But who could play the silent film diva? When he drives Norma to Paramount Pictures at the studio gates, the car was pulled with a rope by off-camera grips. He loves Norma so much, he even forges thousands of pages of fan mail, just to feed her delusion. Director Billy Wilder Writers Charles Brackett Billy Wilder D.M. 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. Von Stroheim didnt know how to drive, and the scene where hes driving the exotic leopard-upholstered Isotta-Fraschini was shot as the car was being towed. Billy Wilder's sixth film in a row for Paramount Pictures. 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? 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. 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. Not everyone felt the same way, however. Or shall I call my servant? So funny that it took away from the rest of the picture. It's the pictures that got small," was voted #24, out of 100. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 - November 12, 1981) was an American actor and murderer, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. in 1911 when the Nestor Film Company moved from New. Schwab's was torn down in 1988 to make way for a movie theater and a shopping center. Haines declined and fellow screen veteran H.B. Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! Holden had another hit with The World of Suzie Wong (1960) with Nancy Kwan, which was shot in Hong Kong. Free Postage. "[18] Rumors at the time had it that Hepburn wanted a family, but when Holden told her that he had had a vasectomy and having children was impossible, she moved on. Columbia put Holden in a Western with Jean Arthur, Arizona (1940), then at Paramount he was in a hugely popular war film, I Wanted Wings (1941) with Ray Milland and Veronica Lake. After his final film S.O.B., Holden declined to star in Jason Miller's film That Championship Season.[37]. If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. After returning from France, she shot her last Paramount films--Stage Struck (1925), The Untamed Lady (1926) and Fine Manners (1926)--at the studio's lot in Astoria, Queens, NY. Hola Elige tu direccin Pelculas y Series de TV. The last name of the studio executive played by Fred Clark is Sheldrake. Fred MacMurray and Gene Kelly both turned down the role of Joe Gillis. Wilder wanted Hedy Lamarr to sit in for a cameo, but she wanted $25,000. 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. His death certificate makes no mention of cancer. His Mount Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki (founded 1959) was popular with the international jet set. "[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. Yeah. This inter-positive was scanned at 2,000 lines of resolution and electronically restored for the 2002 DVD reissue. (1950) in my head, and I'd always sort of related to that character floating in . For added meta-truthfulness, Wilder wanted to have that film's lead actress, Hedy Lamarr, be there too, so that DeMille could ask her to let Norma sit in her chair (you know, those behind-the-scenes chairs that have the star's name on them). Yes, this is Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. His height was 1.8 m tall and weighed 89 kg. and was "a loner," according to Edwards, who wasn't surprised that Holden's body went so long without being discovered. 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. 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's also a love story, and the love keeps it from becoming simply a waxworks or a freak show. In one week, she received 17,000 fan letters. preppy-3 15 March 2008. There were actually three mansions used during filming. Holden appeared uncredited in Prison Farm (1939) and Million Dollar Legs (1939) at Paramount. He is the TV Editor at Entertainment. Billy Wilder was one of the ultimate Hollywood insiders and he grew with film. 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). Marion Davies owned a famous ocean-front mansion in Santa Monica. The undertaker, who appears for a few seconds early on with the white casket for Norma's deceased pet chimp, was veteran actor Franklyn Farnum, who played extras in over 1,000 films during his lengthy but unsung career. Studs and cufflinks were inserted into the shirt holes to secure the garment. Gloria Swanson worked closely with Edith Head on Norma's clothes to achieve just the right look: grandly expensive but slightly out of date. Sunset Boulevard's cinematographer, John Seitz, said Wilder "had wanted to do The Loved One, but couldn't obtain the rights." He was also one of many stars in Feldman's Casino Royale (1967). A true Hollywood horror story. If it were to come to auction in 2021, it would be valued at well over $1M. 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. The killing and the media circus that followed it hurt the industry. 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. The great big white elephant of a mansion on Sunset Boulevard was actually on Wilshire Boulevard and would be used again as the abandoned mansion in the film Rebel Without a Cause. 