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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. Principal photography took place from 11 April to 18 June 1949. As DeMille was directing Lamarr at the time in Samson and Delilah (1949), this would have been no problem. Holman was reportedly worried the film would parody their relationship and told Clift she would commit suicide if he played the role. To get around the restrictions of the Breen Code, the script was submitted piecemeal, several pages at a time. The actor got up and tried to staunch the blood pouring from his forehead but never called 911, which might have saved his life, per the biography. Neither was The Revengers (1972), another Western. Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge were famous for owning downtown real estate in Los Angeles and San Diego. on the corner of Crenshaw and Irving. The stars read the stars. It was not particularly successful. In July 1941, he married 25-year old actress Brenda Marshall, who commanded five times his income. [35] Holden starred in The Earthling,[36] as a loner dying of cancer at the Australian outback and accompanying an orphan boy (Ricky Schroder). Although Gloria Swanson correctly states he is a Sagittarius, it is actually on the Sagittarius-Capricorn cusp. The body was found by Henry Peavey, who took over for convicted embezzler Edward F. Sands as Taylors valet. Mrs. Getty's home had to be completely re-decorated to give it the oversized grandeur needed for the film. There are several references to Gloria Swanson's actual career in the film. The ocean?' The last name of the studio executive played by Fred Clark is Sheldrake. It was like that old woman in Great Expectations, Miss Havisham in her rotting wedding dress and her torn veil, taking it out on the world because shed been given the go-by. The character of Norma Desmond is modeled on the fate of several leading actresses of the silent era. He played Bogarts kid brother in Sabrina, Holdens third film with director Billy Wilder, in 1954. His death certificate makes no mention of cancer. Wilder was, well, the wilder of the two, often bawdy and crass, while Brackett was genteel. Paramount reunited him with Nancy Olson, one of his Sunset Boulevard costars, in Union Station (1950). The other line, "I am big! The "Desmond mansion" was located not on Sunset Blvd. At the end, they stood and cheered for Gloria Swanson's return. Holden starred in some of Hollywood's most popular and critically acclaimed films, including Sunset Boulevard (1950), Sabrina (1954), Picnic (1955), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), The Wild Bunch (1969) and Network (1976). That's the end.". This is absolutely true, Nancy Reagan continued consulting her astrologer long after she stopped parking at studio lots. Erich von Stroheims Max von Mayerling is equally awestruck, still caught in the wake of Normas star dust. The photos of the young Norma Desmond that decorate the house are all genuine publicity photos from Gloria Swanson's heyday. You see, this is my life, she promised. Billy Wilder wanted a fresh face for the part of Betty Schaefer. 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. In fact,Bob Thomas, Holden's biographer, said that the actor's addiction counselor predicted his demise. Joe could have slept with Norma and loved Betty, and owned the pool that would be his final resting place. Westmore and director Billy Wilder agreed with this so William Holden was made up to look younger than he was. They reportedly began a two-year affair, which is alleged to have ended due to Holden's alcoholism. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . read more: Key Largo, Lauren Bacall, and the Definitive Post-War Film. Wilder won the argument and privately told friends that he would not be making any more films with Brackett. Peavey reportedly wore flashy golf clothes but didnt own golf clubs and had been arrested for social vagrancy and booked on lewd and dissolute charges just a few nights before the murder. When Powers returned to California, she went to his penthouse apartment in Santa Monica but couldn't get in. They swore each other off over the montage where Norma struggles to lose weight for her comeback. but at 641 S. Irving Blvd. The whole place seemed to have been stricken with the kind of creeping paralysis, out of beat with the rest of the world, crumbling apart in slow motion. 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. But it's also a love story, and the love keeps it from becoming simply a waxworks or a freak show. Studs and cufflinks were inserted into the shirt holes to secure the garment. Erich von Stroheim dismissed his participation in this film, referring to it as "that butler role.". The film originally opened and closed the story at the Los Angeles County Morgue. It was only natural that he should film several sequences on the studio's backlots. Was the inspiration for Metallica's 1997 song "The Memory Remains". The young actor also got to work with George Raft and Humphrey Bogart in the gangsters on parole movie,Invisible Stripes. 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. Paramount reunited Bracken and him in Young and Willing (1943). Included among the 25 films on the American Film Institute's 2005 list of AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores. In accordance with his wishes, no funeral or memorial services were conducted. Next image (0) (0) Fat Man: "You were murdered?" 