Trivia for
Sunset Blvd. (1950) More at IMDbPro »

• 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. Swanson herself reportedly asked him to do it. Haines declined and fellow screen veteran H.B. Warner took the part.
  
  
• Eugene Walter was a prolific Hollywood screenwriter of the 1920s and 1930s. 6350 Franklin Avenue was the address of the Alto Nido Apartments, where Walter lived, sometimes worked, and, ultimately died in 1941. As Sunset Blvd. (1950) opens, William Holden's character Joe Gillis describes himself as a Hollywood screenwriter "living in an apartment house above Frankin Avenue". As the camera cranes up into the apartment, we can see it's the Alto Nido.
  
  
• The first name of the Joe Gillis character was Dan in an early draft of the screenplay.
  
  
• The role of Norma Desmond was initially offered to Mae West (who rejected the part), Mary Pickford (who demanded too much project control), and Pola Negri (who, like Mae West, turned it down) before being accepted by Gloria Swanson.
  
  
• Montgomery Clift, signed to play the part of Joe Gillis, (on advice of Libby Holman) broke his contract just two weeks prior to the start of shooting. Billy Wilder quickly offered the role to Fred MacMurray, who turned it down because he didn't want to play a gigolo. Marlon Brando was considered, but the producers thought he was too much of an unknown as a film actor. Gene Kelly was then approached, but MGM refused to loan him out. Reluctantly, Wilder met with William Holden, whose films to that time had not impressed Wilder (Holden's films of the 1940's were decidedly mediocre). They eventually worked together on several films and became longtime friends. It was largely from his association with Wilder that Holden would enjoy the greatest acting successes of his career in the 1950's.
  
  
• The "Desmond mansion" had been built by a William Jenkins in 1924 at a cost of $250,000. Its second owner was Jean Paul Getty, 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.
  
  
• The photos of the young Norma Desmond that decorate the house are all genuine publicity photos from Gloria Swanson's heyday.
  
  
• The writers feared that Hollywood would react unfavorably to such a damning portrait of the film industry, and so the film was code named 'A Can of Beans' while in production.
  
  
• Despite the fact that Erich von Stroheim plays a butler/chauffeur, he could not drive in real life. During the scenes in which he drove, the car was towed by another car. In the scene in which he drives Norma Desmond to Paramount Pictures, it was rumoured he crashed into the famous Paramount gate. According to the DVD commentary by Wilder biographer Ed Sikov, this story was most likely invented/exaggerated by Billy Wilder.
  
  
• The movie that Joe and Norma watch in the private screening room is Queen Kelly (1929). Filmed in 1928, the movie had not yet been released. It was directed by Erich von Stroheim, who plays the butler.
  
  
• Cameo: [Cecil B. DeMille] at the studio during Norma's visit.
  
  
• Cameo: [Hedda Hopper] at the top of the stairwell as Norma descends toward the cameras.
  
  
• Cameo: [H.B. Warner] in the card game scene.
  
  
• The movie that Cecil B. DeMille is shooting (in this movie and in real life) was Samson and Delilah (1949), being made at the same time as this film. As a final dig at Hollywood, the tragic ending music (by Franz Waxman) as Norma vanishes into the lens of a camera, segues into a full-blown orchestra version of the Paramount News Shorts' theme.
  
  
• Cameo: [Buster Keaton] in the card game scene
  
  
• Cameo: [Anna Q. Nilsson] in the card game scene
  
  
• Cecil B. DeMille had a pet name for Gloria Swanson - "Young Fella" - because he said she was braver than any man. He calls her this when he greets her (as Norma Desmond) at the door of the soundstage.
  
  
• The name Norma Desmond was most likely chosen from a combination of silent-film star Norma Talmadge and director William Desmond Taylor.
  
  
• The "fee" for renting the Getty mansion was for Paramount to build the swimming pool, which features so memorably.
  
  
• Erich von Stroheim dismissed his participation in this film, referring to it as "that butler role."
  
  
• Set non-holiday all time house record of $166,000 at Radio City Music Hall when it opened.
  
