how old was william holden in sunset boulevard how old was william holden in sunset boulevard

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.. Joe Gillis: You're Norma Desmond. For purposes of authenticity Erich von Stroheim and Nancy Olson wore their own clothes in the film. H.B. Read and download theDen of Geek SDCC 2019 Special Edition Magazineright here! Unlike the character she played, Gloria Swanson had accepted the fact that the movies didn't want her anymore and had moved to New York, where she worked on radio and, later, television. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . We were close friends for many years. Fury of the Gods Brings Back the "Shazamily": Inside DC's New Superhero Adventure, Scream 6's Brutal NYC Trip: "You Can't Trust Anyone" This Time, Cocaine Bear Is Not Just About a Killer "Coked-Up" Bear, It's Also an "Underdog Story", How Marvel's Wastelanders Podcast Created an Exciting Story with No Visual Safety Net, Sunset Boulevard: The Original Hollywood Expose. He rose to prominence with his role in the movie "Sunset Boulevard" (1950), which landed him his first Best Actor Oscar nomination. It was only natural that he should film several sequences on the studio's backlots. 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. 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. 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). One of the few showy bits of camerawork in the film is near the beginning, when the corpse floating in Norma Desmond's pool is seen from underneath. She reads everyone and everything in Hollywood, except Joes script. 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. 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). 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. It was George Cukor who suggested Gloria Swanson for the role of Norma Desmond. Some, including Holden himself and one of his close confidants, could foresee the death (per The Huntsville Item). Included among the American Film Institute's 1998 list of the Top 100 Greatest American Movies. On the last day of shooting, Swanson drove back to the house she, her mother and daughter shared during production, announcing "there were only three of us in it now, meaning that Norma Desmond had taken her leave.". 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. 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 Artie Green introduces Joe to other guests at his New Year's Eve party, he jokingly refers to him as "the well-known screenwriter, uranium smuggler and Black Dahlia suspect", a reference to the infamous unsolved L.A. murder case in 1947 of an aspiring actress known as The Black Dahlia, who was found murdered and dismembered on a street in Los Angeles. Neither was The Revengers (1972), another Western. De Mille at Paramount, the director is shooting the film Samson and Delilah, which he was actually shooting at the time. But also much funnier. are shown stenciled on the curb of that street. 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). Sunset Blvd. This car has been on display at the National Automobile Museum in Turin, Italy since 1972. Since he had classic good looks, an expressive voice, and was an excelle To shoot Joe and Norma dancing together at her New Year's Eve party, cameraman John F. Seitz used a dance dolly---a wheeled platform attached to the camera. Holden's films after that time had not impressed Wilder (in the 1940s Holden's movies were decidedly mediocre). or "Boulevard"? Although Sheldrake's musings on a film about the story of a female baseball player was seen as humorous, the movie "A League of Their Own" would do just that 42 years later. 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. 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. ", 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.". 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. About 10 minutes later, Holden passed out and died from blood loss. Her character's age was 22 but she was 21 at the time of filming. The producer in the film was originally called Kaufman and was to be played by Joseph Calleia. She felt that Wilder used her name in a past-tense context, and she was offended. I think that Sunset Boulevard was the most important film of William Holden's career. Norma wound up sitting in Mr. DeMilles chair. [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. No one wants to get caught by surprise anymore. Haines, whose career had ended because of his homosexual off-screen life, was too happy in his new profession as an interior decorator to want to call attention to his past as an actor. 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. In the movie, an aide tells Cecil B. DeMille "Gordon Cole has been trying to reach you". [15] Holden and Hepburn became romantically involved during the filming, unbeknownst to Wilder: "People on the set told me later that Bill and Audrey were having an affair, and everybody knew. The car with the massive chrome grill that the repo men drive is a 1948 DeSoto Custom Club Coupe. read file from blob storage c#; ted dwane and isabel soden; best seats at belk theater charlotte; my rabbit ate ibuprofen The general consensus was that the two titans had canceled each other out, leaving the field clear for Holliday. Marlon Brando was considered, but the producers thought he was too much of an unknown as a film actor. 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. He contributed to Altvariety, Chiseler, Smashpipe, and other magazines. Principal photography took place from 11 April to 18 June 1949. 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. But trophies or not, Sunset Boulevard has stayed near the top of the list of great movies about moviemaking. 