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Sunset Boulevard
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Gloria Swanson, looking up with a dramatic expression, stands close to William Holden, who faces her in a suit, in a scene from the film Sunset Boulevard. Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond descends a staircase, arm raised dramatically, surrounded by police, photographers, and reporters in the final scene of Sunset Boulevard. Cecil B. DeMille, right, leans in to speak with Gloria Swanson, dressed in a feathered hat and fur stole, on the set of Sunset Boulevard, with film crew visible in the background.
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Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, with her dog, Toto, from the motion picture film The Wizard of Oz (1939); directed by Mervyn LeRay. (cinema, movies)
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Gloria Swanson, looking up with a dramatic expression, stands close to William Holden, who faces her in a suit, in a scene from the film Sunset Boulevard.
Sunset Boulevard Gloria Swanson and William Holden in Sunset Boulevard (1950), directed by Billy Wilder.

Sunset Boulevard

film by Wilder [1950]
Written by
Lee Pfeiffer
Author/co-author of numerous books about the cinema and is regarded as one of the foremost James Bond scholars. His book The Essential Bond: An Authorized Guide to the World of 007 (written with...
Lee Pfeiffer
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

Sunset Boulevard, American film noir, released in 1950, that is often cited as one of Hollywood’s greatest films, especially noted for Gloria Swanson’s portrayal of a fading silent-film star. The movie is named after the iconic street that runs through Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, Calif. Deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” to America’s film heritage, it was among the first films selected in 1989 for inclusion in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry....

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