He is the TV Editor at Entertainment. or "Boulevard"? The body was found by Henry Peavey, who took over for convicted embezzler Edward F. Sands as Taylors valet. The home was built in 1923 for businessman William O. Jenkins. In the fall of 1981, the television actor Stefanie Powers, who was dating William Holden, was in Hawaii filming the ABC show "Hart to Hart" when Holden stopped answering his phone. Free Postage. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett almost came to blows over the montage depicting Norma's preparations for her comeback. 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. It was a big hit, as was The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), a Korean War drama with Kelly.[20][21]. The Academy Award-winning actor William Holden, born William Beedle Jr., on April 17, 1918, in O'Fallon, Illinois, began his career with 1939s "Golden Boy," per Britannica. And that young man who was found floating in the pool of her mansion, with two shots in his back and one in his stomach, was nobody important, really. 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. Since 2006, he has overseen the Bayou City History blog, which covers various aspects of Houston's history. 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." [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. Wilder won the argument and privately told friends that he would not be making any more films with Brackett. 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. It was named after a major street that runs through Hollywood, the center of the American film industry . For some scenes, cinematographer John F. Seitz would sprinkle dust into the air so it could be caught by the lights and create a moody effect. 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. 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). "I'm not surprised that this could have happened.". As DeMille was directing Lamarr at the time in Samson and Delilah (1949), this would have been no problem. One of his father's grandmothers, Rebecca Westfield, was born in England, while some of his mother's ancestors settled in Virginia's Lancaster County after emigrating from England in the 17th century. The structure in the film required a tennis court, or rather the ghost of a tennis court, with faded markings and a sagging net. "No, don't let it be true. A Western at MGM, Escape from Fort Bravo (1953) did much better, and the all-star Executive Suite (1954) was a notable success. But trophies or not, Sunset Boulevard has stayed near the top of the list of great movies about moviemaking. #7. Paramount always labeled that studio as its Long Island Studios. read more: Can The Biblical Epic be Resurrected? Previous image. She burst into tears upon completion of the scene. 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. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . [27] He played an American Civil War military surgeon in John Ford's The Horse Soldiers (1959) opposite John Wayne, which was a box-office disappointment. She felt that Wilder used her name in a past-tense context, and she was offended. It's the pictures that got small" was #91. When she received her Honorary Oscar at the 1982 Academy Award ceremony, Holden had died in an accident just a few months prior. Joe Gillis' typewriter is a portable manual Remington Rand Noiseless Model 7. Holden paid it forward, becoming Hepburns guardian angel.. (1950) in my head, and I'd always sort of related to that character floating in . 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 was also one of many stars in Feldman's Casino Royale (1967). Neither was The Revengers (1972), another Western. 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. While talking with Betty and Artie in Schwab's, Artie points out the studs in Joe's tuxedo. Sure she was a forgotten silent star, living in exile, screening her old movies and dreaming of a comeback. [4] The film was made for Columbia, which negotiated a sharing agreement with Paramount for Holden's services. Talk! 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). 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. An ending for the film was cobbled together, but the movie was never shown in the U.S. 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. His body was found four days later. It would not be turned into a motion picture until: The Naked and the Dead (1958). [48] He also has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. Wilder's version is the one they went with (he was the director, after all), but the argument marked a turning point for him, and he decided never to work with Brackett again. 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). Joe could have slept with Norma and loved Betty, and owned the pool that would be his final resting place. Boulevard du crpuscule : Amazon.com.mx: Pelculas y Series de TV. When Norma visits Cecil B. Film News. To publicize the film, Paramount sent Gloria Swanson on a cross-country tour, paying her $1,000 a week for her services. ), It came out the same year as another behind-the-scenes showbiz classic, All About Eve, which took most of the Oscars. Universal bought it on her death in 1920 and it was used in several movies, most notably in The Phantom of the Opera (1925). 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. 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 Hack screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) accidentally falls in with faded screen legend Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). 