The drugstore where Joe Gillis meets up with his old movie industry friends is Schwab's Pharmacy, then a real pharmacy/soda fountain at the intersection of Sunset Blvd. See, Bettys a message gal, not a virgin, and there are no whores in Hollywood. For the first industry screening, Paramount executives invited several silent-film stars. Gloria Swanson was paid $50,000 plus $5,000 per week for any time over schedule. [46] Rumors existed that he was suffering from lung cancer, which Holden had denied at a 1980 press conference. Gillis: "Yes I was murdered." 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.. 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. 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 exteriors of Norma Desmond's home on Sunset Boulevard were filmed at 641 South Irving Boulevard. It was Erich von Stroheim who suggested the revelation that Max was writing all of Norma's fan mail. Prior to joining the Houston Chronicle, Gonzales worked as a night cops reporter at The. Erich von Stroheim could not drive in real life. 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). 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 photos of the young Norma Desmond that decorate the house are all genuine publicity photos from Gloria Swanson's heyday. [15] Holden and Hepburn became romantically involved during the filming, unbeknownst to Wilder: "People on the set told me later that Bill and Audrey were having an affair, and everybody knew. The part was only Nancy Olson's third film appearance. 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. Holden had his most widely recognized role as "Commander" Shears in David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) with Alec Guinness,[25] a huge commercial success. The film is included on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list. 12 Sep. WILLIAM HOLDEN: At some point, "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) played at The Silver Screen. When Billy Wilder went back to him later to secure a close-up, DeMille charged him another $10,000. The first of four films in which William Holden and Nancy Olson appeared. The others were Union Station (1950), Force of Arms (1951), and Submarine Command (1951). 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. Later in the film Max tells Gillis that he was the silent-movie director who discovered Norma and put her in films. 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. 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. After a private screening for Hollywood dignitaries, Barbara Stanwyck knelt in front of Gloria Swanson and kissed the hem of her skirt. The actor's second major breakthrough occurred when Wilder cast him in the lead of the. Marlon Brando was considered, but the producers thought he was too much of an unknown as a film actor. The finest things in the world have been written on an empty stomach, and Wilder and Brackett rewrote the story as adrama. The investigation found that in the weeks just prior to his death, Taylor had been making some pretty delusional statements about his place in the world and some of his friends thought he had recently gone insane. Holden paid it forward, becoming Hepburns guardian angel.. Billy Wilder had worked on a script for a Swanson picture years earlier called "Music in the Air (1934)" and had forgotten about it. Sunset Boulevard turns the tables on film noir by casting Joe in the oldest role on the books. So they opened their big mouths and out came talk. F. Scott Fitzgerald suffered a heart attack while in Schwab's in 1940 (contrary to legend, Lana Turner was not discovered by a talent agent in Schwab's but, rather in a drugstore across from Hollywood High School, about three miles to the east). (1949), and "Father Is a Bachelor" (1950). He stayed at Paramount for The Remarkable Andrew (1942) with Brian Donlevy, then made Meet the Stewarts (1943) at Columbia. In one week, she received 17,000 fan letters. Our friendship never waned. Well, they kissed, and kissed, and kept kissing, and the crew began to snicker, and finally Marshall's voice rang out: "Cut, dammit!" She looks like a mannequin of a . The pool was used in its empty condition in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). [23][24] Picnic was his last film under the contract with Columbia. In subsequent years, two lawsuits have been filed against Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, claiming that Sunset Blvd. And so tonight, my golden boy, you got your wish". 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 murder made it to the late editions, radio, and television because one of the biggest old-time stars was involved. Jay Livingston, Ray Evans: The Paramount songwriting duo is seen at the piano at Artie Green's New Year's Eve party. Cecil B. DeMille had a pet name for Gloria Swanson: "Young Fellow". 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. De Mille, and Max von Mayerling. Sunset Boulevard is no has-been, though. At one point, Norma decides the time is right to send Gillis script to DeMille because is a Leo. Hola, identifcate . 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. 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. This indicates that he is smoking filterless cigarettes, which was the norm for that era until filters became the standard after the mid-'50s. Principal photography took place from 11 April to 18 June 1949. But before that happened, it appeared in Rebel Without a Cause as the abandoned mansion in which the kids hang out. According to both versions of the morgue prologue script, Gillis' body is admitted on 5/17/49 (as indicated by a toe tag). 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. [26], He made another war film for a British director, The Key (1958) with Trevor Howard and Sophia Loren for director Carol Reed. 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. Around this time he also appeared in 21 Hours at Munich (1976). Words are as good as sex to two writers. Sunset Boulevard mixed fiction with the realities of filmmaking. 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). It was a big hit, as was The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), a Korean War drama with Kelly.