And what faces. Kodak would discontinue to manufacture it altogether in 1953. 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. 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 pool was used in its empty condition in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). Free Postage. Ready? 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. A true Hollywood horror story. 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. 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. Westmore and director Billy Wilder agreed with this so William Holden was made up to look younger than he was. The original nitrate negatives for the film have long disappeared. It was built in 1924 by William Jenkins, at a cost of $250,000. The film and actors was excellent and lived up to our expectations. Every character is jaded, except the oldest players. "I knew he was off the wagon," she recalled in her memoir "One from the Hart." But she fits it like a round peg in a square hole. 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. "[4], For his contribution to the film industry, Holden has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1651 Vine Street. "Lonely, alone, without dignity.". taste bar and kitchen missouri city. DeMille." "Twin Peaks" also features characters named Chester Desmond and Norma Jennings, in reference to Norma Desmond. 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. Clift's biographers say it was because he had a strong following among older women, who wrote him letters describing how they'd like to mother him, and he didn't want to encourage such behavior. Perry, George & Andrew Lloyd Webber (1993). We had faces" was #13. Wilder changed the scene so that DeMille offered Lamarr's chair to Norma without Lamarr being present. They swore each other off over the montage where Norma struggles to lose weight for her comeback. There once was a time in this business when they had the eyes of the whole world. The film's narrative structure bears a marked resemblance to that of American Beauty (1999). The two men never worked together again. (1950) Full Cast & Crew See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro Directed by Billy Wilder Writing Credits Cast (in credits order) verified as complete Produced by Charles Brackett . He was perfection on- and off-screen. If anything, its observations on the greedy machinations of Tinseltown are truer now than they were in 1950. Schwab's was torn down in 1988 to make way for a movie theater and a shopping center. The two actors never worked together in another film. Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard took the tinsel out of Tinseltown, the gild off the golden boy, and the cover off a forgotten murder. [39] On a trip to Africa, he fell in love with the wildlife and became increasingly concerned with the animal species that were beginning to decrease in population. Some, including Holden himself and one of his close confidants, could foresee the death (per The Huntsville Item). Holden continued to work steadily for the next decade, but Hollywood often had no idea what to do with him. As day breaks. West wanted to rewrite her dialogue. He was just a movie writer with a couple of B-pictures to his credit. Yes, this is Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. She was nominated for the first Academy Award in the Best Actress category. )[19], He took third billing for The Country Girl (1954) with Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly, directed by George Seaton from a play by Clifford Odets. 3.48. Norma is perceived as the evil force, even if she uses a white phone while Betty is relegated to a poor black phone. She produced and starred in Sadie Thompson and The Love of Sunya. (1950) was plagiarized from other scripts. Billy Wilder was a friend of the danish silent movie star Asta Nielsen, and based the Norma Desmond caracter on her. See, Bettys a message gal, not a virgin, and there are no whores in Hollywood. De Mille, and Max von Mayerling. He played Bogarts kid brother in Sabrina, Holdens third film with director Billy Wilder, in 1954. As far as being a forgotten star, past her prime, Norma is only 50 in the movie, Swanson was 53 when she made it and was herself very busy on the then-new medium of television. So funny that it took away from the rest of the picture. The name Norma Desmond was a combination of early Hollywoods comedy star Mabel Normand and her lover, silent film director William Desmond Taylor. She reportedly told Clift shed kill herself if he made the movie. Wilder was no fan of improvisation and was very protective of his words. But even to show a chair with her name on it, Lamarr wanted $10,000. William Haines turned down an offer to appear in the film but attended the Hollywood premiere with Joan Crawford. There was a maharajah who came all the way from India to beg one of her silk stockings. 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. [7], Back at Paramount, he starred with Bonita Granville in Those Were the Days! Well, not a comeback, a return, a return to the millions of people who have never forgiven her for deserting the screen. 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. 