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). Sondheim respectfully stopped work on the project and, on the same grounds, later declined an offer to write the score for a proposed movie remake., Additional Sources: Hedda Hopper: at the top of the stairwell as Norma descends toward the cameras. She declined the offer. After working on Sunset Boulevard, Swanson remarked, Bill Holden was a man I could have fallen in love with. The Tragic 1981 Death Of Sunset Boulevard Star William Holden. [2] He had two younger brothers, Robert Westfield Beedle and Richard Porter Beedle. director of photography Film Editing by Arthur P. Schmidt . 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.". Old whores dont fuck for fun, as the old saying goes. Originally Billy Wilder wanted both of Hollywood's top gossip columnists--Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons--reporting from Norma's mansion at the end and fighting over the phone. The finest things in the world have been written on an empty stomach, and Wilder and Brackett rewrote the story as adrama. The two stars had never expressed any hostility towards each other over the failure of Cecil B. DeMille and Stroheim made many recommendations to Wilder during the making of the film, including having his character write all of Norma Desmond's fan mail, and, more importantly, to use footage from "Queen Kelly" as an excerpt from one of Desmond's great silent films. This is an old film which has been made into a musical. We all are." "Sometimes he'd just get in his car and drive," the director told the AP. 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). taste bar and kitchen missouri city. Its second owner was Jean Paul Getty, who purchased it for his second wife. As DeMille was directing Lamarr at the time in Samson and Delilah (1949), this would have been no problem. The musical version of the movie opened in London on July 12, 1993, and ran 1529 performances. The Paramount logo appears as a transparency over the opening shot. [16] Holden recalls their romance:.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, Before I even met her, I had a crush on her, and after I met her, just a day later, I felt as if we were old friends, and I was rather fiercely protective of her, though not in a possessive way. The script (which was to be a vehicle for her comeback) was submitted to Cecil B. DeMille who sent it back. [47], President Ronald Reagan released a statement: "I have a great feeling of grief. The film and actors was excellent and lived up to our expectations. And here is how he obtained his new movie tag. 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. . But it's also a love story, and the love keeps it from becoming simply a waxworks or a freak show. 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. Sunset Boulevard is no has-been, though. It also alludes to the fact that Pomona was one of three towns in California's Inland Empire region (Riverside and San Bernardino were the others) that were frequently used during Hollywood's Golden Age for testing preview audiences' reactions to unreleased films. He always wished that I would get an Oscar. 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.. In accordance with his wishes, no funeral or memorial services were conducted. 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. (1950), Cecil B. DeMille, who plays himself in the film, directed H.B. Gloria Swanson and Nancy Olson also co-starred in Airport 1975 together. These towns were favored because they were on the way to Palm Springs where, after collecting the audience reaction cards, studio personnel would then go to relax and determine what changes should be made to the previewed films. While Hollywood Blvd. See, Bettys a message gal, not a virgin, and there are no whores in Hollywood. In 1998 the American Film Institute selected this as the 12th greatest film of the 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time. He starred in Sam Peckinpahs masterwork Western The Wild Bunch. Besides Tyrone Power, other stars mentioned when Joe Gillis is pitching his "baseball" picture to the producer are Alan Ladd, William Demarest and Betty Hutton. He played Rafts kid brother, who was following in his gangster footsteps and needed to be set straight. At the end, they stood and cheered for Gloria Swanson's return. She is ever the star. When he appeared in the innovative Hollywood director Rouben Mamoulian's Golden Boy (1939), he was hailed as exactly that, but had seen his stock fall, largely through his problems with alcohol and a string of unmemorable films in the 1940s. Getting the role was a lucky break for Holden, as Montgomery Clift was initially cast but backed out of his contract. 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. She can be seen talking and giggling on the phone during the party. But Joe wouldnt have fallen so hard if he werent so shackled. In 1969, Holden made a comeback when he starred in director Sam Peckinpah's graphically violent Western The Wild Bunch,[4] winning much acclaim. 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). This is absolutely true, Nancy Reagan continued consulting her astrologer long after she stopped parking at studio lots. Queen Kelly nearly ruined both of their careers: von Stroheim was replaced as director midway through after complaints from Swanson about the racy material and arguments with the producer (JFK's father!) But when Sondheim pitched the idea to Billy Wilder at a party, Wilder said, "You can't write a musical about Sunset Boulevard. (The book is about a failed screenwriter who works for a cemetery and lives with a forgotten silent-film star.) Minters mother Charlotte Shelby was a manipulative stage mother who owned a rare .38 caliber pistol that fired unusual bullets very similar to ones found inside Taylor. 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. Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard" is the portrait of a forgotten silent star, living in exile in her grotesque mansion, screening her old films, dreaming of a comeback. Carol Burnett spoofed the film several times on her TV variety show. West wanted to rewrite her dialogue. The only film to be nominated for Best Actor and Actress Oscars that year. 