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. He received an eight-month suspended sentence for vehicular manslaughter. 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. 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. American Film Institute On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder, by Ed Sikov, 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. Someone who said they were a doctor said Taylor died of a stomach hemorrhage and then disappeared. Billy Wilder also used Sheldrake as the last name of Fred MacMurray's character in "The Apartment". The California license plate on Gillis' Plymouth, 4D R 116, appears to be a legal and current registration for 1949. We'll hear two of his visits to Suspense, beginning with the New Orleans jazz . 1751 Vine is still a parking lot across the street from the landmark, Capitol Records building and is the address of both Billy's Wilder's and Barbara Stanwyck's "Hollywood Walk of Fame" stars that were dedicated in 1960. It's probably just as well, since the darker, more nuanced story that eventually emerged was quite different from West's wheelhouse anyway. Since 2006, he has overseen the Bayou City History blog, which covers various aspects of Houston's history. Seitz had used a similar technique on Double Indemnity (1944). Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett's 17th and final screenplay collaboration. "Twin Peaks" also features characters named Chester Desmond and Norma Jennings, in reference to Norma Desmond. Holden had a supporting role in Ashanti (1979) and was third-billed in another disaster film, When Time Ran Out (1980), which was a flop. [35] Holden starred in The Earthling,[36] as a loner dying of cancer at the Australian outback and accompanying an orphan boy (Ricky Schroder). 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. but at 641 S. Irving Blvd. 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. "I knew he was off the wagon," she recalled in her memoir "One from the Hart." Warner (one of the four "Waxworks" at the bridge party) in The King of Kings (1927). Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett almost came to blows over the montage depicting Norma's preparations for her comeback. Swanson made the transition to talkies with The Trespasser in 1929. Suratt believed that DeMille's epic, "The King of Kings" (released in 1927) was based on her screenplay and filed a $1,000,000 plagiarism suit which was settled out of court in 1930. Brackett and Wilder worked together on more than a dozen movies including The Lost Weekend. 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. It was the same technique he had used to shoot Rudolph Valentino's tango in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921). The first name of the Joe Gillis character was Dan in an early draft of the screenplay, then altered to Dick, and finally to Joe just before filming began. 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. He became bitter about the throwaway roles Hollywood kept giving him. In 1954, Holden was featured on the cover of Life. When Joe and Betty stroll around the studio back lot they pass through the Washington Square set that was used in The Heiress (1949). . taste bar and kitchen missouri city. ), and he calls her "young fellow." 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. Although a registered Republican, he never involved himself in politics. Throughout Hollywood history many film stars, and/or single films, were responsible for saving ailing studios. [42][citation needed]. The Paramount logo appears as a transparency over the opening shot. over the spiraling budget. A week later she heard the news of Holden's death on her car radio. Salome was a wonderful part for Norma Desmonds celluloid comeback. 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. Men bribed her hairdresser to get a lock of her hair. April 17, 2019 6:00AM. The character of Joe Gillis was very much in tune with William Holden's standing at the time. The silent comedian had a reputation as one of Hollywoods best bridge players. Holden's first film back from the services was Blaze of Noon (1947), an aviator picture at Paramount directed by John Farrow. Other actresses considered for Norma Desmond were Mae West (who wanted to rewrite the dialogue), Mae Murray, and Mary Pickford. 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. #7. Sunset Boulevard turns the tables on film noir by casting Joe in the oldest role on the books. He played Rafts kid brother, who was following in his gangster footsteps and needed to be set straight. Norma Desmond says that she paid $28,000 for the Isotta-Fraschini car in 1929. The house was owned by the J. Paul Getty family. The only Best Picture Oscar nominee of the year to be also nominated for Original Screenplay. This indicates that he is smoking filterless cigarettes, which was the norm for that era until filters became the standard after the mid-'50s. She produced and starred in Sadie Thompson and The Love of Sunya. 