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over the spiraling budget. The much sought after but highly finicky leading man accepted the role, then backed out. Free shipping for many products! For Swanson, whose career was already being threatened by the advent of talkies, Queen Kelly was another blow. 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. Like most old things in L.A., the house has since been replaced by an office building. But it's also a love story, and the love keeps it from becoming simply a waxworks or a freak show. At Paramount, he was in a comedy with Ginger Rogers that was not particularly popular, Forever Female (1953). Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett's 17th and final screenplay collaboration. Filtered cigarette packs always open at the filtered end, which meant he would've been lighting the filter otherwise. Sunset Boulevard, William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim In 1972, Holden began a nine-year relationship with actress Stefanie Powers and sparked her interest in animal welfare. Holden did a sports film at Columbia, Boots Malone (1952), then returned to Paramount for The Turning Point (1952). Now I had two favorite movies - aside from "Gone With The Wind" of course - both from 1950, "Sunset Boulevard" and "All . Sunset Boulevard (styled in the main title on-screen as SUNSET BLVD.) It was a gift from her lover, automobile magnate Walter Chrysler. But it could just as well have been Joes headquarters, Schwabs Drug Store, a kind of combination office, coffee clutch, and waiting room where actors and writers wait for the gravy train. Holden himself claimed that he, too, could picture his end. [46] Rumors existed that he was suffering from lung cancer, which Holden had denied at a 1980 press conference. 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". Wilder used real names like Darryl Zanuck, Tyrone Power, and Alan Ladd. Sunset Boulevard DVD Special Collector's Edition William Holden Gloria 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 others were Union Station (1950), Force of Arms (1951), and Submarine Command (1951). 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. 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. in West Hollywood. 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). 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." Billy Wilder originally wanted another silent star, Pola Negri, to take the part of Norma Desmond. (The book is about a failed screenwriter who works for a cemetery and lives with a forgotten silent-film star.) 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. William Holden - Biography - IMDb 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. Mrs. Getty divorced her millionaire husband and received custody of the house; it was she who rented it to Paramount for the filming. He called it "that goddamned butler role" for the remaining seven years of his life. At one point Norma mentions working with Mabel Normand and Marie Prevost. A classic film review of Sunset Boulevard (1950) starring William Holden, Gloria Swanson and Eric Von StroheimDirected by acclaimed film maker Billy Wilder (. The restoration was performed at Lowry Digital by Barry Allen and Steve Elkin. (1966), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), Network (1976), Coming Home (1978), Reds (1981), Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and American Hustle (2013). Gloria Swanson's career was not revitalized by this film. Ready? It is one of the most indelible films you will ever see. 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. A version of how he obtained his stage name "Holden" is based on a statement by George Ross of Billboard: "William Holden, the lad just signed for the coveted lead in Golden Boy, used to be Bill Beadle [sic]. The film is included on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list. The character of Norma Desmond is modeled on the fate of several leading actresses of the silent era. Here's some backstage information to enhance your experience the next time you visit the Paramount lot.. The veteran actress particularly wanted to see what Mary Pickford felt and was disappointed to see that she had left. 4.99. He did another Western at Columbia, Texas (1941) with Glenn Ford, and a musical comedy at Paramount, The Fleet's In (1942) with Eddie Bracken, Dorothy Lamour, and Betty Hutton.[9]. 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. He played Bogarts kid brother in Sabrina, Holdens third film with director Billy Wilder, in 1954. The only film to be nominated for Best Actor and Actress Oscars that year. According to reports, Taylor went to the feds for help filing charges against Normands cocaine suppliers. Kodak would discontinue to manufacture it altogether in 1953. Gloria Swanson almost considered rejecting the role of Norma Desmond after Billy Wilder requested she do a screen test for the role. Wilder almost hired Broadway star Marlon Brando, who would make his screen debut in The Men in 1950. 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. 1851 Ivar Street was the address of the Alto Nido Apartments, where he lived, sometimes worked and, ultimately died in 1941. Holden continued to work steadily for the next decade, but Hollywood often had no idea what to do with him. But who could play the silent film diva? Norma Desmond: I *am* big. (1950), Cecil B. DeMille, who plays himself in the film, directed H.B. When Joe and Norma sit down to watch one of her old movies, Joe pulls out a cigarette and places the bottom end in his mouth. What is the correct title - "Blvd." "Lonely, alone, without dignity.". 