramounts back lot. 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 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. 10 films that began filming without a finished script, Donald Trumps Bad Romance with Hollywood Began Before Parasite, Shazam! The two starred in the films The Lion (1962) and The 7th Dawn (1964). She burst into tears upon completion of the scene. If it were to come to auction in 2021, it would be valued at well over $1M. (Gloria Swanson's TV star - she has one for TV and one for film - is very near by at 6301 Hollywood Blvd). So they opened their big mouths and out came talk. Buster Keaton appears only in the bridge party scene and utters the word "Pass" twice. The musical version of the movie opened in London on July 12, 1993, and ran 1529 performances. Read more of his work here or find him on Twitter @tsokol. When he drives Norma to Paramount Pictures at the studio gates, the car was pulled with a rope by off-camera grips. Billy Wilder wanted Hedy Lamarr to appear in a cameo in the scene where Norma and Joe visit Cecil B. DeMille at Paramount. Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge were famous for owning downtown real estate in Los Angeles and San Diego. Sands had forged Taylors name on checks and wrecked his car the summer before and left footprints on Taylors bed after a burglary. Filtered cigarette packs always open at the filtered end, which meant he would've been lighting the filter otherwise. [39][46] He dictated in his will that the Neptune Society cremate him and scatter his ashes in the Pacific Ocean. She lives in a crumbling old mansion with her butler Max (Erich von Stroheim). On February 7, 1955, Holden appeared as a guest star on I Love Lucy as himself. Less popular was Satan Never Sleeps (1961), the last film of Clifton Webb and Leo McCarey; The Counterfeit Traitor (1962), his third film with Seaton; or The Lion (1962), with Trevor Howard and Capucine. 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. From the right angle, the camera could shoot the reflected image in the mirror without ever going underwater itself. It is also one of the most frequently misquoted movie lines, usually given as, "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. 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. The character of Max Von Mayerling as a washed up silent film director was an homage paid by Wilder to Erich von Stroheim, who was an inspiration to Billy in his glory days as a notorious silent film director himself. Thirty-one years later, the actor who played Gillis, William Holden, met his end. 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.. Sunset Blvd. He would slay, "I have no idea! The killing and the media circus that followed it hurt the industry. This indicates that he is smoking filterless cigarettes, which was the norm for that era until filters became the standard after the mid-'50s. They had paired up in pictures since 1938. It's the *pictures* that got small. Wilder used real names like Darryl Zanuck, Tyrone Power, and Alan Ladd. Marion Davies owned a famous ocean-front mansion in Santa Monica. And here is how he obtained his new movie tag. [40], Holden had a daughter born in 1937 from his relationship with actress Eva May Hoffman. Now that we are getting closer to Awards Season in here in Hollywood, Im getting more and more interest from nominees and prospective nominees who want to know in advance if they are going home with the gold, Marie Bargas, known for years as the Hollywood Witch, told Den of Geek. Gillis smokes unfiltered cigarettes in the film. Not long ago, he was divorced from the actress, Gloria Holden, but carried the torch after the marital rift. . 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. 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. During the shopping excursion, Norma remarks that if Joe is not careful, he'll need a cutaway. This car has been on display at the National Automobile Museum in Turin, Italy since 1972. Forensic evidence recovered at the scene suggested that he was conscious for at least half an hour after the fall. Confess, Peavey, he laughed in the ghosts face. Dont bother with a rewrite, man, take it direct! The murder made it to the late editions, radio, and television because one of the biggest old-time stars was involved. April 17, 2019 6:00AM. 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,. This is a reference to the now-mad Norma's final possession by the character of Salome, with whom she'd been so obsessed. 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. So speaking of funerals, heres the great real life murder mystery we teased in the opening. (Norma Desmond would be quick to point out that, thanks to computers and iPads, the pictures have gotten even smaller. over the spiraling budget. She refuses to believe that she's no longer remembered and will never make another movie. 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.". Florabel Muir, the New York Daily News Hollywood correspondent, thought Peavey was the murderer and tried to ambush him into a confession. 