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. In reality, Gloria Swanson never worked with Normand and worked only once with Prevost in a 1916 short. This was the last major Hollywood feature film to be shot on nitrate stock. At one point Norma mistakes Joe for a funeral director and asks for her coffin to be white, as well as specially lined with satin. In fact, such was the buzz about the film during production that the viewing of the dailies became one of the hottest tickets on the lot. It opened on Broadway at the Minskoff Theater on November 17, 1994, ran for 977 performances and won the 1995 Tony Awards for Best Musical, Book and Score. Im not giving anything away here. Principal photography took place from 11 April to 18 June 1949. This is an old film which has been made into a musical. 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.". Sunset Boulevard DVD (2007) William Holden, Wilder (DIR) cert PG Amazing Value. After working on Sunset Boulevard, Swanson remarked, Bill Holden was a man I could have fallen in love with. What is the streaming release date of Sunset Blvd. The two men never worked together again. Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard is one of his three or four masterpieces, a seminal Hollywood black comedy-satire, which unlike most films keeps improving with the passage of time.. Benfiting from a glorious and iconic cast, the film concerns a faded silent film star, played by Gloria Swanson (in a variation of her own onscreen persona), who lives in the past with her butler (and former . [2] He had two younger brothers, Robert Westfield Beedle and Richard Porter Beedle. 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. He just didnt have what it takes. When the movie first dropped, Louis B. Mayer, the Mayer in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, told everyone who would listen that Wilder disgraced the industry that made him and fed him, and urged that he be tarred and feathered, and run out of Hollywood. Wilder, who had been feeding himself for quite some time, told Meyer to go fuck himself. [41], Holden was married to actress Brenda Marshall from 1941 until their divorce in 1971. And like the title, Holden seemed to have the looks and muscular build Hollywood craved. In 1998 the American Film Institute selected this as the 12th greatest film of the 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time. The much sought after but highly finicky leading man accepted the role, then backed out. in West Hollywood. That's the end.". It is one of the most indelible films you will ever see. William Holden returns to find that Gloria Swanson has tried to slash her wrists in 'Sunset Boulevard', directed by Billy Wilder. (1966), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), Network (1976), Coming Home (1978), Reds (1981), Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and American Hustle (2013). Normand was the last person known to have seen Taylor alive and she was grilled by the Los Angeles Police Department as a result. Wilder, ever the merry prankster, told Holden and Olson to keep kissing until he called "cut": he was going to fade out at the end of the scene, and he needed to make sure the kiss didn't end prematurely. It was a the kind of a place crazy movie people built in the crazy 20s. So speaking of funerals, heres the great real life murder mystery we teased in the opening. A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return. . 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. The first of four films in which William Holden and Nancy Olson appeared. The actor-turned-director bitched about that goddamned butler role for the rest his life. Neither did Toward the Unknown (1957), the one film Holden produced himself. Norma's "gondola bed" was originally white, and was featured in Twentieth Century (1934) with Carole Lombard and John Barrymore. That's a reference to the traditional grey morning suit worn by the groom at a formal wedding. Kodak would discontinue to manufacture it altogether in 1953. He played an older version of Joe in Sidney Lumets classic Network (1976), written by the cynical Paddy Chayefsky. Norma wound up sitting in Mr. DeMilles chair. Read and download theDen of Geek SDCC 2019 Special Edition Magazineright here! They had faces. 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. 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. It was George Cukor who suggested Gloria Swanson for the role of Norma Desmond. 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). 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. Well, they kissed, and kissed, and kept kissing, and the crew began to snicker, and finally Marshall's voice rang out: "Cut, dammit!" Holden turned the tables on Lucille Ball when he appeared as a guest star on I Love Lucy at The Brown Derby. Norma is perceived as the evil force, even if she uses a white phone while Betty is relegated to a poor black phone. Film debut (uncredited) of Yvette Vickers. read more: Key Largo, Lauren Bacall, and the Definitive Post-War Film. Sure she was a forgotten silent star, living in exile, screening her old movies and dreaming of a comeback. Gloria Swanson does a famous impression of Charles Chaplin as the "Little Tramp," but Chaplin's name is never mentioned.