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. 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. She hates all of Joes writing except for about six pages. The house was owned by the J. Paul Getty family. Newspapers printed love letters between 19-year-old former child star and screen idol Mary Miles Minter and Taylor. [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. 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. See, Bettys a message gal, not a virgin, and there are no whores in Hollywood. The audience left 20 years ago. The script (which was to be a vehicle for her comeback) was submitted to Cecil B. DeMille who sent it back. It was Erich von Stroheim who suggested the revelation that Max was writing all of Norma's fan mail. According to a statement director King Vidor made in 1968, the Los Angeles police detective who was assigned to the case was told to lay off about a week into the investigation. 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. David Lynch is an avid fan of the movie, having referenced it in films such as Inland Empire (2006), Mulholland Drive (2001)--which has a similar title and theme about the misfortunes of aspiring artists in Hollywood--and the television show Twin Peaks (1990), where Lynch himself played an FBI Bureau Chief named Gordon Cole. He starred in Sam Peckinpahs masterwork Western The Wild Bunch. 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). 25 on AFI's list of all-time great leading men. Although a registered Republican, he never involved himself in politics. Fat Man: "You were murdered?" 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. His characters were always angling for something, whether it was silk stockings in a POW Camp in Stalag 17 from 1953, which won him a Best Actor Oscar, or to clear impersonation charges in in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) with Alec Guinness. The first of four films in which William Holden and Nancy Olson appeared. Sunset Blvd. (1950) - Full Cast & Crew - IMDb Buscar Amazon.com.mx. in 1911 when the Nestor Film Company moved from New. William Holden: Golden Boy of Hollywood Starred in 'Sunset Boulevard American Beauty screenwriter Alan Ball has acknowledged that another Billy Wilder film, The Apartment (1960), influenced that screenplay. Despite the 19 year gap in their ages, Holden and Swanson died just 2 years apart from each other- Holden in 1981 at age 63 and Swanson in 1983 at age 84. Sunset Blvd. (1950) - Photo Gallery - IMDb (he'd already gotten the shot he needed on the first take). This still goes on today. Swanson agreed to the audition, and won the role. Columbia put Holden in a Western with Jean Arthur, Arizona (1940), then at Paramount he was in a hugely popular war film, I Wanted Wings (1941) with Ray Milland and Veronica Lake. Warner (one of the four "Waxworks" at the bridge party) in The King of Kings (1927). William Holden: The Golden Boy of Vintage Hollywood - Variety At Cecil B. DeMille's first appearance, his on-set cry of "Wilcoxon!" Editorial Reviews. 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. She can sense the hot spot of every light and has never lost the wonderment of movies. 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. Holden's career took off again in 1950 when Billy Wilder tapped him to play a down-at-heel screenwriter taken in by a faded silent film actress (Gloria Swanson) in Sunset Boulevard. The home was built in 1923 for businessman William O. Jenkins. a mean old woman who looks and acts a little like Ma Bates if she'd been dead for several years but was somehow still just as talkative and feisty. Less popular was Satan Never Sleeps (1961), the last film of Clifton Webb and Leo McCarey; The Counterfeit Traitor (1962), his third film with Seaton; or The Lion (1962), with Trevor Howard and Capucine. 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. But that wasnt good enough for Hollywood. You murdered me. Holdens last movie, Blake Edwardss S.O.B., was another masterpiece of Hollywood cynicism. In Billy Wilder's film, Erich von Stroheim plays the butler of Gloria Swanson's forgotten silent-film star. The film was the favorite of Sci-Fi author J.G. The murder made it to the late editions, radio, and television because one of the biggest old-time stars was involved. "I am big. But even to show a chair with her name on it, Lamarr wanted $10,000. Her character's age was 22 but she was 21 at the time of filming. The clips in Sunset Boulevard were the first American audiences had seen of it. "I left countless messages but received no answer." Both Keaton and Hopper died the same day, on February 1, 1966, at the ages of 70 and 80 respectively, both in Los Angeles. 