Like most old things in L.A., the house has since been replaced by an office building. [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. Test audiences at the time couldnt let go of the joke, which was why it was re-edited this way. While in Italy in 1966, Holden was responsible for the death of another driver in a drunk-driving incident near Pisa. That's the end.". Swanson made the transition to talkies with The Trespasser in 1929. Although it can get chilly by the ocean, a light jacket or sweater would be plenty. This is a reference to the now-mad Norma's final possession by the character of Salome, with whom she'd been so obsessed. 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. "[13] Paramount reunited him with Nancy Olson, one of his Sunset Boulevard costars, in Union Station (1950). 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. The movie was previewed with this opening, in Illinois, Long Island (NY) and Poughkeepsie (NY). Winston was one of those who discovered the Golden Boy newcomer and who renamed himin honor of his former spouse!"[3]. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett's 17th and final screenplay collaboration. Gloria Swanson and Nancy Olson also appeared in Airport 1975. Bogart took the part hoping it would pair him back up with his wife Lauren Bacall. He earned an Oscar nomination for "Sunset Boulevard" and won an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 for his role in "Stalag 17," per IMDb. The mansion was torn down in 1957, and a large office building for Getty Oil built on the site still stands on the spot. 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. Dont bother with a rewrite, man, take it direct! 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. 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". The name Norma Desmond was a combination of early Hollywoods comedy star Mabel Normand and her lover, silent film director William Desmond Taylor. To everyone's surprise, Judy Holliday won the Best Actress Oscar in 1951 for Born Yesterday (1950), beating Gloria Swanson in this film, and Bette Davis in All About Eve (1950). Suratt was reportedly obsessed with the fact that she was the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary, and after her career ended commissioned the leader of the U.S. Reform Bah' Movement to co-write a script on the life of Mary Magdalene. (1950), Cecil B. DeMille, who plays himself in the film, directed H.B. [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 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. Holden had another good break when he was cast as Judy Holliday's love interest in the big-screen adaptation of the Broadway hit Born Yesterday (1950). So they opened their big mouths and out came talk. This is absolutely true, Nancy Reagan continued consulting her astrologer long after she stopped parking at studio lots. Gillis: "Yes I was murdered." 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.". Yes, this is Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. Oh, wake up, Norma. But also much funnier. In 1973, Holden starred with Kay Lenz in a movie directed by Clint Eastwood called Breezy, which was considered a box-office flop. Words are as good as sex to two writers. Cecil B. DeMille had a pet name for Gloria Swanson: "Young Fellow". Norma Desmond: I *am* big. The car William Holden drives is a P15 Plymouth Special DeLuxe convertible, a model that was produced from 1945-49. Norma telling studio guard Jonesy that without her there would be no Paramount Studios is not a far-fetched notion. April 17, 2019 6:00AM. He was perfection on- and off-screen. Brackett thought it was too mean while Wilder felt it was necessary. [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. Gloria Swanson and Nancy Olson also co-starred in Airport 1975 together. Paramount reunited Bracken and him in Young and Willing (1943). . There are several references to Gloria Swanson's actual career in the film. [32] Also in 1974, Holden starred with Paul Newman and Steve McQueen in the critically acclaimed disaster film The Towering Inferno,[33] which became a box-office smash and one of the highest-grossing films of Holden's career. This inter-positive was scanned at 2,000 lines of resolution and electronically restored for the 2002 DVD reissue. 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. If it were to come to auction in 2021, it would be valued at well over $1M. Costume designer Edith Head found working on the film to be one of her greatest challenges. on the corner of Crenshaw and Irving. 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. The killing and the media circus that followed it hurt the industry. Men bribed her hairdresser to get a lock of her hair. Sands disappeared after the murder. Culture Editor Tony Sokol is a writer, playwright and musician. In 1972, Holden began a nine-year relationship with actress Stefanie Powers and sparked her interest in animal welfare. Holman was 16 years older than him and was afraid people would think the movie was a parody of their relationship. 