175 Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Description
This article is from the Movie Trivia, by Murray Chapman muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au with numerous contributions by others.
175 Sunset Boulevard (1950)
- The role of Norma Desmond was initially offered to 'Mae West' (qv) (who
rejected the part), 'Mary Pickford' (qv) (who demanded too much project
control), and 'Pola Negri' (qv) (who, like Mae West, turned it down) before
being accepted by 'Gloria Swanson' (qv).
- 'Montgomery Clift' (qv), signed to play the part of Joe Gillis, broke his
contract just two weeks prior to the start of shooting. 'Billy Wilder' (qv)
quickly offered the role to 'Fred MacMurray' (qv); he said ``no.''
'William Holden' (qv) was also not interested in the part; however, being
only a contract player at Paramount, he was ordered to play Joe Gillis.
- The ``Desmond mansion'' had been built by a 'William Jenkins' (qv) in 1924
at a cost of $250,000. Its second owner was 'J. Paul Getty' (qv) who
purchased it for his second wife. Mrs. Getty divorced her millionaire
husband and received custody of the house; it was she who rented it to
Paramount for the filming.
- Originally opened and closed the story at the Los Angeles County Morgue. In a
scene described by director 'Billy Wilder' (qv) 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.
Eventually Gillis tells his story, which takes us to a flashback of his
affair with Norma Desmond. The movie was previewed with this opening, in
Illinois and Long Island. Because both audiences inappropriately found the
morgue scene hilarious, the film's release was delayed six months so that
a new beginning could be shot in which police find Gillis's corpse floating
in Norma's pool while Gillis's voice narrates the events leading to his
death. Distortion caused by water meant that this scene had to be filmed
via a mirror placed on the bottom of the pool.
- The movie that Joe and Norma watch in the private screening room is
"Queen Kelly (1929)" (qv). Filmed in 1928, the movie had not yet been
released. It was directed by 'Erich von Stroheim' (qv) who plays the butler.
- The script planned by Joe and Betty (the story of a couple, which is
never together because of jobs with incompatible working time)
exists: it was written by 'Billy Wilder' (qv) and 'Max Kolpe' (qv)
for "Blaue vom Himmel, Das (1932)" (qv).
- CAMEO(Cecil B. de Mille):
- CAMEO(Buster Keaton):
- CAMEO(H.B. Warner):
- CAMEO(Hedda Hopper):
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