Oscar Snubs 1950…
Overlooked, Ignored, passed over, Disregarded or Brushed off.
Gloria Swanson & William Holden for “Sunset Boulevard”
By Karen Beishuizen
A 1950 black noir comedy directed by Billy Wilder.
Gloria Swanson played Norma Desmond, a former silent-star who dreams of making a big come-back to the screen.
Ms. Swanson, who was a real-life silent movie star, made a comeback with “Sunset Boulevard” in contrary to her character Norma Desmond who did not manage this. She was 50 years old when filming took place, she was made to appear much older for the movie.
William Holden played Joe Gillis; a screenwriter who is trying to get Paramount interested in a script he wrote.
Mr. Holden returned from serving in World War II and was offered small roles in movies until he was offered the role of Joe Gillis after Montgomery Clift had dropped out. He accepted and the movie changed his career.
The Plot:
They meet when Joe is fleeing from repo men and turns into a driveway of, what looks like, a deserted mansion on Sunset Boulevard, not knowing that the forgotten star Norma Desmond lives here.
When she hears he is a writer, she lures him into her world of making a movie come-back and offers him to stay with her and have a look at a script she wrote.
But all does not seem to be what it looks like and it is a tragedy waiting to happen:
Her butler Max writes the fan mail in order to maintain Norma’s illusion she is still loved by fans.
Joe secretly works with Paramount script reader Betty on his own script.
Norma lives in her own world and refuses to accept that her glory days are over.
Both were nominated but neither one got the Oscar they deserved for their stunning powerful haunting performances.
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