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). In a scene described by director Billy Wilder as one of the best he'd ever shot, the body of Joe Gillis is rolled into the morgue to join three dozen other corpses, some of whom--in voice-over--tell Gillis how they died. American actress Gloria Swanson in a promotional portrait for 'Sunset Boulevard', directed by Billy Wilder, 1950. 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. Zach Laws, Chris Beachum. This makes her the youngest of the cast members, excluding any extras. Gloria Swanson, meanwhile, was born on March 27, 1899. 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. The footage we see is from Queen Kelly (1929), which starred Gloria Swanson and was directed by Max himself, Erich von Stroheim. Taylor had $78 in his wallet, a silver cigarette case, a Waltham pocket watch, and a two-carat diamond ring on his finger when his body was found, so cops quickly ruled out robbery as the motive. He followed it with Damien: Omen II (1978) and had a cameo in Escape to Athena (1978), which co-starred his real-life love interest Stefanie Powers. He was named one of the "Top 10 Stars of the Year" six times (19541958, 1961), and appeared as 25th on the American Film Institute's list of 25 greatest male stars of Classical Hollywood cinema. This still goes on today. So speaking of funerals, heres the great real life murder mystery we teased in the opening. It was the same technique he had used to shoot Rudolph Valentino's tango in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921). It was this astonishing footage that rekindled interest in the film. Well, they kissed, and kissed, and kept kissing, and the crew began to snicker, and finally Marshall's voice rang out: "Cut, dammit!" When Joe and Betty stroll around the studio back lot they pass through the Washington Square set that was used in The Heiress (1949). It made him a true front ranked star after years of being an actor slogging through a series of largely forgottable films (and performances). Our friendship never waned. William Holden, original name William Franklin Beedle, Jr., (born April 17, 1918, O'Fallon, Illinois, U.S.found dead November 16, 1981, Santa Monica, California), American film star who perfected the role of the cynic who acts heroically in spite of his scorn or pessimism. According to a statement director King Vidor made in 1968, the Los Angeles police detective who was assigned to the case was told to lay off about a week into the investigation. They reportedly began a two-year affair, which is alleged to have ended due to Holden's alcoholism. Wilder asked how much shed charge just to shoot the chair and Lamarr said $10,000. This promised to go the limit. In their scene together in Artie's bathroom Gillis mentions to Betty in his dramatic flirtation about having spent "12 years in the Burmese jungle", when coincidentally, just a few years later his character, Shears, finds himself lost there in David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai. Gloria Swanson worked closely with Edith Head on Norma's clothes to achieve just the right look: grandly expensive but slightly out of date. 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. (Gloria Swanson's TV star - she has one for TV and one for film - is very near by at 6301 Hollywood Blvd). 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). but Holden's wife, Ardis (Brenda Marshall), who happened to be on set that day. It was widely known as a top Hollywood hangout for many actors, directors, writers and producers. Read more of his work here or find him on Twitter @tsokol. The movie begins about five oclock in the morning, left coast time. Neither was The Revengers (1972), another Western. (as Arthur Schmidt) 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 2007 the American Film Institute ranked this as the #16 Greatest Movie of All Time. 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. Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! 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. Strange? His co-star Barbara Stanwyck, a screen. A neglected house gets an unhappy look. read more: The Big Sleep is Proof That Plot Doesnt Matter. 10 films that began filming without a finished script, Donald Trumps Bad Romance with Hollywood Began Before Parasite, Shazam! The princess in love with a holy man, she dances the dance of the seven veils. Was the inspiration for Metallica's 1997 song "The Memory Remains". 4.99. De Mille, and Max von Mayerling. There were actually three mansions used during filming. Mary Pickford lived in seclusion, away from the public eye, while both Mae Murray and Clara Bow had well documented struggles with mental illness. 