The building manager found the body of the legendary actor who starred in 70 films and was a good friend of President Ronald Reagan nearly a week later, per The Washington Post. . ), and he calls her "young fellow." Cecil B. DeMille had a pet name for Gloria Swanson: "Young Fellow". Joe Gillis: You're Norma Desmond. 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.
Bogart took the part hoping it would pair him back up with his wife Lauren Bacall. Who didnt then? I know your face. Gloria Swanson and Nancy Olson also co-starred in Airport 1975 together. Glenn Close, who portrayed Norma Desmond on stage, also played a character who dramatically cut her wrists over a man she was in love with in the film "Fatal Attraction. If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. On the advice of Libby Holman, Montgomery Clift, who had signed to play the part of Joe Gillis, broke his contract just two weeks prior to the start of shooting. As far as being a forgotten star, past her prime, Norma is only 50 in the movie, Swanson was 53 when she made it and was herself very busy on the then-new medium of television. Erich von Stroheim could not drive in real life. The studio needed an actor who the audience could believe wrote a story about Okies in the Dust Bowl that played on a torpedo boat by the time it hit the screen. Holden starred in some of Hollywood's most popular and critically acclaimed films, including Sunset Boulevard (1950), Sabrina (1954), Picnic (1955), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), The Wild Bunch (1969) and Network (1976). In 1972, Holden began a nine-year relationship with actress Stefanie Powers and sparked her interest in animal welfare. 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. Neither was The Revengers (1972), another Western. Mae West rejected the role of Norma Desmond because she felt she was too young to play a silent-film star. He was Judy Hollidays tutor in Born Yesterday (1950) and played a war correspondent in Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955). His height was 1.8 m tall and weighed 89 kg. 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.
Sunset Boulevard, Clip, William Holden, Gloria Swanson, 1950 It said so on the chart from her astrologer, who read DeMilles horoscope. Later he strangled himself with it. Holman was 16 years older than him and was afraid people would think the movie was a parody of their relationship. [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. That movie, however, departs from the trope by making both actress and stranger much younger. The first draft of the film was a straightforward comedy about a has-been actress making a comeback, and Wilder saw Mae West in the role. It was only natural that he should film several sequences on the studio's backlots. According to Billy Wilder, it was von Stroheim's idea to use a clip from Queen Kelly (1932) in Sunset Blvd. He always wished that I would get an Oscar. The first of four films in which William Holden and Nancy Olson appeared. 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. He played Bogarts kid brother in Sabrina, Holdens third film with director Billy Wilder, in 1954. The "fee" for renting the Jean Paul Getty mansion was for Paramount to build the swimming pool, which features so memorably. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett's 17th and final screenplay collaboration. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett met with Greta Garbo and tried to convince her to make a comeback in the role of Norma Desmond.
[42][citation needed]. She burst into tears upon completion of the scene. Sands disappeared after the murder. ), a woman who trades on charms that have . The one on the Paramount studio soundstage; the one whose driveway William Holden ducks into at 10060 Sunset Blvd; and the one used for the exteriors, which is the one shown here. 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! In the movie, an aide tells Cecil B. DeMille "Gordon Cole has been trying to reach you". Montgomery Clift was originally cast as Joe Gillis but quit the production two weeks before filming began because he had already played the kept man of a wealthy older woman in The Heiress (1949). [26], He made another war film for a British director, The Key (1958) with Trevor Howard and Sophia Loren for director Carol Reed.
Sunset Boulevard Review (1950) Classic Film | William Holden | Gloria [45], According to the Los Angeles County Coroner's autopsy report, Holden bled to death in his apartment in Santa Monica, California, on November 12, 1981, after lacerating his forehead from slipping on a rug while intoxicated and hitting a bedside table. The 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. To get around the restrictions of the Breen Code, the script was submitted piecemeal, several pages at a time. Taylor had a British accent and the imposter sounded like he came out of Chicagos south side. About 10 minutes later, Holden passed out and died from blood loss. He was a genuine star. Wilder almost hired Broadway star Marlon Brando, who would make his screen debut in The Men in 1950. At Paramount, he did another Western, Streets of Laredo (1949). The latter was shot in Africa and sparked Holden's fascination with the continent that was to last for the rest of his life. He received an eight-month suspended sentence for vehicular manslaughter.[1]. [4] They had two sons, Peter and Scott. 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. 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. Erich von Stroheim dismissed his participation in this film, referring to it as "that butler role.". He stayed at Paramount for The Remarkable Andrew (1942) with Brian Donlevy, then made Meet the Stewarts (1943) at Columbia. This inter-positive was scanned at 2,000 lines of resolution and electronically restored for the 2002 DVD reissue. Sunset Boulevard (styled in the main title on-screen as SUNSET BLVD.) Hack screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) accidentally falls in with faded screen legend Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! Brenda Marshall, Holden's wife since 1941, was visiting the set when Holden and Nancy Olson had their kissing scene.