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). . )[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. Billy Wilder was actually friendlier with the other leading gossip columnist of the day, Louella Parsons. 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: Zach Laws, Chris Beachum. [28] Columbia would not meet Holden's asking price of $750,000 and 10% of the gross for The Guns of Navarone (1961); the amount of money Holden asked exceeded the combined salaries of stars Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn.[29]. (1940) followed by the role of George Gibbs in the film adaptation of Our Town (1940), done for Sol Lesser at United Artists.[8]. The two starred in the films The Lion (1962) and The 7th Dawn (1964). The car with the massive chrome grill that the repo men drive is a 1948 DeSoto Custom Club Coupe. [40], Holden had a daughter born in 1937 from his relationship with actress Eva May Hoffman. 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. A modern-girl Jiminy Cricket, Betty asks, Dont you sometimes hate yourself? and Joe corrects her, Constantly.. ), a woman who trades on charms that have . on the corner of Crenshaw and Irving. In 1972, Holden began a nine-year relationship with actress Stefanie Powers and sparked her interest in animal welfare. Ballard, who used to impersonate Norma descending the stairs. 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. He rose to prominence with his role in the movie "Sunset Boulevard" (1950), which landed him his first Best Actor Oscar nomination. Oddly enough, the reclusive Greta Garbo granted permission to use her name, though when she saw the film itself she was sorry she had done so. But it's also a love story, and the love keeps it from becoming simply a waxworks or a freak show. Her Stockholm Syndrome is positively infectious. For purposes of authenticity Erich von Stroheim and Nancy Olson wore their own clothes in the film. She changed her professional name to Patricia Palmer and was working with Famous Players-Lasky, Taylors studio at the time of his death. The restoration was performed at Lowry Digital by Barry Allen and Steve Elkin. ), and he calls her "young fellow." Wilder used real names like Darryl Zanuck, Tyrone Power, and Alan Ladd. 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). 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. This wasn't the original opening and was filmed long after completion of filming. Here's some backstage information to enhance your experience the next time you visit the Paramount lot.. But she fits it like a round peg in a square hole. The director turned actor was still able to steer the expensive Italian car into the Paramount gate. The movie was previewed with this opening, in Illinois, Long Island (NY) and Poughkeepsie (NY). Holden had a supporting role in Ashanti (1979) and was third-billed in another disaster film, When Time Ran Out (1980), which was a flop. "We didn't need dialogue. Billy Wilder went into production with only 61 pages of script finished, so he had to shoot more or less in chronological order. 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. 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. In 2007 the American Film Institute ranked this as the #16 Greatest Movie of All Time. To help promote the film, Gloria Swanson did a three-month tour of 36 cities in America and Canada. Holden appeared uncredited in Prison Farm (1939) and Million Dollar Legs (1939) at Paramount. 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. Initially, writer-director Wilder envisioned the movie as a straightforward comedy, and the famously saucy West seemed like a perfect fit. Norma goes to visit Cecil B. DeMille, several of whose films Swanson had starred in. She was disappointed to see that all the parts she was offered subsequently were watered-down versions of Norma Desmond. Wilder and Brackett told everyone at Paramount and the Production code that the screenplay was based on the story A Can of Beans by Wilder, Brackett, and D.M. In reality, Gloria Swanson never worked with Normand and worked only once with Prevost in a 1916 short. Well, not a comeback, a return, a return to the millions of people who have never forgiven her for deserting the screen. Oscar and Emmy winner William Holden was one of Hollywood's biggest stars for decades, with his performances as cynical, conflicted men winning acclaim and awards. 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. A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return. This is an old film which has been made into a musical. 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. But who could play the silent film diva? 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. Later he strangled himself with it. 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. Sunset Boulevard told an old familiar story. Gillis: "Well, I had a few extra holes in me, two in the chest and one in the stomach." Sunset Boulevard, one of Hollywood's most cruelly accurate depictions of itself, is now 65 years oldolder, even, than its main character, who's washed up at 50. And, of course, a pool. A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return. It's kind of sweet, actually. Jay Livingston, Ray Evans: The Paramount songwriting duo is seen at the piano at Artie Green's New Year's Eve party. 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. in West Hollywood. This ushered in the peak years of Holden's stardom. 12 Sep. WILLIAM HOLDEN: At some point, "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) played at The Silver Screen. Louis B. Mayer's reaction is well documented but Mae Murray also found the film offensive. The part was only Nancy Olson's third film appearance. 