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. On the Columbia lot is an assistant director and scout named Harold Winston. Swanson and von Stroheim are playing themselves in that scene. The restoration was performed at Lowry Digital by Barry Allen and Steve Elkin. While in Italy in 1966, Holden was responsible for the death of another driver in a drunk-driving incident near Pisa. After all, it's about a dethroned queen." 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 moment he discovers that life could be beautiful, Norma slits her wrist with Joes razor. Its second owner was Jean Paul Getty, who purchased it for his second wife. In her private screening room, with butler Max running the projector, Norma cuddles up with Joe to watch one of her own films. The clips in Sunset Boulevard were the first time American audiences saw it. When he drives Norma to Paramount Pictures at the studio gates, the car was pulled with a rope by off-camera grips. It was the same technique he had used to shoot Rudolph Valentino's tango in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921). 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.. It's probably just as well, since the darker, more nuanced story that eventually emerged was quite different from West's wheelhouse anyway. Sunset Blvd. He worked on dramas like The Key (1958), Westerns like John Fords The Horse Soldiers (1959) opposite John Wayne, and comedies like The Moon is Blue which so famously challenged the Production Code in 1953 that Hawkeye and BJ insisted it get shown at M*A*S*H 4077 to break the monotony of the Korean War. The first of four films in which William Holden and Nancy Olson appeared. 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. The film is included on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list. It always will be! They swore each other off over the montage where Norma struggles to lose weight for her comeback. But in 1957, Paramount formally asked Desmond to stop, the studio bosses having decided not to grant permission after all. and Crescent Heights Blvd. [30] Holden made a Western with Ryan O'Neal and Blake Edwards, Wild Rovers (1971). For scenes in which he drove, the car was towed by another car. [17], Their relationship did not last much beyond the completion of the film. When filming began, William Holden was 31 and Gloria Swanson was 50, the same stated age as her character.
She looks like a mannequin of a . The actor-turned-director bitched about that goddamned butler role for the rest his life.
Sunset Boulevard - Paramount Originals (includes Limited Edition Hola Elige tu direccin Pelculas y Series de TV. What do you say about a longtime friend a sense of personal loss, a fine man. [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. Joe Gillis' typewriter is a portable manual Remington Rand Noiseless Model 7. Brackett thought it was too mean while Wilder felt it was necessary. In the movie, an aide tells Cecil B. DeMille "Gordon Cole has been trying to reach you". And, of course, a pool. read more: Key Largo, Lauren Bacall, and the Definitive Post-War Film. 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. They eventually worked together on several films and became close friends. Gloria Swanson brings sunshine into every room as silent screen idol Norma Desmond. Wilder used real names like Darryl Zanuck, Tyrone Power, and Alan Ladd. 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. She is still waving proudly to a parade which had long since passed her by. But she fits it like a round peg in a square hole.
Episode 68 - William Holden-Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radi Holden himself claimed that he, too, could picture his end.
[41], Holden was married to actress Brenda Marshall from 1941 until their divorce in 1971. Peavey died in a San Francisco asylum, where he was being treated for syphilis-related dementia, in 1931. One of only 13 films to be nominated for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Director. 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. 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). [4] They had two sons, Peter and Scott. De Mille, and Max von Mayerling. While talking with Betty and Artie in Schwab's, Artie points out the studs in Joe's tuxedo. In reality, Gloria Swanson never worked with Normand and worked only once with Prevost in a 1916 short. There were actually three mansions used during filming.
William Holden: The Golden Boy of Vintage Hollywood - Variety There were no shortage of suspects. Prior to joining the Houston Chronicle, Gonzales worked as a night cops reporter at The.
The Tragic 1981 Death Of Sunset Boulevard Star William Holden Sunset Boulevard 1950, William Holden, Gloria Swanson, full movie "[4], For his contribution to the film industry, Holden has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1651 Vine Street. 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. The photos of the young Norma Desmond that decorate the house are all genuine publicity photos from Gloria Swanson's heyday. The other line, "I am big! Gloria Swanson played her final descent on the staircase barefoot, as she was terrified of tripping in high heels. The Tragic 1981 Death Of Sunset Boulevard Star William Holden. 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. Yeah.
Sunset Boulevard, William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim 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. These actors were bigger than life. Holden never lost his stride as cinema changed. For the opening shot of Joe Gillis floating face-down in the swimming pool, Billy Wilder wanted a shot from below that would show both the body and the police and photographers standing at the pool's edge looking down. The writers feared that Hollywood would react unfavorably to such a damning portrait of the film industry, so the film was code-named "A Can of Beans" while in production.