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. Culture Editor Tony Sokol is a writer, playwright and musician. When Joe Gillis and Norma Desmond watch one of Norma's old silent movies, they are watching a scene from Queen Kelly (1932), starring a young Gloria Swanson. Marion Davies owned a famous ocean-front mansion in Santa Monica. In one week, she received 17,000 fan letters. As this film opens, William Holden's character Joe Gillis describes himself as a Hollywood screenwriter "living in an apartment house above Ivar Street." Betty is an idealist, more closely resembling Normas rose-colored outlook, but with darker shades she wants to bring to light. director of photography Film Editing by Arthur P. Schmidt . Sunset Boulevard (DVD, 2017) UK Region 2 release with extras. She looks like a mannequin of a . . "We didn't need dialogue. We all are." Their partnership ended in a professional and gentlemanly mannerthere was no airing of any dirty laundrybut it did end.. Billy Wilder was a friend of the danish silent movie star Asta Nielsen, and based the Norma Desmond caracter on her. There were three young directors who showed promise in those early days of silent film, D.W. Griffith, Cecil B. Gloria Swanson and Nancy Olson also co-starred in Airport 1975 together. 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. One of only 13 films to be nominated for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Director. Norma's bed originally belonged to French actress/singer Gaby Deslys. 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. 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. He became bitter about the throwaway roles Hollywood kept giving him. Taylor had a British accent and the imposter sounded like he came out of Chicagos south side. Norma is at the edge of insanity through the whole movie, but that doesnt mean shes not fun. The structure in the film required a tennis court, or rather the ghost of a tennis court, with faded markings and a sagging net. Sands had forged Taylors name on checks and wrecked his car the summer before and left footprints on Taylors bed after a burglary. Perry, George & Andrew Lloyd Webber (1993). 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). This promised to go the limit. 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]. He rose to prominence with his role in the movie "Sunset Boulevard" (1950), which landed him his first Best Actor Oscar nomination. 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. 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.. Like most old things in L.A., the house has since been replaced by an office building. 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. The first-floor set of Norma Desmond's mansion was also used in the western comedy Fancy Pants (1950) starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball, giving fans a chance to see it in full color. Winston was one of those who discovered the Golden Boy newcomer and who renamed himin honor of his former spouse!"[3]. After graduating from South Pasadena High School, Holden attended Pasadena Junior College, where he became involved in local radio plays. But who could play the silent film diva? 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. I think that Sunset Boulevard was the most important film of William Holden's career. The magnifying glass in Normas beauty makeover scene shows the skin of a young ingnue, not an aging crone. 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. The part was only Nancy Olson's third film appearance. This is an old film which has been made into a musical. 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). and was "a loner," according to Edwards, who wasn't surprised that Holden's body went so long without being discovered. . Norma is Scorpio, and Mars had been transiting Jupiter for weeks and that was the day of greatest conjunction. [10] RKO borrowed him for Rachel and the Stranger (1948) with Robert Mitchum and Loretta Young. #7. Billy Wilder's sixth film in a row for Paramount Pictures. - 65th Anniversary (25) Film Noir Through the Years (3) Movies Set in Hollywood (3) Our Favorite Male-Female Duos (1) The History of Golden Globe Winners for Best Actor and Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama (1) Our Favorite Stills From "The Movies" (1) Movies About Movies (1) 77 Years of Golden Globes Best Picture Winners (1) The "fee" for renting the Jean Paul Getty mansion was for Paramount to build the swimming pool, which features so memorably. 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). 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. But attempts to turn the movie into a stage musical began almost immediately, spearheaded by none other than Gloria Swanson. [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. Film debut (uncredited) of Yvette Vickers. Paramount was more than happy to be the subject of the film, and didn't ask for the studio to be disguised. When she received her Honorary Oscar at the 1982 Academy Award ceremony, Holden had died in an accident just a few months prior. Holden was still an unknown actor when he made Golden Boy, while Stanwyck was already a film star. This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 22:44. Gloria Swanson and Nancy Olson also appeared in Airport 1975. This dynamic served them well for years, each man's extreme tendencies being balanced by the other's, but during Sunset Boulevard it finally became unworkable. "I am big. 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. After the. 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).