The movie's line "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." The finest things in the world have been written on an empty stomach, and Wilder and Brackett rewrote the story as adrama. The old movies needed neither color nor dialogue. The two actors never worked together in another film. Joe could have slept with Norma and loved Betty, and owned the pool that would be his final resting place. When filming began, William Holden was 31 and Gloria Swanson was 50, the same stated age as her character. 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." He starred in Sam Peckinpahs masterwork Western The Wild Bunch. 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". 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]. The latter was shot in Africa and sparked Holden's fascination with the continent that was to last for the rest of his life. Hola Elige tu direccin Pelculas y Series de TV. Montgomery Clift was originally cast as the writer but dropped out two weeks before the shoot. After working on Sunset Boulevard, Swanson remarked, Bill Holden was a man I could have fallen in love with. 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. Cecil B. DeMille agreed to do his cameo for a $10,000 fee and a brand-new Cadillac. taste bar and kitchen missouri city. 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. When Joe and Betty stroll around the studio back lot they pass through the Washington Square set that was used in The Heiress (1949). He was perfection on and off-screen. Holden was a bit of an anti-hero, or at least a very flawed hero. It gives them an opportunity to write really good acceptances speeches. Holden, who was at this point dependent on alcohol, said, "I really was in love with Audrey, but she wouldn't marry me. Gillis smokes unfiltered cigarettes in the film. April 17 marks the 100th birthday of William Holden, who is ranked No. Holden made a fourth and final film for Wilder with Fedora (1978). Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film Stalag 17 (1953) and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for the television miniseries The Blue Knight (1973). Sunset Boulevard (DVD, 2017) UK Region 2 release with extras. A new 4K high-definition scan was done in 2008 for the film's release on Blu-ray disc. The name was then changed to Millman and finally to Sheldrake and was played by Fred Clark. She is still waving proudly to a parade which had long since passed her by. Our friendship never waned. "Waxwork" Buster Keaton was in reality an excellent bridge player, always in demand at Hollywood bridge parties. Normand was the last person known to have seen Taylor alive and she was grilled by the Los Angeles Police Department as a result. Other actresses considered for Norma Desmond were Mae West (who wanted to rewrite the dialogue), Mae Murray, and Mary Pickford. In real life, when Swanson and DeMille had worked together, that was what they always called each other. While in Italy in 1966, Holden was responsible for the death of another driver in a drunk-driving incident near Pisa. The clips in Sunset Boulevard were the first time American audiences saw it. She was nominated for the first Academy Award in the Best Actress category. 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. It was a big hit, as was The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), a Korean War drama with Kelly.[20][21]. Co-writer D.M. read file from blob storage c#; ted dwane and isabel soden; best seats at belk theater charlotte; my rabbit ate ibuprofen 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. On the morning of February 1, 1922, Taylor--who had been romantically involved with her-- was shot and killed in his Hollywood bungalow. The California license plate on Gillis' Plymouth, 4D R 116, appears to be a legal and current registration for 1949. 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. You probably know about the Andrew Lloyd Webber version of Sunset Boulevard that premiered in London in 1993 and headed to Broadway in 1994 with Glenn Close in the lead role. Gloria Swanson and Nancy Olson also co-starred in Airport 1975 together. American Beauty screenwriter Alan Ball has acknowledged that another Billy Wilder film, The Apartment (1960), influenced that screenplay. You used to be in silent pictures. She felt that Wilder used her name in a past-tense context, and she was offended. William Holden - Biography - IMDb Her friend George Cukor, who initially recommended her for the part, told her, "If they want you to do ten screen tests, do ten screen tests. He played Rafts kid brother, who was following in his gangster footsteps and needed to be set straight. 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." Florabel Muir, the New York Daily News Hollywood correspondent, thought Peavey was the murderer and tried to ambush him into a confession. 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. The Tragic 1981 Death Of Sunset Boulevard Star William Holden Grunge 2.14M subscribers Subscribe 486 18K views 3 weeks ago #Actor #Hollywood #SunsetBoulevard While Actor William Holden. With the help of his partners, he created the Mount Kenya Game Ranch and inspired the creation of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation. 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. 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. He had made Swanson a star by. Holman was reportedly worried the film would parody their relationship and told Clift she would commit suicide if he played the role. Norma Desmond promised she would never desert her audience again. Gillis: "Yes I was murdered." It's kind of sweet, actually. [12] Swanson later said, "Bill Holden was a man I could have fallen in love with. [46] Rumors existed that he was suffering from lung cancer, which Holden had denied at a 1980 press conference. Norma's "gondola bed" was originally white, and was featured in Twentieth Century (1934) with Carole Lombard and John Barrymore. Sunset Blvd. (1950) - Full Cast & Crew - IMDb Holden met French actress Capucine in the early 1960s. Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! but at 641 S. Irving Blvd. 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. He was Judy Hollidays tutor in Born Yesterday (1950) and played a war correspondent in Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955). [28] Columbia would not meet Holden's asking price of $750,000 and 10% of the gross for The Guns of Navarone (1961); the amount of money Holden asked exceeded the combined salaries of stars Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn.[29]. DeMille." William Haines turned down an offer to appear in the film but attended the Hollywood premiere with Joan Crawford. The film and actors was excellent and lived up to our expectations. In reality, Gloria Swanson never worked with Normand and worked only once with Prevost in a 1916 short. X. Sad as this may sound, to the day he died, Holden insisted Bogart was a bastard. Getting the role was a lucky break for Holden, as Montgomery Clift was initially cast but backed out of his contract. 