[20][21]. The footage we see is from Queen Kelly (1929), which starred Gloria Swanson and was directed by Max himself, Erich von Stroheim. The musical version of the movie opened in London on July 12, 1993, and ran 1529 performances. But even to show a chair with her name on it, Lamarr wanted $10,000. 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. Now I had two favorite movies - aside from "Gone With The Wind" of course - both from 1950, "Sunset Boulevard" and "All . All I know is that she's meshuggah, that's all. The car with the massive chrome grill that the repo men drive is a 1948 DeSoto Custom Club Coupe. Mrs. Getty's home had to be completely re-decorated to give it the oversized grandeur needed for the film. The whole place seemed to have been stricken with the kind of creeping paralysis, out of beat with the rest of the world, crumbling apart in slow motion. ), It came out the same year as another behind-the-scenes showbiz classic, All About Eve, which took most of the Oscars. Among the many past associations embedded in Sunset Blvd. Brackett was a New York-born novelist and screenwriter, 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 (during which time he won two screenwriting Oscarsgood news for conspiracy theorists). If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Cecil B. DeMille appears in the film on a studio set. He is the TV Editor at Entertainment. Location scenes at Norma Desmond's mansion were shot not on Sunset Boulevard but on Wilshire Boulevard. The Pharmacy was filmed only 500 feet (150 meters) from a scene in Armed and Dangerous (1986) & Falling Down (1993), The parking lot behind Rudy's Shoeshine where Joe Gillis pulls his car out of is 1751 Vine Street - about a half a block North of Hollywood Blvd (you can tell by the scene's POV of the Taft building that sits on the corner of Hollywood and Vine). 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). Every woman was in love with him. 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. Sands had forged Taylors name on checks and wrecked his car the summer before and left footprints on Taylors bed after a burglary. It was named after a major street that runs through Hollywood, the center of the American film industry . The silent comedian had a reputation as one of Hollywoods best bridge players. It was largely from his association with Wilder that Holden would enjoy the greatest acting successes of his career in the 1950s. 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. They swore each other off over the montage where Norma struggles to lose weight for her comeback. She lives in a crumbling old mansion with her butler Max (Erich von Stroheim). ", 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.". In addition to the famous swimming pool, the studio also built sets to exactly duplicate Schwab's Drug Store in Hollywood and the Los Angeles County Morgue. An inventory of his prospects added up to exactly zero. Saltar al contenido principal.com.mx. (1950), as a way of "art imitating life." Besides Tyrone Power, other stars mentioned when Joe Gillis is pitching his "baseball" picture to the producer are Alan Ladd, William Demarest and Betty Hutton. Filtered cigarette packs always open at the filtered end, which meant he would've been lighting the filter otherwise. Swanson was told "She can't show herself, Gloria, she's too overcome. 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. Brackett and Wilder worked together on more than a dozen movies including The Lost Weekend. Norma wound up sitting in Mr. DeMilles chair. With the help of his partners, he created the Mount Kenya Game Ranch and inspired the creation of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation. Sunset Boulevard is no. (1950) was plagiarized from other scripts. The movie's line "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up" was voted the #7 movie quote by the American Film Institute. Buster Keaton appears only in the bridge party scene and utters the word "Pass" twice. What do you say about a longtime friend a sense of personal loss, a fine man. Marshman Jr. Sunset Boulevard was the last time Brackett and Wilder collaborated on a film. Blu-ray features and commentary It gives them an opportunity to write really good acceptances speeches. was better known as the seat of the film industry in 1950, the Los Angeles film industry actually began on Sunset Blvd. ", 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. For Swanson, whose career was already being threatened by the advent of talkies, Queen Kelly was another blow. director of photography Film Editing by Arthur P. Schmidt . According to the Los Angeles Times, the actor long experienced alcoholism, and though he was able to avoid drinking when with lover Stefanie Powers, it ultimately helped pave the way for his death. Louis B. Mayer's reaction is well documented but Mae Murray also found the film offensive. For this Lamarr wanted $25,000 (which would be about $250,000 in 2015 dollars). Norma Desmond returns to the Paramount lot and is overcome with nostalgia. Her Stockholm Syndrome is positively infectious. Neither did Toward the Unknown (1957), the one film Holden produced himself. 25 on AFI's list of all-time great leading men. 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. . That movie, however, departs from the trope by making both actress and stranger much younger. When Powers returned to California, she went to his penthouse apartment in Santa Monica but couldn't get in. When he drives Norma to Paramount Pictures at the studio gates, the car was pulled with a rope by off-camera grips. (1954). William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 November 12, 1981) was an American actor and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. 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. . "I know how it's going to be," Holden said (per The Huntsville Item). The black studs on Joe's shirt front were probably onyx, black opals, or even black pearls. Wilder's version is the one they went with (he was the director, after all), but the argument marked a turning point for him, and he decided never to work with Brackett again. He rejects her. Betty is an idealist, more closely resembling Normas rose-colored outlook, but with darker shades she wants to bring to light. In later interviews, Davis admitted that she thought Swanson's work in the film was absolutely outstanding. 