William Holden Net Worth 2023: Age, Height, Weight, Wife, Kids, Bio "Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60-minute radio adaptation of the movie on September 17, 1951, with Gloria Swanson and William Holden reprising their film roles. An iconic sequence in that earlier film sees the character of Diane ascending a long staircase to a seventh-story apartment (hence the film's title). They thought the actors made it up as they went along. The pool was used in its empty condition in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). He said it was because she was braver than any man. 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: This makes her the youngest of the cast members, excluding any extras. Hola, identifcate . 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. Gillis smokes unfiltered cigarettes in the film. "Variety" ran a front-page review, and this led to a belated release of Swanson's version in 1957 (the year of Stroheim's death). Dont bother with a rewrite, man, take it direct! When Norma is telling Joe about how rich she is, she mentions a beach house and downtown real estate. She reads everyone and everything in Hollywood, except Joes script. . William Haines, along with fellow silent screen veterans Buster Keaton and Anna Q. Nilsson, was approached to play one of Gloria Swanson's bridge partners. Unlike the character she played, Gloria Swanson had accepted the fact that the movies didn't want her anymore and had moved to New York, where she worked on radio and, later, television. No one wants to get caught by surprise anymore. "Twin Peaks" also features characters named Chester Desmond and Norma Jennings, in reference to Norma Desmond. When Norma visits DeMille at Paramount, he's in the midst of shooting Samson and Delilah, which really is what he was up to at the time. 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 came out the same year as another behind-the-scenes showbiz classic, All About Eve, which took most of the Oscars. The original nitrate negatives for the film have long disappeared. Everyone had a good laugh, though the record doesn't reflect whether Marshall joined in. Gloria Swanson almost considered rejecting the role of Norma Desmond after Billy Wilder requested she do a screen test for the role.
Sunset Boulevard: The Original Hollywood Expose | Den of Geek "I left countless messages but received no answer." He called it "that goddamned butler role" for the remaining seven years of his life. The footage we see is from Queen Kelly (1929), which starred Gloria Swanson and was directed by Max himself, Erich von Stroheim. Normands career never recovered after word of her addiction leaked out and she died of tuberculosis on Feb. 23, 1930. Betty and Joe fall in love after they sneak off to the studio backlot by moonlight to collaborate on a screenplay. It opened on Broadway at the Minskoff Theater on November 17, 1994, ran for 977 performances and won the 1995 Tony Awards for Best Musical, Book and Score. Eventually it wasn't Wilder who shouted "Cut!" Haines, whose career had ended because of his homosexual off-screen life, was too happy in his new profession as an interior decorator to want to call attention to his past as an actor. 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. Previous image. words "Sunset Blvd." Only 950 were made from 1924 to 1931. As this film opens, William Holden's character Joe Gillis describes himself as a Hollywood screenwriter "living in an apartment house above Ivar Street." 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. Joe Gillis: You're Norma Desmond. 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. Director Cecil B. DeMille, silent film actors Buster Keaton, H. B. Warner, and Anna Q. Nilsson played waxy versions of themselves. Every woman was in love with him. About 28:00 in, when Max is playing the organ, it is the same chords that Captain Nemo (James Mason) plays on his organ aboard the Nautilus in "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea." The movie was previewed with this opening, in Illinois, Long Island (NY) and Poughkeepsie (NY).