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.". That movie, however, departs from the trope by making both actress and stranger much younger. Sunset Boulevard, one of Hollywood's most cruelly accurate depictions of itself, is now 65 years oldolder, even, than its main character, who's washed up at 50. Or shall I call my servant? 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. Everyone had a good laugh, though the record doesn't reflect whether Marshall joined in. It is also one of the most frequently misquoted movie lines, usually given as, "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. As the band plays 'Diane', we also see Desmond ascending her staircase. These include Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Rudolph Valentino, Rod La Rocque, Vilma Bnky, Mabel Normand, Marie Prevost, Pearl White, and Douglas Fairbanks. The last name of the studio executive played by Fred Clark is Sheldrake. London Boulevard (2010) was based on the Ken Bruen novel that was inspired by Sunset Boulevard and features the same trope of an aging actress as the stranger caught in her web. It was a the kind of a place crazy movie people built in the crazy 20s. He contributed to Altvariety, Chiseler, Smashpipe, and other magazines. The movie begins about five oclock in the morning, left coast time. Norma is perceived as the evil force, even if she uses a white phone while Betty is relegated to a poor black phone. She hates all of Joes writing except for about six pages. This can be deduced from the fact that when he pulls one out of the pack he turns the bottom end up to his mouth. At Columbia, he starred in film noirs, The Dark Past (1948), The Man from Colorado (1949) and Father Is a Bachelor (1950). That's the end.". Other actresses considered for Norma Desmond were Mae West (who wanted to rewrite the dialogue), Mae Murray, and Mary Pickford. Gloria Swanson almost considered rejecting the role of Norma Desmond after Billy Wilder requested she do a screen test for the role. Fat Man: "You were murdered?" In the movie when a cop tries to call in to the coroners office, he cant get an open line because Hedda Hopper is on the phone in Normas room, talking to the Times City Desk and that is more important. The first name of the Joe Gillis character was Dan in an early draft of the screenplay, then altered to Dick, and finally to Joe just before filming began. Who didnt then? The Homicide Squad, complete with detectives and newspapermen, are responding to a call about a murder from one of those great big houses in the ten thousand block of Sunset Boulevard, a 22-mile block that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown LA to the Pacific Ocean. If Gillis is accurate in stating that his meeting with Norma occurred some six months prior, the action of the film takes place between mid-November 1948 and mid- May 1949. In the movie, an aide tells Cecil B. DeMille "Gordon Cole has been trying to reach you". Cinematographer John Seitz put a mirror on the bottom of the pool and filmed the reflection. Holden's first starring role was in Golden Boy (1939), costarring Barbara Stanwyck, in which he played a violinist-turned-boxer. April 17, 2019 6:00AM. 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. American Beauty screenwriter Alan Ball has acknowledged that another Billy Wilder film, The Apartment (1960), influenced that screenplay. 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. Its second owner was Jean Paul Getty, who purchased it for his second wife. Brackett thought it was too mean while Wilder felt it was necessary. But it was too difficult to put a camera underwater to get the shot, so Wilder and cinematographer John Seitz came up with an ingenious solution: they put a mirror on the bottom of the pool and filmed the reflection from above. He always wished that I would get an Oscar. The only Best Picture Oscar nominee of the year to be also nominated for Original Screenplay. The house was owned by the J. Paul Getty family. [4] They had two sons, Peter and Scott. Read and download theDen of Geek SDCC 2019 Special Edition Magazineright here! Sunset Boulevard DVD (2007) William Holden, Wilder (DIR) cert PG Amazing Value. These actors were bigger than life. Their relationship makes the film as much a love story as it is a noir film, because if ever there is a femme fatale, it is Norma Desmond. You probably know about the Andrew Lloyd Webber version of Sunset Boulevard that premiered in London in 1993 and headed to Broadway in 1994 with Glenn Close in the lead role. Seleccionar el departamento en el que deseas buscar. The killing and the media circus that followed it hurt the industry. [2] His brother Robert ("Bobbie") became a U.S. Navy fighter pilot and was killed in action in World War II, over New Ireland, a Japanese-occupied island in the South Pacific. At Paramount, he did another Western, Streets of Laredo (1949). 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. She produced and starred in Sadie Thompson and The Love of Sunya. 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. William Holden returns to find that Gloria Swanson has tried to slash her wrists in 'Sunset Boulevard', directed by Billy Wilder. Culture Editor Tony Sokol is a writer, playwright and musician. The pool was used in its empty condition in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). The exteriors of Norma Desmond's home on Sunset Boulevard were filmed at 641 South Irving Boulevard. They stayed that way even if the pictures got small. One of only 13 films to be nominated for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Director. A classic film review of Sunset Boulevard (1950) starring William Holden, Gloria Swanson and Eric Von StroheimDirected by acclaimed film maker Billy Wilder (. The death was just one of many infamous Hollywood scandals of the 1920s, which included the Roscoe Arbuckle bottle rape trial, the death of Olive Thomas, the mysterious death of Thomas H. Ince, and the drug-related deaths of Wallace Reid, Barbara La Marr, and Jeanne Eagels. Gloria Swanson, meanwhile, was born on March 27, 1899. 