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. The character of Norma Desmond is modeled on the fate of several leading actresses of the silent era. Now I had two favorite movies - aside from "Gone With The Wind" of course - both from 1950, "Sunset Boulevard" and "All . Montgomery Clift was originally cast as the writer but dropped out two weeks before the shoot. 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.". Holden served as a second and then a first lieutenant in the United States Army Air Force during World War II, where he acted in training films for the First Motion Picture Unit, including Reconnaissance Pilot (1943). 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. Gloria Swanson almost considered rejecting the role of Norma Desmond after Billy Wilder requested she do a screen test for the role. 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. In the opening scene of the 1950 film "Sunset Boulevard," the cynical screenwriter turned gigolo Joe Gillis lies floating in a swimming pool, blood seeping from his lifeless body. [4] They had two sons, Peter and Scott. It was Erich von Stroheim who suggested the revelation that Max was writing all of Norma's fan mail. Old whores dont fuck for fun, as the old saying goes. A new 4K high-definition scan was done in 2008 for the film's release on Blu-ray disc. Blu-ray features and commentary The clips in Sunset Boulevard were the first time American audiences saw it. In subsequent years, two lawsuits have been filed against Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, claiming that Sunset Blvd. But she fits it like a round peg in a square hole. 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. (1950), as a way of "art imitating life." Beedle grew up in South Pasadena, California. The structure in the film required a tennis court, or rather the ghost of a tennis court, with faded markings and a sagging net. After a private screening for Hollywood dignitaries, Barbara Stanwyck knelt in front of Gloria Swanson and kissed the hem of her skirt. We were close friends for many years. Buster Keaton appears only in the bridge party scene and utters the word "Pass" twice. William Holden movies: 15 greatest films, ranked worst to best, include 'Sunset Boulevard,' 'Network,' 'Stalag 17'. When producer Sheldrake offers to turn Gillis' script into a Betty Hutton story, the desperately poor writer inexplicably turns him down. "We didn't need dialogue. One of the few showy bits of camerawork in the film is near the beginning, when the corpse floating in Norma Desmond's pool is seen from underneath. William Holden says his birthday is December 21st. Unsurprisingly, he was largely self taught, spending countless hours with instruction manuals and newspaper clips, playing all four hands simultaneously until he became an expert. His deal was considered one of the best ever for an actor at the time, with him receiving 10% of the gross, which earned him over $2.5 million, however, Holden stipulated that he should only receive a maximum of $50,000 per year from the film. This was the last major Hollywood feature film to be shot on nitrate stock. 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. Realizing that former actress Hopper would easily dominate the scene, Parsons declined, even though she and Wilder were friends. A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return. Sometimes its interesting to see just how bad, bad writing can be. This was the actual set of Samson and Delilah (1949), which de Mille was making at the time. 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. In fact, Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett even went to Pickfair to pitch the story to Pickford, but her horrified reaction as the story progressed made them stop halfway through and apologize to her. 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.. We'll hear two of his visits to Suspense, beginning with the New Orleans jazz . According to Billy Wilder, it was von Stroheim's idea to use a clip from Queen Kelly (1932) in Sunset Blvd. Fred MacMurray and Gene Kelly both turned down the role of Joe Gillis. Louis B. Mayer's reaction is well documented but Mae Murray also found the film offensive. It was George Cukor who suggested Gloria Swanson for the role of Norma Desmond. See, Bettys a message gal, not a virgin, and there are no whores in Hollywood. Wilder told the actors to kibbutz and let him shuffle. And like the title, Holden seemed to have the looks and muscular build Hollywood craved. Billy Wilder went into production with only 61 pages of script finished, so he had to shoot more or less in chronological order. "I knew he was off the wagon," she recalled in her memoir "One from the Hart." There was a maharajah who came all the way from India to beg one of her silk stockings. 