It's the pictures that got small," was voted #24, out of 100. 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. On the Columbia lot is an assistant director and scout named Harold Winston. 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. [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. This inter-positive was scanned at 2,000 lines of resolution and electronically restored for the 2002 DVD reissue. You see, this is my life, she promised. Test audiences at the time couldnt let go of the joke, which was why it was re-edited this way. White, pink, or maybe bright flaming red. At the end of her acceptance speech, she paid him a personal tribute: "I loved him very much, and I miss him. 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. 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. Well, not everybody! Throughout Hollywood history many film stars, and/or single films, were responsible for saving ailing studios. The body was found by Henry Peavey, who took over for convicted embezzler Edward F. Sands as Taylors valet. 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. He rejects her. (1949), and "Father Is a Bachelor" (1950). Co-writer D.M. Norma, the aging silent-movie star who ensnares down-at-the-heels screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden), is the vamp become vampire (look at those clawlike hands! [43] Capucine and Holden remained friends until his death in 1981. Sands disappeared after the murder. The movie was previewed with this opening, in Illinois, Long Island (NY) and Poughkeepsie (NY). Seitz had used a similar technique on Double Indemnity (1944). Sunset Boulevard turns the tables on film noir by casting Joe in the oldest role on the books. This was the last major Hollywood feature film to be shot on nitrate stock. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Sunset Boulevard DVD Special Collector's Edition William Holden Gloria Swanson at the best online prices at eBay! But before that happened, it appeared in Rebel Without a Cause as the abandoned mansion in which the kids hang out. Both Keaton and Hopper died the same day, on February 1, 1966, at the ages of 70 and 80 respectively, both in Los Angeles. 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. West wanted to rewrite her dialogue. 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. Billy Wilder was one of the ultimate Hollywood insiders and he grew with film. The restoration was performed at Lowry Digital by Barry Allen and Steve Elkin. 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. Before he became a kept man for Norma Desmond, he was thinking of wrapping up the whole Hollywood deal and trying to get his old job back as a newspaperman in Dayton, Ohio. are shown stenciled on the curb of that street. But trophies or not, Sunset Boulevard has stayed near the top of the list of great movies about moviemaking. Sunset Boulevard is no has-been, though. producer Music by Franz Waxman Cinematography by John F. Seitz . 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. There were three young directors who showed promise in those early days of silent film, D.W. Griffith, Cecil B. But even to show a chair with her name on it, Lamarr wanted $10,000. Erich von Stroheim, who directed Swanson in Queen Kelly (1932), plays Max the butler, who serves as the projectionist in the scene. on the corner of Crenshaw and Irving. 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. Sunset Boulevard is also a reflection of Hollywood through a glass, darkly. This is a nod to retired silent-movie star Clara Bow, whose husband Rex Bell, a former star of "B" westerns, was the president of the Nevada Chamber of Commerce, and later Lieutenant Governor of Nevada. The musical version of the movie opened in London on July 12, 1993, and ran 1529 performances. Garbo was once rumored to be engaged to the innovative Hollywood and Broadway director Rouben Mamoulian whose film Golden Boy (1939) made William Holden famous. (1950), Cecil B. DeMille, who plays himself in the film, directed H.B. This was a first for Gloria Swanson, but proved a big boon in helping her develop her character's descent into madness. 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. Holden met French actress Capucine in the early 1960s. Forensic evidence recovered at the scene suggested that he was conscious for at least half an hour after the fall. The producer in the film was originally called Kaufman and was to be played by Joseph Calleia. 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. 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. 10 films that began filming without a finished script, Donald Trumps Bad Romance with Hollywood Began Before Parasite, Shazam! It made him a true front ranked star after years of being an actor slogging through a series of largely forgottable films (and performances). After working on Sunset Boulevard, Swanson remarked, Bill Holden was a man I could have fallen in love with. His family moved to South Pasadena when he was three. Holden himself claimed that he, too, could picture his end. Read and download theDen of Geek SDCC 2019 Special Edition Magazineright here! He followed it with a romantic comedy, Dear Ruth (1947) and he was one of many cameos in Variety Girl (1947). The pool was used in its empty condition in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). 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. See production, box office & company info. Filtered cigarette packs always open at the filtered end, which meant he would've been lighting the filter otherwise. When Gloria Swanson finished Norma's final scene, the mad staircase descent, she burst into tears and the crew applauded. Costume designer Edith Head found working on the film to be one of her greatest challenges. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett met with Greta Garbo and tried to convince her to make a comeback in the role of Norma Desmond. 