The Tragic 1981 Death Of Sunset Boulevard Star William Holden The script (which was to be a vehicle for her comeback) was submitted to Cecil B. DeMille who sent it back. When Max picks up the discarded headpiece during the tango scene, his expression hints at concern for the mental issues Norma suffers from. Brackett was also a frequent collaborator with Billy Wilder, co-writing and producing a dozen movies with him (including The Lost Weekend) before Sunset Boulevard proved to be their last. West wanted to rewrite her dialogue. Those offices later became the home of the "Star Trek" art department. When he drives Norma to Paramount Pictures at the studio gates, the car was pulled with a rope by off-camera grips. When Norma Desmond visits her old friend at Paramount, she affectionately calls him "Mr. DeMille" (not Cecil or C.B. It was Erich von Stroheim who suggested the revelation that Max was writing all of Norma's fan mail. Was the inspiration for Metallica's 1997 song "The Memory Remains". 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. The film's narrative structure bears a marked resemblance to that of American Beauty (1999). A classic film review of Sunset Boulevard (1950) starring William Holden, Gloria Swanson and Eric Von StroheimDirected by acclaimed film maker Billy Wilder (. Sunset Boulevard DVD (2007) William Holden, Wilder (DIR) cert PG Amazing Value. As day breaks. But trophies or not, Sunset Boulevard has stayed near the top of the list of great movies about moviemaking. [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. William Holden had a similar trajectory as a young artist in Hollywood. was better known as the seat of the film industry in 1950, the Los Angeles film industry actually began on Sunset Blvd. Every time I go to L.A., which isn't too often, I look at these palm-bemused, once smart stucco facades, and wonder if a Norma Desmond from a later era might be hiding from the world inside them, buttressed by cable TV (AMC or TCM, no doubt), a poodle named FiFi or Sir Francis, walk-in closets full of leopard-print Capri pants that haven't fit in decades, and a world class liquor cabinet that has seen heads of state under the table on a good night. Wilder changed the scene so that DeMille offered Lamarr's chair to Norma without Lamarr being present. Charles Brackett and Wilder were just as adamant that nothing in their scripts should be changed, and nothing new added. During the shopping excursion, Norma remarks that if Joe is not careful, he'll need a cutaway. read more: Key Largo, Lauren Bacall, and the Definitive Post-War Film. While in Italy in 1966, Holden was responsible for the death of another driver in a drunk-driving incident near Pisa. This was a first for Gloria Swanson, but proved a big boon in helping her develop her character's descent into madness.
Sunset Boulevard Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images It was named after a major street that runs through Hollywood, the center of the American film industry . . When Joe and Betty stroll around the studio back lot they pass through the Washington Square set that was used in The Heiress (1949). She reads everyone and everything in Hollywood, except Joes script. Gloria Swanson played her final descent on the staircase barefoot, as she was terrified of tripping in high heels. Gloria Swanson, meanwhile, was born on March 27, 1899. [47], President Ronald Reagan released a statement: "I have a great feeling of grief. 12 Sep. WILLIAM HOLDEN: At some point, "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) played at The Silver Screen. Carol Burnett spoofed the film several times on her TV variety show. In 1973, Holden starred with Kay Lenz in a movie directed by Clint Eastwood called Breezy, which was considered a box-office flop. Swanson herself reportedly asked him to do it. Wilder asked how much shed charge just to shoot the chair and Lamarr said $10,000. The killing and the media circus that followed it hurt the industry. Old whores dont fuck for fun, as the old saying goes. No one wants to get caught by surprise anymore. From the right angle, the camera could shoot the reflected image in the mirror without ever going underwater itself. He was perfection on and off-screen. Holden was a bit of an anti-hero, or at least a very flawed hero. He said hed already played a young kept man in the film The Heiresswith Olivia De Havilland, and in real life with his relationship with older singer Libby Holman. After his final film S.O.B., Holden declined to star in Jason Miller's film That Championship Season.[37]. 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!) (1950) was plagiarized from other scripts. When Billy Wilder went back to him later to secure a close-up, DeMille charged him another $10,000. Wilder wanted Hedy Lamarr to sit in for a cameo, but she wanted $25,000. Cinematographer John Seitz put a mirror on the bottom of the pool and filmed the reflection. It's probably just as well, since the darker, more nuanced story that eventually emerged was quite different from West's wheelhouse anyway.