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. This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 22:44. over the spiraling budget. The Den of Geek quarterly magazine is packed with exclusive features, interviews, previews and deep dives into geek culture. According to the DVD commentary by Wilder biographer Ed Sikov, this story was most likely invented/exaggerated by Billy Wilder. The directions given by the Paramount guard for Norma and Joe to go meet Cecil B. DeMille on "Stage 18" is accurate: this stage, one of the largest on the Paramount lot, was known for years as "The DeMille Stage" and now is called "The Star Trek Stage", as all the "Trek" movies and some scenes from the TV shows have been shot there (the TV series, from Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) onward, had its main sets right across the studio street on Stages 8 and 9, which are right below the second-floor office occupied by Betty Schaefer in this film. . 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). Holden's films continued to struggle at the box office, however: Paris When It Sizzles (1964) with Hepburn was shot in 1962 but given a much delayed release, The 7th Dawn (1964) with Capucine and Susannah York, a romantic adventure set during the Malayan Emergency produced by Charles K. Feldman, Alvarez Kelly (1966), a Western, and The Devil's Brigade (1968). "[13] Paramount reunited him with Nancy Olson, one of his Sunset Boulevard costars, in Union Station (1950). Thirty-one years later, the actor who played Gillis, William Holden, met his end. Wilder asked how much shed charge just to shoot the chair and Lamarr said $10,000. They are singing a parody of their song "Buttons and Bows," from The Paleface (1948), for which they won an Oscar in 1949, the year this film was made. The old movies needed neither color nor dialogue. The exterior shots were of a house located not on Sunset but Irving Boulevard, near the corner of Wilshire, owned by the J. Paul Getty family. Gloria Swanson does a famous impression of Charles Chaplin as the "Little Tramp," but Chaplin's name is never mentioned. Even though it wasn't the last scene filmed, Billy Wilder threw a party for her as soon as the shot was finished. The murder made it to the late editions, radio, and television because one of the biggest old-time stars was involved. Not long ago, he was divorced from the actress, Gloria Holden, but carried the torch after the marital rift. Erich von Stroheim, who directed Swanson in Queen Kelly (1932), plays Max the butler, who serves as the projectionist in the scene. I know your face. His death certificate makes no mention of cancer. 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. In the film Gloria is seen playing cards with three silent film stars: Buster Keaton, H.B. 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. Ultimately she retired completely from films, making only sporadic appearances, notably in Airport 1975 (1974). He stayed at Paramount for The Remarkable Andrew (1942) with Brian Donlevy, then made Meet the Stewarts (1943) at Columbia. Joes voice even starts to take on more and more of her theatrical flourish after too much exposure. Norma Desmond promised she would never desert her audience again. But in 1957, Paramount formally asked Desmond to stop, the studio bosses having decided not to grant permission after all. Forensic evidence recovered at the scene suggested that he was conscious for at least half an hour after the fall. Vega subsequently confirmed that this was a reference to Holden.[50]. 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. It has to be an opera. Fat Man: "A husky fellow like you?" This one had it in spades. 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. In addition to the famous swimming pool, the studio also built sets to exactly duplicate Schwab's Drug Store in Hollywood and the Los Angeles County Morgue. Gloria Swanson became so identified with the demanding, irascible Norma that later generations of fans were startled to discover her serene, easy-going, naturalist personality in real life. This film is in the Official Top 250 Narrative Feature Films on Letterboxd. The Tragic 1981 Death Of Sunset Boulevard Star William Holden. She lives in a crumbling old mansion with her butler Max (Erich von Stroheim). Sunset Boulevard is a noir film and like many of the post-World War II dark classics, it is covered with a thick sheen of cynicism. It was a gift from her lover, automobile magnate Walter Chrysler. 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. Norma is at the edge of insanity through the whole movie, but that doesnt mean shes not fun. Without Norma Desmond, there wouldnt be any Paramount Pictures. Every time I go to L.A., which isn't too often, I look at these palm-bemused, once smart stucco facades, and wonder if a Norma Desmond from a later era might be hiding from the world inside them, buttressed by cable TV (AMC or TCM, no doubt), a poodle named FiFi or Sir Francis, walk-in closets full of leopard-print Capri pants that haven't fit in decades, and a world class liquor cabinet that has seen heads of state under the table on a good night.