  
• In a break from Billy Wilder's usual practice, this project began without a finished script. At one point, production was shut down so the script could be finished.
  
  
• In 1989, the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress selected this film as one of twenty-five landmark films of all time.
  
  
• In 1998, the American Film Institute selected this as the 12th greatest film of the 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time.
  
  
• In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #16 Greatest Movie of All Time.
  
  
• In Cecil B. DeMille's introduction shot, his on-set cry of "Wilcoxon!" refers to long-time friend, actor, and associate producer Henry Wilcoxon. Wilcoxon served as DeMille's personal assistant for years until the famed director's death.
  
  
• The original nitrate negatives for the film have long disappeared. The only extant film elements were 35mm interpositives struck in 1952, which had undergone a great deal of decay. This interpositive was scanned at 2,000 lines of resolution and electronically restored for the 2002 DVD reissue. The restoration was performed at Lowry Digital by Barry Allen and Steve Elkin.
  
  
• The directions made 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 large elements of the TV shows have shot there.
  
  
• It was George Cukor who suggested Gloria Swanson for the role of Norma Desmond. Wilder had worked on a script for a Swanson picture years earlier called Music in the Air (1934) and had forgotten about it.
  
  
• The antique car used as Norma Desmond's limousine is an Isotta-Fraschini, and once belonged to 1920s socialite Peggy Hopkins Joyce. It was a gift from her lover, automobile magnate Walter Chrysler.
  
  
• Mae West rejected the role of Norma Desmond because she felt she was too young to play a silent film star. Mary Pickford rejected it because she was afraid it would destroy her wholesome image.
  
  
• Montgomery Clift quit the production because he was, like the character of Joe, having an affair with Libby Holman, was a wealthy middle aged former actress. She pressured him to back out of the role.
  
  
• Gloria Swanson almost considered rejecting the role of Norma Desmond after Billy Wilder requested she do a screen test for the role. Her friend George Cukor, who initially recommended her for the part, told her, "If they want you to do ten screen tests, do ten screen tests. If you don't, I will personally shoot you." Swanson agreed to the audition, and won the role.
  
  
• The movie's line "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up" was voted as the #7 movie quote by the American Film Institute.
  
  
• The movie's line "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." was voted as the #6 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.
  
  
• The movie's line "I am big. It's the pictures that got small." was voted as the #91 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.
  
  
• The movie's line "We didn't need dialogue. We had faces." was voted as the #13 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.
  
  
• The movie's line "I am big! It's the pictures that got small." was voted as the #24 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).
  
  
• Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett met with Greta Garbo and tried to convince her to make a comeback for the role of Norma Desmond. Garbo declined the offer.
  
  
• Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett's 17th and final screenplay collaboration. After a particularly virulent argument over the treatment of a montage sequence in the film, they vowed never to work with each other again.
  
  
• Paramount were more than happy to be the subject of the film, and didn't ask for the studio to be disguised. In fact, such was the buzz about the film during production that the viewing of the daily rushes became one of the hottest tickets on the lot.
  
  
• The character of Joe Gillis was very much in tune with William Holden's standing at the time. When he appeared in the 1939 film 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 1940's. On the basis of this film and largely out of his continuing association with director Billy Wilder, Holden would reach the zenith of his career from 1950-55.
  
  
• According to Gloria Swanson's daughter, her mother stayed in character throughout the entire shoot.
  
  
• Upon seeing the film at a star-studded preview screening at Paramount, MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer screamed at director Billy Wilder that he should be tarred, feathered and horse-whipped for bringing his profession into such disrepute. Wilder's response was a terse, "Fuck you" (Mayer would find himself ousted from his position within the year by the new regime at MGM, headed by Dore Schary).
  
  
• Billy Wilder originally wanted another silent star, Pola Negri, to take the part of Norma Desmond. 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.
  
  
• Other actresses considered for Norma Desmond were Mae Murray and Mary Pickford. 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.
  