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. Nothing else! Yeah. Ironically, the last films that Gloria Swanson made for Paramount were not at this famous facility. From the right angle, the camera could shoot the reflected image in the mirror without ever going underwater itself. In addition to starring in "Queen Kelly", Swanson also produced it, and fired von Stroheim when he had already gone over the budget by more than double, and with no end to filming in sight. Neither was The Revengers (1972), another Western. He was also one of many stars in Feldman's Casino Royale (1967). And gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (who appears in the movie as herself) wrote that "Billy Wilder was crazy about Evelyn Waugh's book The Loved One, and the studio wanted to buy it.". Billy Wilder originally wanted another silent star, Pola Negri, to take the part of Norma Desmond. Filtered cigarette packs always open at the filtered end, which meant he would've been lighting the filter otherwise. At one point, Norma decides the time is right to send Gillis script to DeMille because is a Leo. William Holden | Biography, Movies, Death, & Facts | Britannica 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. 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 (styled in the main title on-screen as SUNSET BLVD.) Rudy's shoeshine stand at the parking lot where Gillis hides his car from the creditors was inspired by Oscar Smith's shoeshine stand located just inside the Bronson Gate at the old Paramount Studios, which was a popular hangout for gossip and socializing while Billy Wilder was building his career there. Sure she was a forgotten silent star, living in exile, screening her old movies and dreaming of a comeback. 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. All I know is that she's meshuggah, that's all. 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 "Desmond mansion" was located not on Sunset Blvd. This ushered in the peak years of Holden's stardom. 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. Oscar and Emmy winner William Holden was one of Hollywood's biggest stars for decades, with his performances as cynical, conflicted men winning acclaim and awards. In fact, such was the buzz about the film during production that the viewing of the dailies became one of the hottest tickets on the lot. She hates all of Joes writing except for about six pages. 10060 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, California, USA. When Joe Gillis says, "They'll love it in Pomona," most people assume (correctly) that Pomona is intended to be representative of just about any average American town. The script (which was to be a vehicle for her comeback) was submitted to Cecil B. DeMille who sent it back. (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 . After all, it's about a dethroned queen." When Norma Desmond says to the guard at the "Paramount Studio" gates, "Without me there wouldn't be any 'Paramount Studio'" the words could apply to Gloria Swanson herself, as she was the studio's top star for six years running. 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. Marshman Jr. Sunset Boulevard was the last time Brackett and Wilder collaborated on a film. This was the actual set of Samson and Delilah (1949), which de Mille was making at the time. [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. At the time this movie was made, the incident was still quite recent. She lives in a crumbling old mansion with her butler Max (Erich von Stroheim). It was this astonishing footage that rekindled interest in the film. 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. The film's narrative structure bears a marked resemblance to that of American Beauty (1999). 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. The movie featured the famed director Erich von Stroheim, who made photographs of Gloria Swanson move so beautifully the world was enthralled, as Max Von Mayerling, the director who made, married, and divorced the enthralling Norma Desmondand then gave up his career in film to be her slave in butlers clothing. 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. The only extant film elements were 35mm inter-positives struck in 1952, which had undergone a great deal of decay. The actor-turned-director bitched about that goddamned butler role for the rest his life. Now I had two favorite movies - aside from "Gone With The Wind" of course - both from 1950, "Sunset Boulevard" and "All . 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. Clift was also wary of appearing in the film because he, like the character of Joe, was having an affair with a wealthy older former actress, Libby Holman. Swanson was told "She can't show herself, Gloria, she's too overcome. 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. 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. ", After serving with the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II, he returned to Hollywood and in 1950 he got his first substantial role in Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard," per Britannica. 13 Close-Up Facts About Sunset Boulevard - Mental Floss Watch 'Sunset Boulevard (1950)' Online Streaming (Full Movie) | PlayPilot We all are." In accordance with his wishes, no funeral or memorial services were conducted. 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. The photos of the young Norma Desmond that decorate the house are all genuine publicity photos from Gloria Swanson's heyday. Despite that, von Stroheim "still managed to hit the gates, he had no co-ordination", said Billy Wilder in an interview for the book "Sunset Boulevard: From Movie to Musical". Blu-ray features and commentary The character of Joe Gillis was very much in tune with William Holden's standing at the time. The [40], Holden had a daughter born in 1937 from his relationship with actress Eva May Hoffman. So she lands his head on a golden tray, kissing his cold, dead lips. The first of four films in which William Holden and Nancy Olson appeared. Wilder and his co-writers reversed several elements, and there was no official connection between the movie and Waugh's book. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett met with Greta Garbo and tried to convince her to make a comeback in the role of Norma Desmond. Swanson herself reportedly asked him to do it. Mary Pickford, Pola Negri, and Greta Garbo turned down the role. was voted #6 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by "Premiere" magazine in 2007. Not long ago, he was divorced from the actress, Gloria Holden, but carried the torch after the marital rift. According to the DVD commentary by Wilder biographer Ed Sikov, this story was most likely invented/exaggerated by Billy Wilder. Billy Wilder's 1978 Flop Fedora is less a worthy follow up to Sunset Boulevard than a sorry footnote. Billy Wilder's 1978 Flop Fedora Is a Sorry Footnote to Sunset Boulevard 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. Sands disappeared after the murder. Zach Laws, Chris Beachum. Erich von Stroheims Max von Mayerling is equally awestruck, still caught in the wake of Normas star dust. But that wasnt good enough for Hollywood. [39][46] He dictated in his will that the Neptune Society cremate him and scatter his ashes in the Pacific Ocean.
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