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. His killer was never identified. Prior to joining the Houston Chronicle, Gonzales worked as a night cops reporter at The. 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. Wilder changed the scene so that DeMille offered Lamarr's chair to Norma without Lamarr being present. And, of course, a pool. So funny that it took away from the rest of the picture. Cecil B. DeMille agreed to do his cameo for a $10,000 fee and a brand-new Cadillac. The photos of the young Norma Desmond that decorate the house are all genuine publicity photos from Gloria Swanson's heyday. In the scene where Norma is showing Joe her silent movies, one of them is Queen Kelly (1932), which was filmed at Paramount's Astoria Studios in Astoria, Queens, NY. Dont bother with a rewrite, man, take it direct! But before that happened, it appeared in Rebel Without a Cause as the abandoned mansion in which the kids hang out. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). After living in the home for a year he moved, and the house sat vacant for a little over a decade, earning the moniker "The Phantom House" in the process. Read more of his work here or find him on Twitter @tsokol. Well, not a comeback, a return, a return to the millions of people who have never forgiven her for deserting the screen. He was perfection on- and off-screen. Also in 1969, Holden starred in director Terence Young's family film L'Arbre de Nol, co-starring Italian actress Virna Lisi and French actor Bourvil, based on the novel of the same name by Michel Bataille. Later in the film Max tells Gillis that he was the silent-movie director who discovered Norma and put her in films. Strange? Swanson made the transition to talkies with The Trespasser in 1929. In fact, a pivotal plot point in the Showtime limited series of Twin Peaks (2017) includes a scene from "Sunset Boulevard" in which the character's name is mentioned. Norma's buying Joe a fine woolen topcoat would be mostly an affectation in sunny Los Angeles. Gloria Swanson played her final descent on the staircase barefoot, as she was terrified of tripping in high heels. The princess in love with a holy man, she dances the dance of the seven veils. This ushered in the peak years of Holden's stardom. I instantly fell in love - both with the movie itself and with its handsome 32-year old male lead, William Holden. So she lands his head on a golden tray, kissing his cold, dead lips. Holden was best man at the wedding of his friend Ronald Reagan to actress Nancy Davis in 1952. Wilder almost hired Broadway star Marlon Brando, who would make his screen debut in The Men in 1950. 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. Realizing that former actress Hopper would easily dominate the scene, Parsons declined, even though she and Wilder were friends. White, pink, or maybe bright flaming red. She hates all of Joes writing except for about six pages. 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. He called it "that goddamned butler role" for the remaining seven years of his life. 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. 3.48. His family moved to South Pasadena when he was three. New York-born novelist and screenwriter Brackett was 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. Reluctantly, Wilder met with William Holden, who hadn't done much after the great Hollywood innovator Rouben Mamoulian's Golden Boy (1939). 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). 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). . William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 November 12, 1981) was an American actor and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. 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. preppy-3 15 March 2008. . Bogart took the part hoping it would pair him back up with his wife Lauren Bacall. Gloria Swanson, meanwhile, was born on March 27, 1899. "[4], For his contribution to the film industry, Holden has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1651 Vine Street. Cinematographer John Seitz put a mirror on the bottom of the pool and filmed the reflection. But along with the accolades came a dependence on alcohol that would play a major role in his tragic end. Eventually it wasn't Wilder who shouted "Cut!" When Joe and Betty stroll around the studio back lot they pass through the Washington Square set that was used in The Heiress (1949). Perry, George & Andrew Lloyd Webber (1993). 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. Here's some backstage information to enhance your experience the next time you visit the Paramount lot.. Or shall I call my servant? in 1911 when the Nestor Film Company moved from New. Mary Pickford, Pola Negri, and Greta Garbo turned down the role. Normand was the last person known to have seen Taylor alive and she was grilled by the Los Angeles Police Department as a result. F. Scott Fitzgerald suffered a heart attack while in Schwab's in 1940 (contrary to legend, Lana Turner was not discovered by a talent agent in Schwab's but, rather in a drugstore across from Hollywood High School, about three miles to the east). Warner (one of the four "Waxworks" at the bridge party) in The King of Kings (1927). 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. 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 Mae West rejected the role of Norma Desmond because she felt she was too young to play a silent-film star. 