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? David Lynch is an avid fan of the movie, having referenced it in films such as Inland Empire (2006), Mulholland Drive (2001)--which has a similar title and theme about the misfortunes of aspiring artists in Hollywood--and the television show Twin Peaks (1990), where Lynch himself played an FBI Bureau Chief named Gordon Cole. Warner (one of the four "Waxworks" at the bridge party) in The King of Kings (1927). Norma Desmond returns to the Paramount lot and is overcome with nostalgia. 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. Gillis: "Well, I had a few extra holes in me, two in the chest and one in the stomach." Eugene Walter was a prolific Hollywood screenwriter of the 1920s and 1930s. 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." As DeMille was directing Lamarr at the time in Samson and Delilah (1949), this would have been no problem. Old whores dont fuck for fun, as the old saying goes. Film News. This film is in the Official Top 250 Narrative Feature Films on Letterboxd. 10060 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, California, USA. [14], Holden made a third film with Wilder, Sabrina (1954), billed beneath Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. A second film with Seaton did not do as well, The Proud and Profane (1956), where Holden played the role with a moustache. After all, it's about a dethroned queen." taste bar and kitchen missouri city. [46] Rumors existed that he was suffering from lung cancer, which Holden had denied at a 1980 press conference. Mary Pickford, Pola Negri, and Greta Garbo turned down the role. This is absolutely true, Nancy Reagan continued consulting her astrologer long after she stopped parking at studio lots. The latter was shot in Africa and sparked Holden's fascination with the continent that was to last for the rest of his life. Eventually it wasn't Wilder who shouted "Cut!" In 1998 the American Film Institute selected this as the 12th greatest film of the 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time. 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. So they opened their big mouths and out came talk. Brackett was also a frequent collaborator with Billy Wilder, co-writing and producing a dozen movies with him (including The Lost Weekend) before Sunset Boulevard proved to be their last. Normands career never recovered after word of her addiction leaked out and she died of tuberculosis on Feb. 23, 1930. preppy-3 15 March 2008. 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. "No, don't let it be true. A modern-girl Jiminy Cricket, Betty asks, Dont you sometimes hate yourself? and Joe corrects her, Constantly.. 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. The home was built in 1923 for businessman William O. Jenkins. Idealists can screw for fun and for power, because sex is good for business but love is a luxury Hollywood gals cant live without. She looks like a mannequin of a . Norma Desmond: I *am* big. Normas waxworks card sharps were Swedish-born Anna Q. Nilsson, H. B. Warner and Buster Keaton. Cecil B. DeMille: at the studio during Norma's visit. He played Rafts kid brother, who was following in his gangster footsteps and needed to be set straight. 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. [4] The film was made for Columbia, which negotiated a sharing agreement with Paramount for Holden's services. The He starred in Sam Peckinpahs masterwork Western The Wild Bunch. Sunset Boulevard is a noir film and like many of the post-World War II dark classics, it is covered with a thick sheen of cynicism. "Waxwork" Buster Keaton was in reality an excellent bridge player, always in demand at Hollywood bridge parties. 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. Yes, this is Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. Im not giving anything away here. Director Cecil B. DeMille, silent film actors Buster Keaton, H. B. Warner, and Anna Q. Nilsson played waxy versions of themselves. It is because of Sunset Blvd., for certain, that my mind could ever go there. "I'm not surprised that this could have happened.". Both Mary Astor and Miriam Hopkins starred in TV versions of the film in 1955 and 1956, respectively. And so tonight, my golden boy, you got your wish". There once was a time in this business when they had the eyes of the whole world. 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.". According to reports, Taylor went to the feds for help filing charges against Normands cocaine suppliers. Holden paid it forward, becoming Hepburns guardian angel.. Gloria Swanson played her final descent on the staircase barefoot, as she was terrified of tripping in high heels. 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. H.B. With the help of his partners, he created the Mount Kenya Game Ranch and inspired the creation of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation. De Mille, and Max von Mayerling. 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. Confess, Peavey, he laughed in the ghosts face. They had faces. ), It came out the same year as another behind-the-scenes showbiz classic, All About Eve, which took most of the Oscars. The Academy Award-winning actor William Holden, born William Beedle Jr., on April 17, 1918, in O'Fallon, Illinois, began his career with 1939s "Golden Boy," per Britannica. The role of Norma Desmond was initially offered to Mae West (who rejected the part), Mary Pickford (Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett realized when talking to her that her image as "America's Sweetheart" made her unsuitable for the part), and Pola Negri (Billy Wilder rejected her as her thick accent would cause too many problems) before being accepted by Gloria Swanson. The plot element of Norma Desmond's obsession with writing a screenplay based on Salome as a vehicle for her comeback was obviously influenced by eccentric, aging actress Valeska Suratt, who had a brief film career (1915-1917) playing mostly vamp roles. LAS COSAS DEL QUERER", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sunset_Boulevard_(film)&oldid=1142173541, Best Overall New Extra Features Library Release. 