He had made Swanson a star by. 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. Fat Man: "A husky fellow like you?" 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. She can sense the hot spot of every light and has never lost the wonderment of movies. Free shipping for many products! Kodak would discontinue to manufacture it altogether in 1953. Film debut (uncredited) of Yvette Vickers. Holden, just 63 when he died, had most recently appeared in the Blake Edwards' film "S.O.B." An ending for the film was cobbled together, but the movie was never shown in the U.S. After all, it's about a dethroned queen." There were no shortage of suspects. 4.99. 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. A week later she heard the news of Holden's death on her car radio. The film is included on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list. Charles Brackett and Wilder were just as adamant that nothing in their scripts should be changed, and nothing new added. The next decade saw Holden's career flourish. ), It came out the same year as another behind-the-scenes showbiz classic, All About Eve, which took most of the Oscars. in 1911 when the Nestor Film Company moved from New. Sands disappeared after the murder. A new 4K high-definition scan was done in 2008 for the film's release on Blu-ray disc. The last name of the studio executive played by Fred Clark is Sheldrake. 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. He rejects her. You used to be big. I think that Sunset Boulevard was the most important film of William Holden's career. 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. Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder retained the term of endearment for the scene in which DeMille greets Norma Desmond at the door of the sound stage. 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." His co-star Barbara Stanwyck, a screen veteran and one of the greatest actors of all time, coached and promoted Holden personally. Getting the role was a lucky break for Holden, as Montgomery Clift was initially cast but backed out of his contract. He always wished that I would get an Oscar. 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. There were three young directors who showed promise in those early days of silent film, D.W. Griffith, Cecil B. 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). An out of work writer in Hollywood (Holden) randomly pulls into the driveway of a silent film star (Swanson) who can use the assistance of his writing talent. When Powers returned to California, she went to his penthouse apartment in Santa Monica but couldn't get in. 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. The movie premiered in the days of restricted language, not so long after Rhett Butler controversially told Scarlett OHara he didnt give a damn what happened to her in Gone With the Wind, a classic Paramount passed on because who wanted to see Civil War picture? But the old guard thought Wilder and his co-writer Charles Brackett fashioned a rope that could strangle this business of show by writing words, words, and more words. Although Sheldrake's musings on a film about the story of a female baseball player was seen as humorous, the movie "A League of Their Own" would do just that 42 years later. Well, not a comeback, a return, a return to the millions of people who have never forgiven her for deserting the screen. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). Youre killing yourself for an empty house. Holden appeared uncredited in Prison Farm (1939) and Million Dollar Legs (1939) at Paramount. She is still waving proudly to a parade which had long since passed her by. She changed her professional name to Patricia Palmer and was working with Famous Players-Lasky, Taylors studio at the time of his death. Gloria Swanson brings sunshine into every room as silent screen idol Norma Desmond. Forensic evidence recovered at the scene suggested that he was conscious for at least half an hour after the fall. As DeMille was directing Lamarr at the time in Samson and Delilah (1949), this would have been no problem. (1950) in Australia? "I knew he was off the wagon," she recalled in her memoir "One from the Hart." Norma Desmond was the greatest of them all. 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. [5][6], Next he starred with George Raft and Humphrey Bogart in the Warner Bros. gangster epic Invisible Stripes (1939), billed below Raft and above Bogart. 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. Although a registered Republican, he never involved himself in politics. When Norma Desmond visits her old friend at Paramount, she affectionately calls him "Mr. DeMille" (not Cecil or C.B. When he drives Norma to Paramount Pictures at the studio gates, the car was pulled with a rope by off-camera grips. "I know how it's going to be," Holden said (per The Huntsville Item). Blu-ray features and commentary He was Judy Hollidays tutor in Born Yesterday (1950) and played a war correspondent in Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955). The princess in love with a holy man, she dances the dance of the seven veils. So speaking of funerals, heres the great real life murder mystery we teased in the opening. Haines declined and fellow screen veteran H.B. She is ever the star. 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.. Well, in the end, he got himself a poolonly the price turned out to be a little high, so Paramount paid to have one installed on the condition that if Mrs. Getty didnt like it, theyd remove it after filming was over. 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. Still, whatever hard feelings there may have been between Swanson and von Stroheim, they were gone by the time Sunset Boulevard came along. Wilder and Brackett told everyone at Paramount and the Production code that the screenplay was based on the story A Can of Beans by Wilder, Brackett, and D.M. The exterior shots were of a house located not on Sunset but Irving Boulevard, near the corner of Wilshire, owned by the J. Paul Getty family. Holden's first starring role was in Golden Boy (1939), costarring Barbara Stanwyck, in which he played a violinist-turned-boxer. Mrs. Getty divorced her millionaire husband and received custody of the house; it was she who rented it to Paramount for the filming. Holden never lost his stride as cinema changed. Idealists can screw for fun and for power, because sex is good for business but love is a luxury Hollywood gals cant live without. Brenda Marshall, Holden's wife since 1941, was visiting the set when Holden and Nancy Olson had their kissing scene. An inventory of his prospects added up to exactly zero. Was Oscar-nominated in all the major categories--Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Screenplay--but only won in the last category. Vega subsequently confirmed that this was a reference to Holden.