  
• Cecil B. DeMille agreed to do his cameo for a $10,000 fee and a brand-new Cadillac. When Billy Wilder went back to him later to secure a close-up, DeMille charged him another $10,000.
  
  
• Gloria Swanson played her final descent down the staircase to the waiting authorities barefoot as the steps were so narrow, she was terrified of tripping up if she'd worn her high heels. She burst into tears upon completion of the scene.
  
  
• Billy Wilder wanted a fresh face for the part of Betty Schaefer. The part was only Nancy Olson's second film appearance.
  
  
• It was Erich von Stroheim's idea to show clips from Queen Kelly (1929) in the scene where Norma and Joe sit down to watch a movie.
  
  
• There's a little dig in the scene when Cecil B. DeMille finds out that Paramount has been calling Norma Desmond because it wants to borrow her car for some Bing Crosby picture. The truth of the matter was that Crosby was one of the very few actors to whom Billy Wilder had objected, mainly because he had done the unthinkable during filming of The Emperor Waltz (1948) and rewritten some of Wilder's dialog.
  
  
• 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 (he'd already gotten the shot he needed on the first take). Eventually it wasn't Wilder who shouted "Cut!" but Holden's wife, who happened to be onset that day.
  
  
• Billy Wilder was actually more friendly with the other leading gossip columnist of the day, Louella Parsons. However, he knew that her arch-rival Hedda Hopper had trained as an actress and would therefore be more convincing onscreen.
  
  
• The first floor set of Norma Desmond's mansion was also used in the western comedy Fancy Pants (1950) starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball, giving fans a chance to see it in full color.
  
  
• Cecil B. DeMille was actually filming a scene from Samson and Delilah (1949) with the cast and crew of that film during Norma Desmond's "visit" to the studio. Henry Wilcoxon can be seen approaching Norma. The scene of DeMille filming a "period" film looks convincing because that's what he was really doing.
  
  
• Near the end, when Norma Desmond is told that the newsreel cameras have arrived, as the light shines on her face and she gazes into the mirror, the score quotes the chord (the flutter in the strings) from the coda of the Dance of the Seven Veils from Richard Strauss' opera "Salome" (the subject, of course, of Norma's script); the same quote from Salome is used again as she starts down the stairs.
  
  
• 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 and Max Kolpé for Das Blaue vom Himmel (1932/I).
  
  
• When Max is telling Joe about directing Madam's first pictures, there is a bad dub of the word "sixteen". After the Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle trial and the subsequent establishment of the Hays Office to enforce the new Production Code, the producers were concerned that the original age of 14 would be considered child porn and had the line changed in post.
  
  
• The musical version of the movie opened in London on July 12, 1993 and ran 1529 performances. 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.
  
  
• Darryl F. Zanuck, Olivia de Havilland, Tyrone Power and Samuel Goldwyn all refused to allow their names to be used in the film, but Billy Wilder decided to use Zanuck's and Power's names anyway. 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. She felt that Wilder used her name in a past-tense context, and she was offended.
  
  
• In his biography of Billy Wilder, "On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder", Ed Sikov relates a story about Wilder's explanation of the true meaning of the strange dead chimp scene from the start of the film. Sikov says that during the mid-1990s, both Wilder and Nancy Davis [First Lady Nancy Reagan] were at a party for an opening of one of the productions of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical based on the film, when, with Reagan nearby, an older woman approached Wilder with a question about what the chimp scene meant. Wilder's typically outrageous answer, probably intended to shock the former First Lady as much as to inform the woman of the true meaning of the scene, was, "Don't you understand? Before Joe Gillis came along, Norma Desmond was f**king the monkey."
  
  
• Hedda Hopper and Buster Keaton, who cameo as themselves in the movie, both died on the same day: February 1, 1966.
  
  
• At the time of this movie, William Holden was 32 and Gloria Swanson was 51.
  
  

• SPOILER: Originally opened and closed the story at the Los Angeles County Morgue. 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. 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, Long Island, New York, and Poughkeepsie, New York. Because all three 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' corpse floating in Norma's pool while Gillis' 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.
  
  

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