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.. For purposes of authenticity Erich von Stroheim and Nancy Olson wore their own clothes in the film. See, Bettys a message gal, not a virgin, and there are no whores in Hollywood. Wilder was, well, the wilder of the two, often bawdy and crass, while Brackett was genteel. The name Norma Desmond was a combination of early Hollywoods comedy star Mabel Normand and her lover, silent film director William Desmond Taylor. The only Best Picture Oscar nominee of the year to be also nominated for Original Screenplay. Prior to joining the Houston Chronicle, Gonzales worked as a night cops reporter at The. Schwab's was torn down in 1988 to make way for a movie theater and a shopping center. A true Hollywood horror story. Cinematographer John Seitz put a mirror on the bottom of the pool and filmed the reflection. 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.". Holden's films after that time had not impressed Wilder (in the 1940s Holden's movies were decidedly mediocre). The car William Holden drives is a P15 Plymouth Special DeLuxe convertible, a model that was produced from 1945-49. 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 was not particularly successful. Make-up designer Wally Westmore found that Gloria Swanson's face belied her age and wanted to make her look older. Taylor had a British accent and the imposter sounded like he came out of Chicagos south side. Being born on 17 April 1918, William Holden was 63 years old at the time of his death. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett's 17th and final screenplay collaboration. They had to have the ears of the old place, too. It gives them an opportunity to write really good acceptances speeches. For television roles in 1974, Holden won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his portrayal of a cynical, tough veteran LAPD street cop in the television film The Blue Knight, based upon the best-selling Joseph Wambaugh novel of the same name.[31][4]. She reportedly told Clift shed kill herself if he made the movie. Billy Wilder was a friend of the danish silent movie star Asta Nielsen, and based the Norma Desmond caracter on her. She reads everyone and everything in Hollywood, except Joes script. (1950) was plagiarized from other scripts. Realizing that former actress Hopper would easily dominate the scene, Parsons declined, even though she and Wilder were friends. The old movies needed neither color nor dialogue. Sunset Boulevard now begins with police cars racing to Norma Desmond's house, where a dead body is floating in the pool. You murdered me. When he drives Norma to Paramount Pictures at the studio gates, the car was pulled with a rope by off-camera grips. Although a registered Republican, he never involved himself in politics. Holdens last movie, Blake Edwardss S.O.B., was another masterpiece of Hollywood cynicism. [30] Holden made a Western with Ryan O'Neal and Blake Edwards, Wild Rovers (1971). [2] His brother Robert ("Bobbie") became a U.S. Navy fighter pilot and was killed in action in World War II, over New Ireland, a Japanese-occupied island in the South Pacific. Ultimately she retired completely from films, making only sporadic appearances, notably in Airport 1975 (1974). 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. 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. Everyone had a good laugh, though the record doesn't reflect whether Marshall joined in. [39][46] He dictated in his will that the Neptune Society cremate him and scatter his ashes in the Pacific Ocean. Holden did a sports film at Columbia, Boots Malone (1952), then returned to Paramount for The Turning Point (1952). Culture Editor Tony Sokol is a writer, playwright and musician. Also, the house didn't have a pool, so Paramount paid to have one installed on the condition that if Mrs. Getty didn't like it, they'd remove it after filming was over. William Holden movies: 15 greatest films, ranked worst to best, include 'Sunset Boulevard,' 'Network,' 'Stalag 17'. A classic film review of Sunset Boulevard (1950) starring William Holden, Gloria Swanson and Eric Von StroheimDirected by acclaimed film maker Billy Wilder (. Read more of his work here or find him on Twitter @tsokol. After the completion of his film, Wilder shocked his longtime collaborator by announcing that he wished to dissolve their partnership; this was the result of a fierce quarrel over a montage scene in the film. Mrs. Getty's home had to be completely re-decorated to give it the oversized grandeur needed for the film. 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 built in 1924 by William Jenkins, at a cost of $250,000. As day breaks. He just didnt have what it takes. The movie's line "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." It's the pictures that got small" was #91. He was perfection on and off-screen. Holden was a bit of an anti-hero, or at least a very flawed hero. Billy Wilder was actually friendlier with the other leading gossip columnist of the day, Louella Parsons. Schwab's Pharmacy was filmed only 500 feet (145 meters) from where Robert "D-Fens" Foster shot out the phone booth in Falling Down (1993). 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. [2] He had two younger brothers, Robert Westfield Beedle and Richard Porter Beedle. "[13]:174 The interactions between Bogart, Hepburn and Holden made shooting less than pleasant, as Bogart had wanted his wife, Lauren Bacall, to play Sabrina. The name "Norma Desmond" was chosen from a combination of silent-film star Norma Talmadge and silent movie director William Desmond Taylor, whose still-unsolved murder is one of the great scandals of Hollywood history. But also much funnier. (1950), as a way of "art imitating life." The character of Joe Gillis was very much in tune with William Holden's standing at the time. While Hollywood Blvd. Warner, and Anna Q. Nilsson. Gloria Swanson worked closely with Edith Head on Norma's clothes to achieve just the right look: grandly expensive but slightly out of date. 