[50]. Perry, George & Andrew Lloyd Webber (1993). . 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. If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Neither was The Revengers (1972), another Western. When Norma is telling Joe about how rich she is, she mentions a beach house and downtown real estate. It was Erich von Stroheim who suggested the revelation that Max was writing all of Norma's fan mail. The musical version of the movie opened in London on July 12, 1993, and ran 1529 performances. It's the pictures that got small," was voted #24, out of 100. Bogart took the part hoping it would pair him back up with his wife Lauren Bacall. 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." 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. Warner, and Anna Q. Nilsson. 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. 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. So she lands his head on a golden tray, kissing his cold, dead lips. To get around the restrictions of the Breen Code, the script was submitted piecemeal, several pages at a time. Holden continued to work steadily for the next decade, but Hollywood often had no idea what to do with him. She can be seen talking and giggling on the phone during the party. On Joe's and Betty's night walk through the Paramount backlot, his calling the false building fronts "Washington Square" would be an accurate reference, as that neighborhood in New York was full of brownstone houses, apartments, and other turn-of-the-century architecture. The clips in Sunset Boulevard were the first American audiences had seen of it. 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. All of the silent film stars mentioned by Norma, Joe, Betty and Max were either dead or no longer active in films by 1950. Hollywood was known for its excesses long before Michael Jackson hit town. "Lonely, alone, without dignity.". This one had it in spades. (1940) followed by the role of George Gibbs in the film adaptation of Our Town (1940), done for Sol Lesser at United Artists.[8]. Cecil B. DeMille appears in the film on a studio set. (1950) was plagiarized from other scripts. read more: The Big Sleep is Proof That Plot Doesnt Matter. It is one of the most indelible films you will ever see. Norma telling studio guard Jonesy that without her there would be no Paramount Studios is not a far-fetched notion. He played an older version of Joe in Sidney Lumets classic Network (1976), written by the cynical Paddy Chayefsky. 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. Normand made movies with the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle, and lived like life was one Wild Party. [17], Their relationship did not last much beyond the completion of the film. Hedda Hopper: at the top of the stairwell as Norma descends toward the cameras. "I'm not surprised that this could have happened.". And like the title, Holden seemed to have the looks and muscular build Hollywood craved. [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. 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.". We had faces" was #13. After living in the home for a year he moved, and the house sat vacant for a little over a decade, earning the moniker "The Phantom House" in the process. and Crescent Heights Blvd. She refuses to believe that she's no longer remembered and will never make another movie. She lives in a crumbling old mansion with her butler Max (Erich von Stroheim). Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge were famous for owning downtown real estate in Los Angeles and San Diego. Ready? Holden was born William Franklin Beedle, Jr., on April 17, 1918, in O'Fallon, Illinois, son of Mary Blanche Beedle (ne Ball), a schoolteacher, and her husband William Franklin Beedle, an industrial chemist. April 17, 2019 6:00AM. 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. It was a gift from her lover, automobile magnate Walter Chrysler. Carol Burnett spoofed the film several times on her TV variety show. For the record, the other 12 films to achieve a similar feat are Mrs. Miniver (1942), Johnny Belinda (1948), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), From Here to Eternity (1953), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Zach Laws, Chris Beachum. 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. William Holden had a similar trajectory as a young artist in Hollywood. The character of Norma Desmond is modeled on the fate of several leading actresses of the silent era. Sunset Blvd. It was widely known as a top Hollywood hangout for many actors, directors, writers and producers. 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. 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. Cinematographer John Seitz put a mirror on the bottom of the pool and filmed the reflection. He said it was because she was braver than any man. Gloria Swanson almost considered rejecting the role of Norma Desmond after Billy Wilder requested she do a screen test for the role. His height was 1.8 m tall and weighed 89 kg. Holden was still an unknown actor when he made Golden Boy, while Stanwyck was already a film star. Gordon Cole was a real person in the art department for DeMille's Samson and Delilah (1949) and later in The Ten Commandments (1956). 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. The two actors never worked together in another film. Men bribed her hairdresser to get a lock of her hair. 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. Billy Wilder had worked on a script for a Swanson picture years earlier called "Music in the Air (1934)" and had forgotten about it. on the corner of Crenshaw and Irving.