Please, don't let it be true, it must be some mistake," per her memoir. 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. This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 22:44. 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. 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. Hola, identifcate . The only extant film elements were 35mm inter-positives struck in 1952, which had undergone a great deal of decay. Joe could have slept with Norma and loved Betty, and owned the pool that would be his final resting place. 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. Such extravagances were so commonplace that when Wilder was planning to shoot the funeral of Normas chimpanzee, the director told the crew to just set-up the usual monkey-funeral sequence.. Words are as good as sex to two writers. According to the DVD commentary by Wilder biographer Ed Sikov, this story was most likely invented/exaggerated by Billy Wilder. Norma is at the edge of insanity through the whole movie, but that doesnt mean shes not fun. During Norma Desmond's New Years' Eve party, the band begin to play the song 'Diane', the theme of the 1927 film 7th Heaven (1927). He was a genuine star. preppy-3 15 March 2008. Fury of the Gods Brings Back the "Shazamily": Inside DC's New Superhero Adventure, Scream 6's Brutal NYC Trip: "You Can't Trust Anyone" This Time, Cocaine Bear Is Not Just About a Killer "Coked-Up" Bear, It's Also an "Underdog Story", How Marvel's Wastelanders Podcast Created an Exciting Story with No Visual Safety Net, Sunset Boulevard: The Original Hollywood Expose. 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]. He played Bogarts kid brother in Sabrina, Holdens third film with director Billy Wilder, in 1954. The two actors never worked together in another film. It was named after a major street that runs through Hollywood, the center of the American film industry . If you don't, I will personally shoot you." Confess, Peavey, he laughed in the ghosts face. Holden had another hit with The World of Suzie Wong (1960) with Nancy Kwan, which was shot in Hong Kong. Among the many past associations embedded in Sunset Blvd. At the time this movie was made, the incident was still quite recent. 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. But it wasn't a mistake. When Peavey heard the moans I am the ghost of William Desmond Taylor. are shown stenciled on the curb of that street. It was Erich von Stroheim who suggested the revelation that Max was writing all of Norma's fan mail. On the Columbia lot is an assistant director and scout named Harold Winston. This is absolutely true, Nancy Reagan continued consulting her astrologer long after she stopped parking at studio lots. 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. 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. De Mille at Paramount, the director is shooting the film Samson and Delilah, which he was actually shooting at the time. The body was found by Henry Peavey, who took over for convicted embezzler Edward F. Sands as Taylors valet. [7], Back at Paramount, he starred with Bonita Granville in Those Were the Days! Holden paid it forward, becoming Hepburns guardian angel.. The only addition was the swimming pool, which wasn't equipped with a means of circulating the water so it was useless after filming. 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. 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. When he drives Norma to Paramount Pictures at the studio gates, the car was pulled with a rope by off-camera grips. Newspapers printed love letters between 19-year-old former child star and screen idol Mary Miles Minter and Taylor. Her character's age was 22 but she was 21 at the time of filming. His characters were always angling for something, whether it was silk stockings in a POW Camp in Stalag 17 from 1953, which won him a Best Actor Oscar, or to clear impersonation charges in in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) with Alec Guinness. Wilder wanted Hedy Lamarr to sit in for a cameo, but she wanted $25,000. . Hola Elige tu direccin Pelculas y Series de TV. It was George Cukor who suggested Gloria Swanson for the role of Norma Desmond. Filtered cigarette packs always open at the filtered end, which meant he would've been lighting the filter otherwise. producer Music by Franz Waxman Cinematography by John F. Seitz . [39] On a trip to Africa, he fell in love with the wildlife and became increasingly concerned with the animal species that were beginning to decrease in population. The name Norma Desmond was a combination of early Hollywoods comedy star Mabel Normand and her lover, silent film director William Desmond Taylor. 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." Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett's 17th and final screenplay collaboration. No one wants to get caught by surprise anymore. Cecil B. DeMille: at the studio during Norma's visit. Gloria Swanson and Nancy Olson also appeared in Airport 1975. 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." In his place, Wilder hired Buster Keaton. If it were to come to auction in 2021, it would be valued at well over $1M. There's a little dig in the scene when Cecil B. DeMille finds out that Paramount has been calling Norma Desmond because it wants to rent her car for "the Crosby picture." Billy Wilder was one of the ultimate Hollywood insiders and he grew with film. on the corner of Crenshaw and Irving. Betty and Joe fall in love after they sneak off to the studio backlot by moonlight to collaborate on a screenplay. Location scenes at Norma Desmond's mansion were shot not on Sunset Boulevard but on Wilshire Boulevard. 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. If Gillis is accurate in stating that his meeting with Norma occurred some six months prior, the action of the film takes place between mid-November 1948 and mid- May 1949. It is also one of the most frequently misquoted movie lines, usually given as, "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. Realizing that former actress Hopper would easily dominate the scene, Parsons declined, even though she and Wilder were friends. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return. Every character is jaded, except the oldest players. "No, don't let it be true. 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. To help promote the film, Gloria Swanson did a three-month tour of 36 cities in America and Canada. Sands disappeared after the murder. This inter-positive was scanned at 2,000 lines of resolution and electronically restored for the 2002 DVD reissue. (Norma Desmond would be quick to point out that, thanks to computers and iPads, the pictures have gotten even smaller. 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. [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. Neither was The Revengers (1972), another Western. Brackett thought it was too mean while Wilder felt it was necessary. In later interviews, Davis admitted that she thought Swanson's work in the film was absolutely outstanding. 