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." American Film Institute On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder, by Ed Sikov, 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. "Waxwork" Buster Keaton was in reality an excellent bridge player, always in demand at Hollywood bridge parties. Costume designer Edith Head found working on the film to be one of her greatest challenges. He stayed at Paramount for The Remarkable Andrew (1942) with Brian Donlevy, then made Meet the Stewarts (1943) at Columbia. Sure she was a forgotten silent star, living in exile, screening her old movies and dreaming of a comeback. Part of the dialogue goes: Fat Man: "Where did you drown? So Wilder gave up, and DeMille (who was already being compensated) gave Norma his own chair.. It said so on the chart from her astrologer, who read DeMilles horoscope. It was named after a major street that runs through Hollywood, the center of the American film industry . Peavey died in a San Francisco asylum, where he was being treated for syphilis-related dementia, in 1931. Wilder used real names like Darryl Zanuck, Tyrone Power, and Alan Ladd. Fred MacMurray and Gene Kelly both turned down the role of Joe Gillis. read more: Key Largo, Lauren Bacall, and the Definitive Post-War Film. A second film with Seaton did not do as well, The Proud and Profane (1956), where Holden played the role with a moustache. [35] Holden starred in The Earthling,[36] as a loner dying of cancer at the Australian outback and accompanying an orphan boy (Ricky Schroder). Gene Kelly was then approached, but MGM refused to loan him out. Betty is an idealist, more closely resembling Normas rose-colored outlook, but with darker shades she wants to bring to light. Now I had two favorite movies - aside from "Gone With The Wind" of course - both from 1950, "Sunset Boulevard" and "All . He said it was because she was braver than any man. While in Italy in 1966, Holden was responsible for the death of another driver in a drunk-driving incident near Pisa. She refuses to believe that she's no longer remembered and will never make another movie. Being born on 17 April 1918, William Holden was 63 years old at the time of his death. 10 films that began filming without a finished script, Donald Trumps Bad Romance with Hollywood Began Before Parasite, Shazam! When filming began, William Holden was 31 and Gloria Swanson was 50, the same stated age as her character. [4] He made a sex comedy with David Niven for Otto Preminger, The Moon Is Blue (1953), which was a huge hit, in part due to controversy over its content. He was Judy Hollidays tutor in Born Yesterday (1950) and played a war correspondent in Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955). Billy Wilder also used Sheldrake as the last name of Fred MacMurray's character in "The Apartment". When Norma is telling Joe about how rich she is, she mentions a beach house and downtown real estate. Erich von Stroheim, who made the masterpiece Greed in 1924, directed Swanson in Queen Kelly (1928), the flick Holdens character cuddles up with Norma to watch in the dark screening room of the dark mansion. He worked on dramas like The Key (1958), Westerns like John Fords The Horse Soldiers (1959) opposite John Wayne, and comedies like The Moon is Blue which so famously challenged the Production Code in 1953 that Hawkeye and BJ insisted it get shown at M*A*S*H 4077 to break the monotony of the Korean War. [23][24] Picnic was his last film under the contract with Columbia. At Paramount, he did another Western, Streets of Laredo (1949). According to Gloria Swanson's daughter, Michelle Amon, her mother stayed in character throughout the entire shoot, even speaking like Norma Desmond when she arrived home in the evening after filming. Newspapers printed love letters between 19-year-old former child star and screen idol Mary Miles Minter and Taylor. She looks like a mannequin of a . 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." Principal photography took place from 11 April to 18 June 1949. A disagreement over the montage where Norma puts herself through hell getting thinner and younger for her comeback nearly resulted in physical violence: Brackett thought it was too mean, while Wilder felt it was necessary to show what lengths a desperate actor would go to in Hollywood. 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. Although it can get chilly by the ocean, a light jacket or sweater would be plenty. Billy Wilder was one of the ultimate Hollywood insiders and he grew with film. There once was a time in this business when they had the eyes of the whole world. In an interview Wilder gave in 1996 he claimed that the film which eventually became SUNSET BOULEVARD began as a comedy for Mae West and Marlon Brando. American actress Gloria Swanson in a promotional portrait for 'Sunset Boulevard', directed by Billy Wilder, 1950. Previous image. It was a the kind of a place crazy movie people built in the crazy 20s. Mrs. Getty divorced her millionaire husband and received custody of the house; it was she who rented it to Paramount for the filming. Included among the 25 films on the American Film Institute's 2005 list of AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores. She produced and starred in Sadie Thompson and The Love of Sunya. As the band plays 'Diane', we also see Desmond ascending her staircase. And like the title, Holden seemed to have the looks and muscular build Hollywood craved. Rudy's shoeshine stand at the parking lot where Gillis hides his car from the creditors was inspired by Oscar Smith's shoeshine stand located just inside the Bronson Gate at the old Paramount Studios, which was a popular hangout for gossip and socializing while Billy Wilder was building his career there. The film's narrative structure bears a marked resemblance to that of American Beauty (1999). April 17 marks the 100th birthday of William Holden, who is ranked No. He is the TV Editor at Entertainment. "We didn't need dialogue. However, DeMille insisted that Lamarr be paid $25,000 for the privilege, so the idea was quickly dropped. Joe insists hes not a Hollywood whore, but he accepts Normas gifts, gold cigarette cases, a platinum watch, suits, shirts, and shoes that would impress Rudy. The "Desmond mansion" was located not on Sunset Blvd.