how old was william holden in sunset boulevard
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. The four films were released between August 1950 and November 1951. Yeah. They thought the actors made it up as they went along. If you don't, I will personally shoot you." Dont bother with a rewrite, man, take it direct! Brackett was a New York-born novelist and screenwriter, head of the Screen Actors Guild in the late 1930s, and president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1949 to 1955 (during which time he won two screenwriting Oscarsgood news for conspiracy theorists). And here is how he obtained his new movie tag. I didn't know. He always wished that I would get an Oscar. It was a gift from her lover, automobile magnate Walter Chrysler. The veteran actress particularly wanted to see what Mary Pickford felt and was disappointed to see that she had left. 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. The princess in love with a holy man, she dances the dance of the seven veils. 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. See production, box office & company info. This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 22:44. 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. Erich von Stroheim dismissed his participation in this film, referring to it as "that butler role.". Gloria Swanson does a famous impression of Charles Chaplin as the "Little Tramp," but Chaplin's name is never mentioned. The exteriors of Norma Desmond's home on Sunset Boulevard were filmed at 641 South Irving Boulevard. Words are as good as sex to two writers. The actor-turned-director bitched about that goddamned butler role for the rest his life. 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. West wanted to rewrite her dialogue. This parallel narrative--two perspectives from the same character, one omniscient, the other blissfully ignorant--that converge at the moment of Joe's death, are a major reason the film retains such dramatic and emotional power. That's the end.". 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.". On the night of November 12, 1981, Holden consumed somewhere between eight and 10 drinks in a short amount of time, according to "William Holden: A Biography." A few years later, Stephen Sondheim became interested in writing a musical version of his own, working with writer Burt Shevelove (with whom he ended up writing A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum). 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. He walked into his bedroom and tripped over a throw rug and slammed his head so hard into the corner of a teak nightstand, the piece of furniture flew into the wall causing an indentation, per "William Holden." If it were to come to auction in 2021, it would be valued at well over $1M. After a private screening for Hollywood dignitaries, Barbara Stanwyck knelt in front of Gloria Swanson and kissed the hem of her skirt. This still goes on today. 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. Nothing else! Seitz had used a similar technique on Double Indemnity (1944). White, pink, or maybe bright flaming red. ", 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.". H.B. 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. Being born on 17 April 1918, William Holden was 63 years old at the time of his death. LAS COSAS DEL QUERER", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sunset_Boulevard_(film)&oldid=1142173541, Best Overall New Extra Features Library Release. But along with the accolades came a dependence on alcohol that would play a major role in his tragic end. She worked closely with Gloria Swanson on Norma Desmond's wardrobe, as she figured Swanson would have had a better idea of what women of that time would have worn and what they would be wearing now. He said it was because she was braver than any man. 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. Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! With the help of his partners, he created the Mount Kenya Game Ranch and inspired the creation of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation. But also much funnier. When Gloria Swanson finished Norma's final scene, the mad staircase descent, she burst into tears and the crew applauded. As the camera cranes up into the apartment, we can see it's the Alto Nido. She is still waving proudly to a parade which had long since passed her by. It was George Cukor who suggested Gloria Swanson for the role of Norma Desmond. 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. The Paramount logo appears as a transparency over the opening shot. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett's 17th and final screenplay collaboration. In his place, Wilder hired Buster Keaton. But attempts to turn the movie into a stage musical began almost immediately, spearheaded by none other than Gloria Swanson. At Paramount, he did another Western, Streets of Laredo (1949). was better known as the seat of the film industry in 1950, the Los Angeles film industry actually began on Sunset Blvd. While in Italy in 1966, Holden was responsible for the death of another driver in a drunk-driving incident near Pisa. 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. She puts on a show playing a Max Sennett bathing girl and Charlie Chaplins Tramp character, though Maxs bad timing is a little too on the nose. 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. She reads everyone and everything in Hollywood, except Joes script. Holden had another hit with The World of Suzie Wong (1960) with Nancy Kwan, which was shot in Hong Kong. The latter was shot in Africa and sparked Holden's fascination with the continent that was to last for the rest of his life. Principal photography took place from 11 April to 18 June 1949. [41], Holden was married to actress Brenda Marshall from 1941 until their divorce in 1971. Sad as this may sound, to the day he died, Holden insisted Bogart was a bastard. Sunset Boulevard is also a reflection of Hollywood through a glass, darkly. All I know is that she's meshuggah, that's all. Holden, who was at this point dependent on alcohol, said, "I really was in love with Audrey, but she wouldn't marry me. Holden was best man at the wedding of his friend Ronald Reagan to actress Nancy Davis in 1952. Holden continued to work steadily for the next decade, but Hollywood often had no idea what to do with him. Wilder asked how much shed charge just to shoot the chair and Lamarr said $10,000. Thirty-one years later, the actor who played Gillis, William Holden, met his end. [43] Capucine and Holden remained friends until his death in 1981. He contributed to Altvariety, Chiseler, Smashpipe, and other magazines. over the spiraling budget. A week later she heard the news of Holden's death on her car radio. This inter-positive was scanned at 2,000 lines of resolution and electronically restored for the 2002 DVD reissue. The film originally opened and closed the story at the Los Angeles County Morgue. Sands had forged Taylors name on checks and wrecked his car the summer before and left footprints on Taylors bed after a burglary. The larger version is seen at the temple that Samson brings down in the movie Samson and Delilah (1949), which Cecil B. DeMille was shooting when Norma visits him at Paramount. Peavey died in a San Francisco asylum, where he was being treated for syphilis-related dementia, in 1931. 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. This is absolutely true, Nancy Reagan continued consulting her astrologer long after she stopped parking at studio lots. So she lands his head on a golden tray, kissing his cold, dead lips. Holman was 16 years older than him and was afraid people would think the movie was a parody of their relationship. 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). 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). When Peavey heard the moans I am the ghost of William Desmond Taylor. Beedle grew up in South Pasadena, California. 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. Westmore and director Billy Wilder agreed with this so William Holden was made up to look younger than he was. Billy Wilder's 1978 Flop Fedora is less a worthy follow up to Sunset Boulevard than a sorry footnote. In 1954, Holden was featured on the cover of Life. When he drives Norma to Paramount Pictures at the studio gates, the car was pulled with a rope by off-camera grips. This was the last major Hollywood feature film to be shot on nitrate stock. Swanson agreed to the audition, and won the role. His co-star Barbara Stanwyck, a screen veteran and one of the greatest actors of all time, coached and promoted Holden personally. She can be seen talking and giggling on the phone during the party. read more: The Big Sleep is Proof That Plot Doesnt Matter. After all, it's about a dethroned queen." Prior to joining the Houston Chronicle, Gonzales worked as a night cops reporter at The. ), It came out the same year as another behind-the-scenes showbiz classic, All About Eve, which took most of the Oscars.
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