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. Make-up designer Wally Westmore found that Gloria Swanson's face belied her age and wanted to make her look older. It would not be turned into a motion picture until: The Naked and the Dead (1958). One of his father's grandmothers, Rebecca Westfield, was born in England, while some of his mother's ancestors settled in Virginia's Lancaster County after emigrating from England in the 17th century. 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. The "Desmond mansion" was located not on Sunset Blvd. [47], President Ronald Reagan released a statement: "I have a great feeling of grief. Joe Gillis: You're Norma Desmond. 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. 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.". 10 films that began filming without a finished script, Donald Trumps Bad Romance with Hollywood Began Before Parasite, Shazam! - 65th Anniversary (25) Film Noir Through the Years (3) Movies Set in Hollywood (3) Our Favorite Male-Female Duos (1) The History of Golden Globe Winners for Best Actor and Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama (1) Our Favorite Stills From "The Movies" (1) Movies About Movies (1) 77 Years of Golden Globes Best Picture Winners (1) The veteran actress particularly wanted to see what Mary Pickford felt and was disappointed to see that she had left. He loves Norma so much, he even forges thousands of pages of fan mail, just to feed her delusion. Since her part required her to gaze at the newsreel cameramen and "fans" (the waiting police) gathered in the foyer below, she couldn't watch where she placed her feet. Next image (0) (0) Sunset Boulevard (DVD, 2017) UK Region 2 release with extras. Not everyone felt the same way, however. Bogart was not especially friendly toward Hepburn, who had little Hollywood experience, while Holden's reaction was the opposite, wrote biographer Michelangelo Capua. The mundane accident that took the Hollywood actor's life was made even worse by the fact that nobody found his body for a week afterward, according to the Associated Press. Oh, wake up, Norma. Norma Desmond: Get out! So they opened their big mouths and out came talk. ", The scene of Max playing Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" at the organ might well have been an inspiration for Lurch at the harpsichord in the TV series "The Addams Family.". 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. But even to show a chair with her name on it, Lamarr wanted $10,000. Holden met French actress Capucine in the early 1960s. This was a first for Gloria Swanson, but proved a big boon in helping her develop her character's descent into madness. While Hollywood Blvd. Sunset Boulevard mixed fiction with the realities of filmmaking. 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. In 1973, Holden starred with Kay Lenz in a movie directed by Clint Eastwood called Breezy, which was considered a box-office flop. She offered Peavey 10 dollars to identify Taylors grave in the Hollywood Park Cemetery and had someone wait there in a white sheet to scare it out of him. Blu-ray features and commentary Initially, writer-director Wilder envisioned the movie as a straightforward comedy, and the famously saucy West seemed like a perfect fit. Free Postage. In fact, a pivotal plot point in the Showtime limited series of Twin Peaks (2017) includes a scene from "Sunset Boulevard" in which the character's name is mentioned. Marshman Jr. was hired to help batten down a script that was giving Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett great difficulty. William Holdens Joe Gillis helps a timid soul named Norma Desmond cross a crowded street on Paramounts back lot. This wasn't the original opening and was filmed long after completion of filming. . Im not giving anything away here. Wilder asked how much shed charge just to shoot the chair and Lamarr said $10,000. 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. Norma Desmond: I *am* big. The movie was previewed with this opening, in Illinois, Long Island (NY) and Poughkeepsie (NY). 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. "I left countless messages but received no answer." 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. Beedle grew up in South Pasadena, California. [14], Holden made a third film with Wilder, Sabrina (1954), billed beneath Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. It was a gift from her lover, automobile magnate Walter Chrysler. 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. But like so many of the female actors of the era, Holden soon realized it was his physical attributes and not his acting ability that the studio cared about. 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 death was just one of many infamous Hollywood scandals of the 1920s, which included the Roscoe Arbuckle bottle rape trial, the death of Olive Thomas, the mysterious death of Thomas H. Ince, and the drug-related deaths of Wallace Reid, Barbara La Marr, and Jeanne Eagels. 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. The British author's satirical The Loved One was published in 1948, after Waugh had spent time in Hollywood observing the film industry and, of all things, the funeral industry. Billy Wilder originally approached William Haines to play one of Norma's bridge partners. For a number of years, exhibitors voted Holden among the most popular stars in the country: On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. In 1989 the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress selected this as one of 25 landmark films of all time. The home was built in 1923 for businessman William O. Jenkins. After graduating from South Pasadena High School, Holden attended Pasadena Junior College, where he became involved in local radio plays. An ending for the film was cobbled together, but the movie was never shown in the U.S. Schwab's was torn down in 1988 to make way for a movie theater and a shopping center. At Cecil B. DeMille's first appearance, his on-set cry of "Wilcoxon!" She felt that Wilder used her name in a past-tense context, and she was offended. 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." Mary Pickford lived in seclusion, away from the public eye, while both Mae Murray and Clara Bow had well documented struggles with mental illness. Other actresses considered for Norma Desmond were Mae West (who wanted to rewrite the dialogue), Mae Murray, and Mary Pickford. They swore each other off over the montage where Norma struggles to lose weight for her comeback. New York-born novelist and screenwriter Brackett was head of the Screen Actors Guild in the late 1930s, and president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1949 to 1955.