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). The two starred in the films The Lion (1962) and The 7th Dawn (1964). . Less popular was Satan Never Sleeps (1961), the last film of Clifton Webb and Leo McCarey; The Counterfeit Traitor (1962), his third film with Seaton; or The Lion (1962), with Trevor Howard and Capucine. [40], Holden had a daughter born in 1937 from his relationship with actress Eva May Hoffman. +10 More . Part of the dialogue goes: Fat Man: "Where did you drown? All I know is that she's meshuggah, that's all. Norma wound up sitting in Mr. DeMilles chair. See production, box office & company info. Although she had long before ruled out the possibility of a movie comeback, she was nevertheless highly intrigued when she got the offer to play the lead. [43] Capucine and Holden remained friends until his death in 1981. In the fall of 1981, the television actor Stefanie Powers, who was dating William Holden, was in Hawaii filming the ABC show "Hart to Hart" when Holden stopped answering his phone. 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. Seitz had used a similar technique on Double Indemnity (1944). Not everyone felt the same way, however. All of the silent film stars mentioned by Norma, Joe, Betty and Max were either dead or no longer active in films by 1950. As the band plays 'Diane', we also see Desmond ascending her staircase. 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. 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. I think that Sunset Boulevard was the most important film of William Holden's career. Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard took the tinsel out of Tinseltown, the gild off the golden boy, and the cover off a forgotten murder. 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. Getty always wanted a pool, the poor dope. Neither did Toward the Unknown (1957), the one film Holden produced himself. 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). Joe could have slept with Norma and loved Betty, and owned the pool that would be his final resting place. In the movie, an aide tells Cecil B. DeMille "Gordon Cole has been trying to reach you". [41], Holden was married to actress Brenda Marshall from 1941 until their divorce in 1971. Im not giving anything away here. 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). Sunset Boulevard (1950) 1950, 1h 50min - Drama Gloria Swanson, as Norma Desmond, an aging silent-film queen, and William Holden, as the struggling young screenwriter who is held in thrall by her madness, created two of the screen's most memorable characters in "Sunset Boulevard." When two more test audiences reacted the same way, Wilder cut the scene and the movie was saved. That movie, however, departs from the trope by making both actress and stranger much younger. 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. Normand made movies with the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle, and lived like life was one Wild Party. It has to be an opera. . The producer in the film was originally called Kaufman and was to be played by Joseph Calleia. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett met with Greta Garbo and tried to convince her to make a comeback in the role of Norma Desmond. But along with the accolades came a dependence on alcohol that would play a major role in his tragic end. Holden turned the tables on Lucille Ball when he appeared as a guest star on I Love Lucy at The Brown Derby. It was named after a major street that runs through Hollywood, the center of the American film industry . Norma's "gondola bed" was originally white, and was featured in Twentieth Century (1934) with Carole Lombard and John Barrymore. This is an old film which has been made into a musical. A version of how he obtained his stage name "Holden" is based on a statement by George Ross of Billboard: "William Holden, the lad just signed for the coveted lead in Golden Boy, used to be Bill Beadle [sic]. 12 Sep. WILLIAM HOLDEN: At some point, "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) played at The Silver Screen. Now that we are getting closer to Awards Season in here in Hollywood, Im getting more and more interest from nominees and prospective nominees who want to know in advance if they are going home with the gold, Marie Bargas, known for years as the Hollywood Witch, told Den of Geek. 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. Wilder was, well, the wilder of the two, often bawdy and crass, while Brackett was genteel. 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. I instantly fell in love - both with the movie itself and with its handsome 32-year old male lead, William Holden. He was perfection on and off-screen. Holden was a bit of an anti-hero, or at least a very flawed hero. H.B. Swanson was told "She can't show herself, Gloria, she's too overcome. Still, whatever hard feelings there may have been between Swanson and von Stroheim, they were gone by the time Sunset Boulevard came along. Billy Wilder originally wanted another silent star, Pola Negri, to take the part of Norma Desmond.

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