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. So speaking of funerals, heres the great real life murder mystery we teased in the opening. Culture Editor Tony Sokol cut his teeth on the wire services and also wrote and produced New York CitysVampyr Theatreand the rock operaAssassiNation: We Killed JFK. The character of Joe Gillis was very much in tune with William Holden's standing at the time. But attempts to turn the movie into a stage musical began almost immediately, spearheaded by none other than Gloria Swanson. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . But that wasnt good enough for Hollywood. Holden starred in the 20th Century Fox film Apartment for Peggy (1948). Initially, writer-director Wilder envisioned the movie as a straightforward comedy, and the famously saucy West seemed like a perfect fit. Its second owner was Jean Paul Getty, who purchased it for his second wife. Nothing else! Two years later, he was praised for his Oscar-nominated leading performance in Sidney Lumet's classic Network (1976),[34] an examination of the media written by Paddy Chayefsky, playing an older version of the character type for which he had become iconic in the 1950s, only now more jaded and aware of his own mortality. Wilder almost hired Broadway star Marlon Brando, who would make his screen debut in The Men in 1950. When Norma Desmond visits her old friend at Paramount, she affectionately calls him "Mr. DeMille" (not Cecil or C.B. As this film opens, William Holden's character Joe Gillis describes himself as a Hollywood screenwriter "living in an apartment house above Ivar Street." 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. Betty is engaged to be married to Jack Webbs character, Arthur Artie Green, who is such a good buddy to Joe that he offers to put him up on the couch for a few weeks. The two stars had never expressed any hostility towards each other over the failure of Cecil B. DeMille and Stroheim made many recommendations to Wilder during the making of the film, including having his character write all of Norma Desmond's fan mail, and, more importantly, to use footage from "Queen Kelly" as an excerpt from one of Desmond's great silent films. The much sought after but highly finicky leading man accepted the role, then backed out. It was the same technique he had used to shoot Rudolph Valentino's tango in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921). Winston was one of those who discovered the Golden Boy newcomer and who renamed himin honor of his former spouse!"[3]. [4] The film was made for Columbia, which negotiated a sharing agreement with Paramount for Holden's services. 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. For some scenes, cinematographer John F. Seitz would sprinkle dust into the air so it could be caught by the lights and create a moody effect. In fact,Bob Thomas, Holden's biographer, said that the actor's addiction counselor predicted his demise. 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). Sunset Boulevards cinematographer John Seitz said Wilder had wanted to do The Loved One, but couldnt obtain the rights. British author Evelyn Waughs satirical 1948 novel was about a failed screenwriter who lives with a silent film star and works in a cemetery. He always wished that I would get an Oscar. 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. 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. Wilder and his co-writers reversed several elements, and there was no official connection between the movie and Waugh's book. In her private screening room, with butler Max running the projector, Norma cuddles up with Joe to watch one of her own films. You see, this is my life, she promised. They reportedly began a two-year affair, which is alleged to have ended due to Holden's alcoholism. Betty and Joe fall in love after they sneak off to the studio backlot by moonlight to collaborate on a screenplay. 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. Swanson argued that a woman like Norma would have been obsessed with her appearance and would have done her utmost not to look old. Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge were famous for owning downtown real estate in Los Angeles and San Diego. ), and he calls her "young fellow." The film is openly referenced in Soapdish (1991), The Player (1992), Gods and Monsters (1998), Mulholland Drive (2001), Inland Empire (2006) and Be Cool (2005) while the closing scene of Cecil B. Demented (2000) is a direct parody of the final scene of the 1950 classic. and Crescent Heights Blvd. When filming began, William Holden was 31 and Gloria Swanson was 50, the same stated age as her character. Ready? But as commentator Steve Sailer points out, more than one contemporary source mentions it as an inspiration. Normas waxworks card sharps were Swedish-born Anna Q. Nilsson, H. B. Warner and Buster Keaton. 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. Fat Man: "A husky fellow like you?" (he'd already gotten the shot he needed on the first take). 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.". After Salome, she planned to make another picture and another picture. 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. (A few months later, Hepburn met Mel Ferrer, whom she later married and with whom she had a son Sean Hepburn Ferrer. The next decade saw Holden's career flourish. April 17 marks the 100th birthday of William Holden, who is ranked No. but Holden's wife, Ardis (Brenda Marshall), who happened to be on set that day. Here's some backstage information to enhance your experience the next time you visit the Paramount lot.. Mae West rejected the role of Norma Desmond because she felt she was too young to play a silent-film star. Holden, who was at this point dependent on alcohol, said, "I really was in love with Audrey, but she wouldn't marry me. 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. In 2007 the American Film Institute ranked this as the #16 Greatest Movie of All Time.

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