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. It was this astonishing footage that rekindled interest in the film. "No, don't let it be true. In the movie, an aide tells Cecil B. DeMille "Gordon Cole has been trying to reach you". Hack screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) accidentally falls in with faded screen legend Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). The California license plate on Gillis' Plymouth, 4D R 116, appears to be a legal and current registration for 1949. [7], Back at Paramount, he starred with Bonita Granville in Those Were the Days! preppy-3 15 March 2008. [45], According to the Los Angeles County Coroner's autopsy report, Holden bled to death in his apartment in Santa Monica, California, on November 12, 1981, after lacerating his forehead from slipping on a rug while intoxicated and hitting a bedside table. The Paramount logo appears as a transparency over the opening shot. But attempts to turn the movie into a stage musical began almost immediately, spearheaded by none other than Gloria Swanson. It would not be turned into a motion picture until: The Naked and the Dead (1958). Peavey reportedly wore flashy golf clothes but didnt own golf clubs and had been arrested for social vagrancy and booked on lewd and dissolute charges just a few nights before the murder. When Joe Gillis says, "They'll love it in Pomona," most people assume (correctly) that Pomona is intended to be representative of just about any average American town. Hedda Hopper: at the top of the stairwell as Norma descends toward the cameras. Marion Davies owned a famous ocean-front mansion in Santa Monica. To everyone's surprise, Judy Holliday won the Best Actress Oscar in 1951 for Born Yesterday (1950), beating Gloria Swanson in this film, and Bette Davis in All About Eve (1950). Just us and the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark! Norma Desmond didnt need dialogue, she can say whatever she wants with her eyes. Billy Wilder's sixth film in a row for Paramount Pictures. Swanson argued that a woman like Norma would have been obsessed with her appearance and would have done her utmost not to look old. It always will be! As the camera cranes up into the apartment, we can see it's the Alto Nido. 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. Mary Pickford, Pola Negri, and Greta Garbo turned down the role. For the opening shot of Joe Gillis floating face-down in the swimming pool, Billy Wilder wanted a shot from below that would show both the body and the police and photographers standing at the pool's edge looking down. taste bar and kitchen missouri city. Director Cecil B. DeMille, silent film actors Buster Keaton, H. B. Warner, and Anna Q. Nilsson played waxy versions of themselves. She is ever the star. 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. Sunset Boulevard: The Original Hollywood Expose | Den of Geek "[4], For his contribution to the film industry, Holden has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1651 Vine Street. 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. "I know how it's going to be," Holden said (per The Huntsville Item). The Den of Geek quarterly magazine is packed with exclusive features, interviews, previews and deep dives into geek culture. Sunset Boulevard DVD (2007) William Holden, Wilder (DIR) cert PG Amazing Value. A neglected house gets an unhappy look. Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge were famous for owning downtown real estate in Los Angeles and San Diego. Both suits were dismissed. Every character is jaded, except the oldest players. 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. After Salome, she planned to make another picture and another picture. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett almost came to blows over the montage depicting Norma's preparations for her comeback. Ironically, the last films that Gloria Swanson made for Paramount were not at this famous facility. Around this time he also appeared in 21 Hours at Munich (1976). His co-star Barbara Stanwyck, a screen veteran and one of the greatest actors of all time, coached and promoted Holden personally. 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). It was widely known as a top Hollywood hangout for many actors, directors, writers and producers. 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." Norma Desmond says that she paid $28,000 for the Isotta-Fraschini car in 1929. [39][46] He dictated in his will that the Neptune Society cremate him and scatter his ashes in the Pacific Ocean. The next decade saw Holden's career flourish. [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]. 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. Their partnership ended in a professional and gentlemanly mannerthere was no airing of any dirty laundrybut it did end.. She burst into tears upon completion of the scene. 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.". 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). 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. A true Hollywood horror story. 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. In real life, when Swanson and DeMille had worked together, that was what they always called each other. The movie's line "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." His Mount Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki (founded 1959) was popular with the international jet set. Glenn Close, who portrayed Norma Desmond on stage, also played a character who dramatically cut her wrists over a man she was in love with in the film "Fatal Attraction. H.B. If you don't, I will personally shoot you." Studs and cufflinks were inserted into the shirt holes to secure the garment. Norma's "gondola bed" was originally white, and was featured in Twentieth Century (1934) with Carole Lombard and John Barrymore. But as commentator Steve Sailer points out, more than one contemporary source mentions it as an inspiration. On the morning of February 1, 1922, Taylor--who had been romantically involved with her-- was shot and killed in his Hollywood bungalow. Marlon Brando was considered, but the producers thought he was too much of an unknown as a film actor. To publicize the film, Paramount sent Gloria Swanson on a cross-country tour, paying her $1,000 a week for her