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.". 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. Wilder almost hired Broadway star Marlon Brando, who would make his screen debut in The Men in 1950. It has to be an opera. Boulevard du crpuscule : Amazon.com.mx: Pelculas y Series de TV. When Artie Green introduces Joe to other guests at his New Year's Eve party, he jokingly refers to him as "the well-known screenwriter, uranium smuggler and Black Dahlia suspect", a reference to the infamous unsolved L.A. murder case in 1947 of an aspiring actress known as The Black Dahlia, who was found murdered and dismembered on a street in Los Angeles. In real life, when Swanson and DeMille had worked together, that was what they always called each other. Studs and cufflinks were inserted into the shirt holes to secure the garment. When Peavey heard the moans I am the ghost of William Desmond Taylor. 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. However, DeMille insisted that Lamarr be paid $25,000 for the privilege, so the idea was quickly dropped. [26], He made another war film for a British director, The Key (1958) with Trevor Howard and Sophia Loren for director Carol Reed. Included among the 25 films on the American Film Institute's 2005 list of AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores. Holden made a fourth and final film for Wilder with Fedora (1978). 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. [4] They had two sons, Peter and Scott. ), a woman who trades on charms that have . Paramount reunited him with Nancy Olson, one of his Sunset Boulevard costars, in Union Station (1950). When producer Sheldrake offers to turn Gillis' script into a Betty Hutton story, the desperately poor writer inexplicably turns him down. 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). Hola, identifcate . Saltar al contenido principal.com.mx. After a private screening for Hollywood dignitaries, Barbara Stanwyck knelt in front of Gloria Swanson and kissed the hem of her skirt. Since he had classic good looks, an expressive voice, and was an excelle Norma is perceived as the evil force, even if she uses a white phone while Betty is relegated to a poor black phone. 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 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. They are singing a parody of their song "Buttons and Bows," from The Paleface (1948), for which they won an Oscar in 1949, the year this film was made. With unofficial permission from Paramount, she worked for a few years with writer Dickson Hughes and actor Richard Stapley developing a show called Starring Norma Desmond (later changed to Boulevard). The statuette on the telephone table at Artie Green's new years party is a model of the Philistine god, Dagon. Erich von Stroheim could not drive in real life. 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. Salome was a wonderful part for Norma Desmonds celluloid comeback. If anything, its observations on the greedy machinations of Tinseltown are truer now than they were in 1950. Dont bother with a rewrite, man, take it direct! The only film to be nominated for Best Actor and Actress Oscars that year. 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). But when Sondheim pitched the idea to Billy Wilder at a party, Wilder said, "You can't write a musical about Sunset Boulevard. She refuses to believe that she's no longer remembered and will never make another movie. 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. At Columbia, he starred in film noirs, The Dark Past (1948), The Man from Colorado (1949) and Father Is a Bachelor (1950). Perry, George & Andrew Lloyd Webber (1993). Paramount was more than happy to be the subject of the film, and didn't ask for the studio to be disguised. On the morning of February 1, 1922, Taylor--who had been romantically involved with her-- was shot and killed in his Hollywood bungalow. Well, not a comeback, a return, a return to the millions of people who have never forgiven her for deserting the screen. She was nominated for the first Academy Award in the Best Actress category. William Holden had a similar trajectory as a young artist in Hollywood. 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. . These actors were bigger than life. In accordance with his wishes, no funeral or memorial services were conducted. It was meant to be slightly humorous in a morbid way, but the audience at the first test screening found it flat-out hysterical, setting the wrong mood for the rest of the picture. According to Billy Wilder, it was von Stroheim's idea to use a clip from Queen Kelly (1932) in Sunset Blvd. The "Desmond mansion" was located not on Sunset Blvd. 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. Whether he was the washed up screenwriter of Sunset Boulevard or the reluctant hero of The Bridge on the River Kwai, Holden kept audiences engrossed. The stars read the stars. Sunset Boulevard, one of Hollywood's most cruelly accurate depictions of itself, is now 65 years oldolder, even, than its main character, who's washed up at 50. 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. 3.48. (as Arthur Schmidt) But she wanted to rewrite her dialogue (as was her custom)a nonstarter for Wilder, who seldom let his actors change their lines even slightly from what was on the page. The script (which was to be a vehicle for her comeback) was submitted to Cecil B. DeMille who sent it back. Sunset Boulevard is no. 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: It was a gift from her lover, automobile magnate Walter Chrysler. But before you hear it all distorted and blown out of proportion, before those Hollywood columnists get their hands on it, maybe youd like to hear the facts, the whole truth.
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