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. Despite that, von Stroheim "still managed to hit the gates, he had no co-ordination", said Billy Wilder in an interview for the book "Sunset Boulevard: From Movie to Musical". She can sense the hot spot of every light and has never lost the wonderment of movies. And if you find it a little odd to hear dead men telling their own tales via narration, it is less strange than hearing it from a bunch of corpses with toe-tags talking it over in the LA county morgue, which was the way the movie was originally shot. [46] Rumors existed that he was suffering from lung cancer, which Holden had denied at a 1980 press conference. In 1969, Holden made a comeback when he starred in director Sam Peckinpah's graphically violent Western The Wild Bunch,[4] winning much acclaim. "We didn't need dialogue. Sunset Boulevard (styled in the main title on-screen as SUNSET BLVD.) Now I had two favorite movies - aside from "Gone With The Wind" of course - both from 1950, "Sunset Boulevard" and "All . Buster Keaton appears only in the bridge party scene and utters the word "Pass" twice. The interiors of Norma's decaying mansion were actually a set at Paramount Studios. We were close friends for many years. Mae West rejected the role of Norma Desmond because she felt she was too young to play a silent-film star. Studs and cufflinks were inserted into the shirt holes to secure the garment. But in 1957, Paramount formally asked Desmond to stop, the studio bosses having decided not to grant permission after all. ", 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.". Billy Wilder wanted Hedy Lamarr to appear in a cameo in the scene where Norma and Joe visit Cecil B. DeMille at Paramount. The clips in Sunset Boulevard were the first American audiences had seen of it. Wilder told the actors to kibbutz and let him shuffle. Holden was still an unknown actor when he made Golden Boy, while Stanwyck was already a film star. 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. over the spiraling budget. The British author's satirical The Loved One was published in 1948, after Waugh had spent time in Hollywood observing the film industry and, of all things, the funeral industry. Sunset Boulevard (1950) 1950, 1h 50min - Drama Gloria Swanson, as Norma Desmond, an aging silent-film queen, and William Holden, as the struggling young screenwriter who is held in thrall by her madness, created two of the screen's most memorable characters in "Sunset Boulevard." Sunset Boulevards cinematographer John Seitz said Wilder had wanted to do The Loved One, but couldnt obtain the rights. British author Evelyn Waughs satirical 1948 novel was about a failed screenwriter who lives with a silent film star and works in a cemetery. About 10 minutes later, Holden passed out and died from blood loss. 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. The film was the favorite of Sci-Fi author J.G. 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.". A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return. He stayed at Paramount for The Remarkable Andrew (1942) with Brian Donlevy, then made Meet the Stewarts (1943) at Columbia. Florabel Muir, the New York Daily News Hollywood correspondent, thought Peavey was the murderer and tried to ambush him into a confession. William Haines, along with fellow silent screen veterans Buster Keaton and Anna Q. Nilsson, was approached to play one of Gloria Swanson's bridge partners. Holden appeared uncredited in Prison Farm (1939) and Million Dollar Legs (1939) at Paramount. Normand was the last person known to have seen Taylor alive and she was grilled by the Los Angeles Police Department as a result. Seleccionar el departamento en el que deseas buscar. Norma Desmond says that she paid $28,000 for the Isotta-Fraschini car in 1929. Mary Pickford lived in seclusion, away from the public eye, while both Mae Murray and Clara Bow had well documented struggles with mental illness. 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. Norma's bed originally belonged to French actress/singer Gaby Deslys. 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. Here's some backstage information to enhance your experience the next time you visit the Paramount lot.. Holden, who was at this point dependent on alcohol, said, "I really was in love with Audrey, but she wouldn't marry me. Sunset Boulevard is no. The actor-turned-director-turned-actor-again, who had indeed been one of the great silent-filmmakers, winced at playing a character so self-referential and demeaning, but he needed the money. The house was owned by the J. Paul Getty family. The movie opens with a shot of a dead guy floating face down in a pool, and the dead man himself tells us that its Joe Gillis getting bloated in the chlorine. They had paired up in pictures since 1938. This is an old film which has been made into a musical. During Norma Desmond's New Years' Eve party, the band begin to play the song 'Diane', the theme of the 1927 film 7th Heaven (1927). But it's also a love story, and the love keeps it from becoming simply a waxworks or a freak show. Still, whatever hard feelings there may have been between Swanson and von Stroheim, they were gone by the time Sunset Boulevard came along. 12 Sep. WILLIAM HOLDEN: At some point, "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) played at The Silver Screen. Norma wound up sitting in Mr. DeMilles chair. Bogart was not especially friendly toward Hepburn, who had little Hollywood experience, while Holden's reaction was the opposite, wrote biographer Michelangelo Capua. The movie premiered in the days of restricted language, not so long after Rhett Butler controversially told Scarlett OHara he didnt give a damn what happened to her in Gone With the Wind, a classic Paramount passed on because who wanted to see Civil War picture? But the old guard thought Wilder and his co-writer Charles Brackett fashioned a rope that could strangle this business of show by writing words, words, and more words. 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. About 28:00 in, when Max is playing the organ, it is the same chords that Captain Nemo (James Mason) plays on his organ aboard the Nautilus in "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea." . "Variety" ran a front-page review, and this led to a belated release of Swanson's version in 1957 (the year of Stroheim's death). 