Getty Mansion aka Norma Desmond's home in "Sunset Boulevard" midway As the band plays 'Diane', we also see Desmond ascending her staircase. It was the same technique he had used to shoot Rudolph Valentino's tango in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921). Location scenes at Norma Desmond's mansion were shot not on Sunset Boulevard but on Wilshire Boulevard. He called it "that goddamned butler role" for the remaining seven years of his life. (1950) Full Cast & Crew See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro Directed by Billy Wilder Writing Credits Cast (in credits order) verified as complete Produced by Charles Brackett . An inventory of his prospects added up to exactly zero. [43] Capucine and Holden remained friends until his death in 1981. If you don't, I will personally shoot you." cynical Hollywood survivor played by William Holden. That should make the young blond Paramount actress-turned-script reader Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson) the virgin in the virgin/whore dynamic that film noir so often (and happily) deals in. But also much funnier. 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. 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. Sands had forged Taylors name on checks and wrecked his car the summer before and left footprints on Taylors bed after a burglary.
William Holden: The Golden Boy of Vintage Hollywood - Variety She is still waving proudly to a parade which had long since passed her by. It's the pictures that got small" was #91. (1954). Swanson was told "She can't show herself, Gloria, she's too overcome. A second film with Seaton did not do as well, The Proud and Profane (1956), where Holden played the role with a moustache. 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. But it wasn't a bullet from the gun of an aging movie queen that tragically ended his life, but rather, a rug, per The New York Times. Our friendship never waned. Marshman Jr. Sunset Boulevard was the last time Brackett and Wilder collaborated on a film. 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. Florabel Muir, the New York Daily News Hollywood correspondent, thought Peavey was the murderer and tried to ambush him into a confession. But it was too difficult to put a camera underwater to get the shot, so Wilder and cinematographer John Seitz came up with an ingenious solution: they put a mirror on the bottom of the pool and filmed the reflection from above. It has to be an opera. 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. It was this astonishing footage that rekindled interest in the film. In Billy Wilder's film, Erich von Stroheim plays the butler of Gloria Swanson's forgotten silent-film star. The finest things in the world have been written on an empty stomach, and Wilder and Brackett rewrote the story as adrama. Holden met French actress Capucine in the early 1960s. Norma Desmond was the greatest of them all. He played an older version of Joe in Sidney Lumets classic Network (1976), written by the cynical Paddy Chayefsky. Her character's age was 22 but she was 21 at the time of filming. When he appeared in the innovative Hollywood director Rouben Mamoulian's Golden Boy (1939), he was hailed as exactly that, but had seen his stock fall, largely through his problems with alcohol and a string of unmemorable films in the 1940s. 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 lives in a crumbling old mansion with her butler Max (Erich von Stroheim). 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. 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. Boulevard du crpuscule : Amazon.com.mx: Pelculas y Series de TV. I instantly fell in love - both with the movie itself and with its handsome 32-year old male lead, William Holden. [23][24] Picnic was his last film under the contract with Columbia. but at 641 S. Irving Blvd. His Mount Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki (founded 1959) was popular with the international jet set. Norma goes to visit Cecil B. DeMille, several of whose films Swanson had starred in. (Gloria Swanson's TV star - she has one for TV and one for film - is very near by at 6301 Hollywood Blvd).
Sunset Boulevard DVD Special Collector's Edition William Holden Gloria 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. When Gloria Swanson finished Norma's final scene, the mad staircase descent, she burst into tears and the crew applauded. Every character is jaded, except the oldest players. 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. This makes her the youngest of the cast members, excluding any extras. After a private screening for Hollywood dignitaries, Barbara Stanwyck knelt in front of Gloria Swanson and kissed the hem of her skirt. Co-writer D.M. 10 films that began filming without a finished script, Donald Trumps Bad Romance with Hollywood Began Before Parasite, Shazam!
Sunset Boulevard 1950, William Holden, Gloria Swanson, full movie 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. Forensic evidence recovered at the scene suggested that he was conscious for at least half an hour after the fall. The character of Norma Desmond is modeled on the fate of several leading actresses of the silent era. But who could play the silent film diva? 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. (he'd already gotten the shot he needed on the first take). For scenes in which he drove, the car was towed by another car. Paramount always labeled that studio as its Long Island Studios. But in 1957, Paramount formally asked Desmond to stop, the studio bosses having decided not to grant permission after all. Their relationship makes the film as much a love story as it is a noir film, because if ever there is a femme fatale, it is Norma Desmond. of quiet desperation at the end of a relationship when nothing's really making sense and I sort of had the image of William Holden at the beginning of Sunset Blvd.