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Location scenes at Norma Desmond's mansion were shot not on Sunset Boulevard but on Wilshire Boulevard. 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. Read and download theDen of Geek SDCC 2019 Special Edition Magazineright here! Words are as good as sex to two writers. She declined the offer. 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. Although they don't have a scene together in this film, Hedda Hopper and Buster Keaton had worked together in the 1932 comedy Speak Easily (1932), both were among the many stars appearing in the 1931 two-reeler The Stolen Jools (1931), and they both appeared in a 1958 episode of The Garry Moore Show (1958) that also featured Carol Burnett, who years later would spoof the Norma Desmond character regularly on her own variety show. When Norma is telling Joe about how rich she is, she mentions a beach house and downtown real estate. 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. Holdens last movie, Blake Edwardss S.O.B., was another masterpiece of Hollywood cynicism. She changed her professional name to Patricia Palmer and was working with Famous Players-Lasky, Taylors studio at the time of his death. Read more of his work here or find him on Twitter @tsokol. director of photography Film Editing by Arthur P. Schmidt . The moment he discovers that life could be beautiful, Norma slits her wrist with Joes razor. The producer in the film was originally called Kaufman and was to be played by Joseph Calleia. The character of Joe Gillis was very much in tune with William Holden's standing at the time. Sometimes its interesting to see just how bad, bad writing can be. These include Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Rudolph Valentino, Rod La Rocque, Vilma Bnky, Mabel Normand, Marie Prevost, Pearl White, and Douglas Fairbanks. ), and he calls her "young fellow." Although a registered Republican, he never involved himself in politics. 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. So funny that it took away from the rest of the picture. This car has been on display at the National Automobile Museum in Turin, Italy since 1972. The other line, "I am big! 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." Sometimes hetinkles the wheezing gothic ivories like Lurch in the original TV series The Addams Family, playing the recognizable strains of The Phantom of the Opera. Billy Wilder originally approached William Haines to play one of Norma's bridge partners. 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 movie featured the famed director Erich von Stroheim, who made photographs of Gloria Swanson move so beautifully the world was enthralled, as Max Von Mayerling, the director who made, married, and divorced the enthralling Norma Desmondand then gave up his career in film to be her slave in butlers clothing. Still, whatever hard feelings there may have been between Swanson and von Stroheim, they were gone by the time Sunset Boulevard came along. After all, it's about a dethroned queen." Later he strangled himself with it. It was largely from his association with Wilder that Holden would enjoy the greatest acting successes of his career in the 1950s. 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. 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.. 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? Art director John Meehan experimented until he came up with the idea to shoot the scene through a mirror at the bottom of the studio water tank. They thought the actors made it up as they went along. As the band plays 'Diane', we also see Desmond ascending her staircase. What is the correct title - "Blvd." 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. In 1954, Holden was featured on the cover of Life. Confess, Peavey, he laughed in the ghosts face. 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. Cecil B. DeMille: at the studio during Norma's visit. The apartments, and the "Alto Nido" sign out front that is glimpsed briefly in the film, are still there. It is also one of the most frequently misquoted movie lines, usually given as, "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). Gloria Swanson and Nancy Olson also appeared in Airport 1975. His death certificate makes no mention of cancer. in 1911 when the Nestor Film Company moved from New. Montgomery Clift was originally cast as the writer but dropped out two weeks before the shoot. That movie, however, departs from the trope by making both actress and stranger much younger. William Holdens Joe Gillis helps a timid soul named Norma Desmond cross a crowded street on Paramounts back lot. Swanson was told "She can't show herself, Gloria, she's too overcome. Forensic evidence recovered at the scene suggested that he was conscious for at least half an hour after the fall. This promised to go the limit. He played Bogarts kid brother in Sabrina, Holdens third film with director Billy Wilder, in 1954. [49], His death was noted by singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega, whose 1987 song "Tom's Diner", about a sequence of events one morning in 1981, included a mention of reading a newspaper article about "an actor who had died while he was drinking". This ushered in the peak years of Holden's stardom. In Billy Wilder's film, Erich von Stroheim plays the butler of Gloria Swanson's forgotten silent-film star. When filming began, William Holden was 31 and Gloria Swanson was 50, the same stated age as her character. American Beauty screenwriter Alan Ball has acknowledged that another Billy Wilder film, The Apartment (1960), influenced that screenplay. . His co-star Barbara Stanwyck, a screen. Universal bought it on her death in 1920 and it was used in several movies, most notably in The Phantom of the Opera (1925). [30] Holden made a Western with Ryan O'Neal and Blake Edwards, Wild Rovers (1971). He played Rafts kid brother, who was following in his gangster footsteps and needed to be set straight. Included among the American Film Institute's 1998 list of the Top 100 Greatest American Movies. 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. 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. But it wasn't a bullet from the gun of an aging movie queen that tragically ended his life, but rather, a rug, per The New York Times. After his final film S.O.B., Holden declined to star in Jason Miller's film That Championship Season.[37]. 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. [46] Rumors existed that he was suffering from lung cancer, which Holden had denied at a 1980 press conference. 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. The mansion was torn down in 1957, and a large office building for Getty Oil built on the site still stands on the spot. Every woman was in love with him. ", 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.". Getty always wanted a pool, the poor dope. 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. 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. The antique car used as Norma Desmond's limousine is an 1929 Isotta-Fraschini Tipo 8A, a luxury car made in Italy, and once belonged to 1920s socialite Peggy Hopkins Joyce. 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. Both suits were dismissed. Despite the 19 year gap in their ages, Holden and Swanson died just 2 years apart from each other- Holden in 1981 at age 63 and Swanson in 1983 at age 84. Brackett thought the sequence was cruel in its emphasis on what age had done to the one-time beauty, but Wilder insisted it was essential to show how driven she was in her pursuit of youth. Both Keaton and Hopper died the same day, on February 1, 1966, at the ages of 70 and 80 respectively, both in Los Angeles. Marshman Jr. Stars William Holden Gloria Swanson Erich von Stroheim See production, box office & company info Add to Watchlist 701 User reviews 196 Critic reviews 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. After the. 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." For a number of years, exhibitors voted Holden among the most popular stars in the country: On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett met with Greta Garbo and tried to convince her to make a comeback in the role of Norma Desmond. Gloria Swanson brings sunshine into every room as silent screen idol Norma Desmond. The murder made it to the late editions, radio, and television because one of the biggest old-time stars was involved. 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). was voted #6 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by "Premiere" magazine in 2007. 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. Sands disappeared after the murder. 10 films that began filming without a finished script, Donald Trumps Bad Romance with Hollywood Began Before Parasite, Shazam! A true Hollywood horror story. "No, don't let it be true. Billy Wilder also used Sheldrake as the last name of Fred MacMurray's character in "The Apartment". Mary Pickford, Pola Negri, and Greta Garbo turned down the role.