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. You see, this is my life, she promised. Gloria Swanson almost considered rejecting the role of Norma Desmond after Billy Wilder requested she do a screen test for the role. Buscar Amazon.com.mx. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . Sunset Boulevard DVD (2007) William Holden, Wilder (DIR) cert PG Amazing Value. Norma Shearer turned down the role of Norma Desmond as she didn't want to come out of retirement and also found the part to be highly distasteful. "Waxwork" Buster Keaton was in reality an excellent bridge player, always in demand at Hollywood bridge parties. 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. It has to be an opera. Norma Desmond promised she would never desert her audience again. read file from blob storage c#; ted dwane and isabel soden; best seats at belk theater charlotte; my rabbit ate ibuprofen 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. He rose to prominence with his role in the movie "Sunset Boulevard" (1950), which landed him his first Best Actor Oscar nomination. The four films were released between August 1950 and November 1951. Holden was reunited with Wilder in Stalag 17 (1953), for which Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor. At Columbia, he starred in film noirs, The Dark Past (1948), The Man from Colorado (1949) and Father Is a Bachelor (1950). A classic film review of Sunset Boulevard (1950) starring William Holden, Gloria Swanson and Eric Von StroheimDirected by acclaimed film maker Billy Wilder (. But as commentator Steve Sailer points out, more than one contemporary source mentions it as an inspiration. It made him a true front ranked star after years of being an actor slogging through a series of largely forgottable films (and performances). Who didnt then? In later interviews, Davis admitted that she thought Swanson's work in the film was absolutely outstanding. Swanson made the transition to talkies with The Trespasser in 1929. Was the inspiration for Metallica's 1997 song "The Memory Remains". Paramount reunited Bracken and him in Young and Willing (1943). She is still waving proudly to a parade which had long since passed her by. [4] They had two sons, Peter and Scott. Thirty-one years later, the actor who played Gillis, William Holden, met his end. Erich von Stroheims Max von Mayerling is equally awestruck, still caught in the wake of Normas star dust. All I know is that she's meshuggah, that's all. Holden, just 63 when he died, had most recently appeared in the Blake Edwards' film "S.O.B." Sometimes its interesting to see just how bad, bad writing can be. He played Rafts kid brother, who was following in his gangster footsteps and needed to be set straight. preppy-3 15 March 2008. 4.99. The "Desmond mansion" was located not on Sunset Blvd. "[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 drugstore where Joe Gillis meets up with his old movie industry friends is Schwab's Pharmacy, then a real pharmacy/soda fountain at the intersection of Sunset Blvd. When Norma is telling Joe about how rich she is, she mentions a beach house and downtown real estate. Brenda Marshall, Holden's wife since 1941, was visiting the set when Holden and Nancy Olson had their kissing scene. 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. Both Keaton and Hopper died the same day, on February 1, 1966, at the ages of 70 and 80 respectively, both in Los Angeles. Holden had another hit with The World of Suzie Wong (1960) with Nancy Kwan, which was shot in Hong Kong. Joe Gillis is seen reading the book "The Young Lions" by Irwin Shaw, a best-selling World War Two novel of the time, Montgomery Clift, who was originally offered the part of Joe Gillis, later played one of the leads in the film adaptation of that book The Young Lions (1958), though it was not directed by Billy Wilder. 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. Both Mary Astor and Miriam Hopkins starred in TV versions of the film in 1955 and 1956, respectively. The ocean?' "[13] Paramount reunited him with Nancy Olson, one of his Sunset Boulevard costars, in Union Station (1950). Or shall I call my servant? 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. 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. The script (which was to be a vehicle for her comeback) was submitted to Cecil B. DeMille who sent it back. Sands disappeared after the murder. Other actresses considered for Norma Desmond were Mae West (who wanted to rewrite the dialogue), Mae Murray, and Mary Pickford. [26], He made another war film for a British director, The Key (1958) with Trevor Howard and Sophia Loren for director Carol Reed. are shown stenciled on the curb of that street. Co-writer D.M. In his place, Wilder hired Buster Keaton. The character of Joe Gillis was very much in tune with William Holden's standing at the time. 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. The other line, "I am big! Both suits were dismissed. 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. Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge were famous for owning downtown real estate in Los Angeles and San Diego. Cecil B. DeMille: at the studio during Norma's visit. As a practical joke, during the scene where William Holden and Nancy Olson kiss for the first time, Billy Wilder let them carry on for minutes without yelling "Cut!" They had faces. 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). Previous image. Wilder won the argument and privately told friends that he would not be making any more films with Brackett. 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. 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. 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 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. ), and he calls her "young fellow." 