"Sunset Boulevard" Behind the Scenes Quiz

Answer: True

Mae West, Pola Negri and Mary Pickford were approached for the role of Norma Desmond before Gloria Swanson. Swanson was the only one who screen-tested. Her friend, director George Cukor, phoned Swanson in New York to convince her to audition for "Sunset Boulevard". He sold her by telling her it would be the role for which she would be best remembered.

Answer: Nine weeks

Filming was completed on June 18th, 1949. Production went remarkably smoothly.

Answer: True

Previously, they collaborated on such classics as "Ninotchka", "Ball of Fire" and "The Lost Weekend". They had a falling-out over a disagreement about a montage sequence in "Sunset Boulevard" and Wilder swore never to work with Brackett again. He never did.

Answer: Montgomery Clift

Montgomery Clift had won a Best Actor nomination for his first role, in the previous year's "The Search". Two weeks before the first day of scheduled shoot, Clift backed out saying, "I don't think I can be convincing making love to a woman twice my age." Wilder was outraged. He said, "If he's any kind of actor, he could be convincing making love to any woman!"

Answer: True

Despite the car's being towed slowly through the Paramount Studio gates for Norma's "return," by men pulling ropes off camera, von Stoheim's coordination was so poor that he still managed to collide with the famous gated entrance.

Answer: A Can of Beans

Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett actually began filming "Sunset Boulevard" without a final shooting script. Wilder wanted to conceal the nature of the story, which was an exposé of Hollywood's dark side, from the studios, and chose the innocuous shooting title.

Answer: False

Cecil B. DeMille was paid $10,000 for his scenes in "Sunset Boulevard". When Billy Wilder later needed an additional closeup, DeMille agreed. "That will be another $10,000." he demanded.

Answer: False

The film was "Queen Kelly," which was financed for Gloria Swanson by Joseph P. Kennedy, reputed to be her paramour at the time. The film was never completed. Kennedy pulled financing due to Erich von Stroheim's extravagance and the salacious direction of certain scenes, to which Miss Swanson objected.

Zasu Pitts, not Gloria Swanson, starred in von Stoheim's "Greed".

Answer: 3810 Wilshire Boulevard

The mansion was built in 1924 for William Jenkins. It was part of a divorce settlement for the second Mrs. J. Paul Getty. It was also used for the climax of "Rebel Without a Cause" in 1955, and demolished in 1957.

Answer: True

"Sunset Boulevard" originally opened in a morgue. Corpses beneath the sheets suddenly sat up and talked about how they had died. The opening was subsequently changed to the now-classic opening with Joe Gillis floating face-down in the swimming pool.

Answer: 11

Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Director, Best Story and Screenplay, Best Art Direction/Best Set Decoration (Black and White), Best Cinematography (Black and White), Best Film Editing, Best Musical Score.

Answer: 3

It won for Best Story and Screenplay, Best Art Direction/Best Set Decoration (Black and White) and Best Musical Score.

Answer: Franz Waxman

He also scored "Rebecca", "Peyton Place", "Love in the Afternoon", "Rear Window", "Elephant Walk", "A Place in the Sun", "Bride of Frankenstein", "Mr. Skeffington" and many others. He is credited with almost 300 film scores in his long and distinguished career.

Answer: Dayton, Ohio

Joe concludes it's time to "wrap up the whole Hollywood deal and go home" on a bus back to Dayton, Ohio - to a $35 a week job behind the copy desk of the "Dayton Evening Post", if it was still open - "back to the smirking delight of the whole office."

Answer: barefoot

Swanson recalled, "The final mad scene raised problems. I had to descend a grand staircase crowded with extras and a few people like Hedda Hopper in a state of derangement, and Billy Wilder wanted me to come down on the side of the stairway where the steps were narrowest. On high heels I would have tripped for sure. I played the scene barefoot. I imagined a steel ramrod in me from head to toe holding me together and descended as if in a trance."

Swanson, a thorough professional, submitted to costuming and makeup to "age" her throughout filming. A health advocate, she rarely consumed alcohol, and never on set.