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. It was only natural that he should film several sequences on the studio's backlots. Culture Editor Tony Sokol is a writer, playwright and musician. So funny that it took away from the rest of the picture. He received an eight-month suspended sentence for vehicular manslaughter. The plot element of Norma Desmond's obsession with writing a screenplay based on Salome as a vehicle for her comeback was obviously influenced by eccentric, aging actress Valeska Suratt, who had a brief film career (1915-1917) playing mostly vamp roles. 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. Swanson supplemented many of the costumes with her own accessories and jewelry. It was built in 1924 by William Jenkins, at a cost of $250,000. Next image (0) (0) producer Music by Franz Waxman Cinematography by John F. Seitz . William Holden movies: 15 greatest films, ranked worst to best, include 'Sunset Boulevard,' 'Network,' 'Stalag 17'. The first-floor set of Norma Desmond's mansion was also used in the western comedy Fancy Pants (1950) starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball, giving fans a chance to see it in full color. It was George Cukor who suggested Gloria Swanson for the role of Norma Desmond. Erich von Stroheim, who directed Swanson in Queen Kelly (1932), plays Max the butler, who serves as the projectionist in the scene. Sad as this may sound, to the day he died, Holden insisted Bogart was a bastard. 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. Holden was still an unknown actor when he made Golden Boy, while Stanwyck was already a film star. Holden had another good break when he was cast as Judy Holliday's love interest in the big-screen adaptation of the Broadway hit Born Yesterday (1950). He rejects her. Norma Desmond says that she paid $28,000 for the Isotta-Fraschini car in 1929. He played Rafts kid brother, who was following in his gangster footsteps and needed to be set straight. Her character's age was 22 but she was 21 at the time of filming. With the help of his partners, he created the Mount Kenya Game Ranch and inspired the creation of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation. 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. 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 . He starred in the 1953 . It was not particularly successful. It was named after a major street that runs through Hollywood, the center of the American film industry . in West Hollywood. The actor-turned-director bitched about that goddamned butler role for the rest his life. 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. 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: Gloria Swanson's career was not revitalized by this film. Darryl F. Zanuck, Olivia de Havilland, Tyrone Power and Samuel Goldwyn all refused to allow their names to be used in the film, but Billy Wilder decided to use Zanuck's and Power's names anyway. In Billy Wilder's film, Erich von Stroheim plays the butler of Gloria Swanson's forgotten silent-film star. Norma's bed originally belonged to French actress/singer Gaby Deslys. Highly unusual at the time, Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder had Joe Gillis narrate, from beyond the grave, the sad tale of the final months of his life, while the film simultaneously depicts the still living Gillis experiencing those events unaware of the fate his dead self already knows. Since 2006, he has overseen the Bayou City History blog, which covers various aspects of Houston's history. (1950) was plagiarized from other scripts. Erich von Stroheims Max von Mayerling is equally awestruck, still caught in the wake of Normas star dust. A Western at MGM, Escape from Fort Bravo (1953) did much better, and the all-star Executive Suite (1954) was a notable success. Reluctantly, Wilder met with William Holden, who hadn't done much after the great Hollywood innovator Rouben Mamoulian's Golden Boy (1939). It's kind of sweet, actually. The character of Joe Gillis was very much in tune with William Holden's standing at the time. Swanson agreed to the audition, and won the role. Everyone had a good laugh, though the record doesn't reflect whether Marshall joined in. An inventory of his prospects added up to exactly zero. It always will be! Marshman was a journalist but both Wilder and Brackett had been impressed by the critique he had given of their earlier film, The Emperor Waltz (1948). Some, including Holden himself and one of his close confidants, could foresee the death (per The Huntsville Item). Holden was born William Franklin Beedle, Jr., on April 17, 1918, in O'Fallon, Illinois, son of Mary Blanche Beedle (ne Ball), a schoolteacher, and her husband William Franklin Beedle, an industrial chemist. On Joe's and Betty's night walk through the Paramount backlot, his calling the false building fronts "Washington Square" would be an accurate reference, as that neighborhood in New York was full of brownstone houses, apartments, and other turn-of-the-century architecture.

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