'Sunset Blvd.': 15 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About - Moviefone 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.". cynical Hollywood survivor played by William Holden. Billy Wilder was actually friendlier with the other leading gossip columnist of the day, Louella Parsons. But when Sondheim pitched the idea to Billy Wilder at a party, Wilder said, "You can't write a musical about Sunset Boulevard. Idealists can screw for fun and for power, because sex is good for business but love is a luxury Hollywood gals cant live without. in West Hollywood. April 17, 2019 6:00AM. Fat Man: "You were murdered?" He was also one of many stars in Feldman's Casino Royale (1967). Sunset Boulevard mixed fiction with the realities of filmmaking. So they opened their big mouths and out came talk. Seleccionar el departamento en el que deseas buscar. Born William Beedle Jr. on April 17, 1918, he was 21 when he got his first starring role as the classical fiddle playing boxer in Golden Boy in 1939. [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]. His Mount Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki (founded 1959) was popular with the international jet set. Billy Wilder also used Sheldrake as the last name of Fred MacMurray's character in "The Apartment". 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. This still goes on today. Queen Kelly nearly ruined both of their careers after Joe Kennedy, JFKs dad who produced the film, replaced von Stroheim as director because Swanson complained about the racy material. A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return. It is because of Sunset Blvd., for certain, that my mind could ever go there. The In those days there were no buttons on formal shirts. According to both versions of the morgue prologue script, Gillis' body is admitted on 5/17/49 (as indicated by a toe tag). Sunset Boulevard now begins with police cars racing to Norma Desmond's house, where a dead body is floating in the pool. When Joe Gillis and Norma Desmond watch one of Norma's old silent movies, they are watching a scene from Queen Kelly (1932), starring a young Gloria Swanson. She can be seen talking and giggling on the phone during the party. )[19], He took third billing for The Country Girl (1954) with Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly, directed by George Seaton from a play by Clifford Odets. 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. Holden, just 63 when he died, had most recently appeared in the Blake Edwards' film "S.O.B." It was George Cukor who suggested Gloria Swanson for the role of Norma Desmond. An inventory of his prospects added up to exactly zero. 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. 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. Co-writer D.M. Read more of his work here or find him on Twitter @tsokol. She declined the offer. or "Boulevard"? Not long ago, he was divorced from the actress, Gloria Holden, but carried the torch after the marital rift. A Western at MGM, Escape from Fort Bravo (1953) did much better, and the all-star Executive Suite (1954) was a notable success. Billy Wilder wanted a fresh face for the part of Betty Schaefer. #7. The killing and the media circus that followed it hurt the industry. Norma is at the edge of insanity through the whole movie, but that doesnt mean shes not fun. These include Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Rudolph Valentino, Rod La Rocque, Vilma Bnky, Mabel Normand, Marie Prevost, Pearl White, and Douglas Fairbanks. 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. "Lonely, alone, without dignity.". According to Gloria Swanson's daughter, Michelle Amon, her mother stayed in character throughout the entire shoot, even speaking like Norma Desmond when she arrived home in the evening after filming. 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. 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. Normas waxworks card sharps were Swedish-born Anna Q. Nilsson, H. B. Warner and Buster Keaton. 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. Being born on 17 April 1918, William Holden was 63 years old at the time of his death. Betty is an idealist, more closely resembling Normas rose-colored outlook, but with darker shades she wants to bring to light. Salome was a wonderful part for Norma Desmonds celluloid comeback. But who could play the silent film diva? As DeMille was directing Lamarr at the time in Samson and Delilah (1949), this would have been no problem. Norma Desmond: I *am* big. This is an old film which has been made into a musical. It was a big hit, as was The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), a Korean War drama with Kelly.[20][21]. 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. 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. 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. Newspapers printed love letters between 19-year-old former child star and screen idol Mary Miles Minter and Taylor. He starred in Sam Peckinpahs masterwork Western The Wild Bunch. A modern-girl Jiminy Cricket, Betty asks, Dont you sometimes hate yourself? and Joe corrects her, Constantly.. 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. Norma Desmond promised she would never desert her audience again.
13 Close-Up Facts About Sunset Boulevard - Mental Floss 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. What is the correct title - "Blvd." 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. This was the actual set of Samson and Delilah (1949), which de Mille was making at the time. (The book is about a failed screenwriter who works for a cemetery and lives with a forgotten silent-film star.) The next decade saw Holden's career flourish. Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie, New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor, Venice Film Festival Special Award for Ensemble Acting, Laurel Award for Top Male Dramatic Performance, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, "When Alcoholics drink themselves to death", "William Holden Dead at 63; Won Oscar for 'Stalag 17', "Barbara Stanwyck's Honorary Award: 1982 Oscars", "The Screen Strand Shows 'Invisible Stripes', "30 Days, 30 Classics Day 17: Sabrina (1954) starring Audrey Hepburn, William Holden and Humphrey Bogart", "Screen: Crosby Acts in 'Country Girl'; Film Based on Odets Drama Makes Bow", "The Screen in Review; 'Bridges at Toko-ri' Is Fine Film of War", "Han Suyin dies at 95; wrote 'Many-Splendored Thing', "13 Fascinating Facts About 'The Bridge on the River Kwai', "Columbia Earns as It Holds Coin Due Bill Holden on 10% of 'Kwai', "The Towering Inferno Movie Review (1974)", "Network Movie Review & Film Summary (1976)", "William Holden Gave His All Even "When Time Ran Out", "William Holden's Unscripted Fall From Grace", The William Holden Wildlife Education Center, "West Holden: More than just the son of William Holden", Image of William Holden and Brenda Marshall, Academy Awards, Los Angeles, 1951, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Holden&oldid=1142631715, Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners, United Service Organizations entertainers, Articles with dead external links from December 2019, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Pages using infobox person with multiple partners, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2022, TCMDb name template using numeric ID from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, episode: "William Holden/Frances Bergen Show", This page was last edited on 3 March 2023, at 14:28.