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). From the right angle, the camera could shoot the reflected image in the mirror without ever going underwater itself. "I'm not surprised that this could have happened.". 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. It was a big hit, as was The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), a Korean War drama with Kelly.[20][21]. The black studs on Joe's shirt front were probably onyx, black opals, or even black pearls. William Holden movies: 15 greatest films, ranked worst to best, include 'Sunset Boulevard,' 'Network,' 'Stalag 17'. That movie, however, departs from the trope by making both actress and stranger much younger. Principal photography took place from 11 April to 18 June 1949. Erich von Stroheim could not drive in real life. Montgomery Clift was originally cast as the writer but dropped out two weeks before the shoot. 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. Upon telephoning her, however, Wilder found that Negri's Polish accent, which had killed her career, was still too thick for such a dialog-heavy film. 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. The car with the massive chrome grill that the repo men drive is a 1948 DeSoto Custom Club Coupe. Cecil B. DeMille had a pet name for Gloria Swanson: "Young Fellow". 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. I think that Sunset Boulevard was the most important film of William Holden's career. 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. +10 More . 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. Swanson was told "She can't show herself, Gloria, she's too overcome. 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. Newspapers printed love letters between 19-year-old former child star and screen idol Mary Miles Minter and Taylor. The finest things in the world have been written on an empty stomach, and Wilder and Brackett rewrote the story as adrama. ), It came out the same year as another behind-the-scenes showbiz classic, All About Eve, which took most of the Oscars. It said so on the chart from her astrologer, who read DeMilles horoscope. Sure she was a forgotten silent star, living in exile, screening her old movies and dreaming of a comeback. 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. 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 lives in a crumbling old mansion with her butler Max (Erich von Stroheim). The exteriors of Norma Desmond's home on Sunset Boulevard were filmed at 641 South Irving Boulevard. She liked Holden and went out of her way to help him succeed, devoting her personal time to coaching and encouraging him, which made them into lifelong friends. 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. Men bribed her hairdresser to get a lock of her hair. The producer in the film was originally called Kaufman and was to be played by Joseph Calleia. But also much funnier. This was the last major Hollywood feature film to be shot on nitrate stock. Im not giving anything away here. Make-up designer Wally Westmore found that Gloria Swanson's face belied her age and wanted to make her look older. The California license plate on Gillis' Plymouth, 4D R 116, appears to be a legal and current registration for 1949. Holden acted in Executive Suite (1954), The Country Girl (1954) with Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly, The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), and Picnic (1955). 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. In 2007 the American Film Institute ranked this as the #16 Greatest Movie of All Time. The truth of the matter was that Bing Crosby was one of the very few actors to whom Billy Wilder had borne a grudge, mainly because Crosby had done the unthinkable during filming of The Emperor Waltz (1948), and ad-libbed dialog, something he and Bob Hope had done for years as standard operating procedure in their breezy "Road" pictures. The movie's line "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." April 17 marks the 100th birthday of William Holden, who is ranked No. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film Stalag 17 (1953) and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for the television miniseries The Blue Knight (1973). It was named after a major street that runs through Hollywood, the center of the American film industry . If you don't, I will personally shoot you." 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. [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". Gloria Swanson worked closely with Edith Head on Norma's clothes to achieve just the right look: grandly expensive but slightly out of date. His family moved to South Pasadena when he was three. Holden's first starring role was in Golden Boy (1939), costarring Barbara Stanwyck, in which he played a violinist-turned-boxer. is a 1950 American black comedy [1] [2] film noir [3] directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett. It was this astonishing footage that rekindled interest in the film. Director Cecil B. DeMille, silent film actors Buster Keaton, H. B. Warner, and Anna Q. Nilsson played waxy versions of themselves. In subsequent years, two lawsuits have been filed against Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, claiming that Sunset Blvd. [4] The film was made for Columbia, which negotiated a sharing agreement with Paramount for Holden's services. It would go on to be one of his most successful movies. Unsurprisingly, he was largely self taught, spending countless hours with instruction manuals and newspaper clips, playing all four hands simultaneously until he became an expert. (Gloria Swanson's TV star - she has one for TV and one for film - is very near by at 6301 Hollywood Blvd). 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.