services. This film is in the Official Top 250 Narrative Feature Films on Letterboxd. At Columbia, he starred in film noirs, The Dark Past (1948), The Man from Colorado (1949) and Father Is a Bachelor (1950). Every woman was in love with him. [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". His family moved to South Pasadena when he was three. In 1998 the American Film Institute selected this as the 12th greatest film of the 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time. When he drives Norma to Paramount Pictures at the studio gates, the car was pulled with a rope by off-camera grips. Norma's butler, Max, who used to be one of her directors is played by Erich von Stroheim, who directed Swanson in the movie Queen Kelly (1932), clips from which are used in the scene where Norma and Joe watch one of her old films. Gloria Swanson worked closely with Edith Head on Norma's clothes to achieve just the right look: grandly expensive but slightly out of date. Later in the film Max tells Gillis that he was the silent-movie director who discovered Norma and put her in films. 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. He was named one of the "Top 10 Stars of the Year" six times (19541958, 1961), and appeared as 25th on the American Film Institute's list of 25 greatest male stars of Classical Hollywood cinema. Yes, this is Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. Wilder changed the scene so that DeMille offered Lamarr's chair to Norma without Lamarr being present. Warner, and Anna Q. Nilsson. 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. 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. He contributed to Altvariety, Chiseler, Smashpipe, and other magazines. Gloria Swanson and Nancy Olson also appeared in Airport 1975. William Holden returns to find that Gloria Swanson has tried to slash her wrists in 'Sunset Boulevard', directed by Billy Wilder. Louis B. Mayer's reaction is well documented but Mae Murray also found the film offensive. I know your face. It was not particularly successful. Billy Wilder also used Sheldrake as the last name of Fred MacMurray's character in "The Apartment". 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. American Film Institute On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder, by Ed Sikov, 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie, New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor, Venice Film Festival Special Award for Ensemble Acting, Laurel Award for Top Male Dramatic Performance, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, "When Alcoholics drink themselves to death", "William Holden Dead at 63; Won Oscar for 'Stalag 17', "Barbara Stanwyck's Honorary Award: 1982 Oscars", "The Screen Strand Shows 'Invisible Stripes', "30 Days, 30 Classics Day 17: Sabrina (1954) starring Audrey Hepburn, William Holden and Humphrey Bogart", "Screen: Crosby Acts in 'Country Girl'; Film Based on Odets Drama Makes Bow", "The Screen in Review; 'Bridges at Toko-ri' Is Fine Film of War", "Han Suyin dies at 95; wrote 'Many-Splendored Thing', "13 Fascinating Facts About 'The Bridge on the River Kwai', "Columbia Earns as It Holds Coin Due Bill Holden on 10% of 'Kwai', "The Towering Inferno Movie Review (1974)", "Network Movie Review & Film Summary (1976)", "William Holden Gave His All Even "When Time Ran Out", "William Holden's Unscripted Fall From Grace", The William Holden Wildlife Education Center, "West Holden: More than just the son of William Holden", Image of William Holden and Brenda Marshall, Academy Awards, Los Angeles, 1951, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Holden&oldid=1142631715, Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners, United Service Organizations entertainers, Articles with dead external links from December 2019, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Pages using infobox person with multiple partners, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2022, TCMDb name template using numeric ID from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, episode: "William Holden/Frances Bergen Show", This page was last edited on 3 March 2023, at 14:28. The film's narrative structure bears a marked resemblance to that of American Beauty (1999). The "fee" for renting the Jean Paul Getty mansion was for Paramount to build the swimming pool, which features so memorably. "Sometimes he'd just get in his car and drive," the director told the AP. It's not possible to shoot through water and get a clear image beyond. But Hollywood press has always had clout. There were no shortage of suspects. This promised to go the limit. 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. In July 1941, he married 25-year old actress Brenda Marshall, who commanded five times his income. Norma is Scorpio, and Mars had been transiting Jupiter for weeks and that was the day of greatest conjunction. 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. William Holdens Joe Gillis helps a timid soul named Norma Desmond cross a crowded street on Paramounts back lot. He made two more films with Olson: Force of Arms (1951) at Warner Bros. and Submarine Command (1951) at Paramount. Forensic evidence recovered at the scene suggested that he was conscious for at least half an hour after the fall. Wilder was no fan of improvisation and was very protective of his words. The investigation found that in the weeks just prior to his death, Taylor had been making some pretty delusional statements about his place in the world and some of his friends thought he had recently gone insane.