The classic Sunset Boulevard was released seventy years ago today! Here's a great interview with Nancy Olson, a young UCLA student when she was picked to play Betty Schafer, and at ninety-two the last surviving major cast member. I especially love the story she tells at the end of running into William Holden in an airport.
Olson did a wonderful job of playing the youthful and ambitious but down-to-earth Betty, a counterpoint to Gloria Swanson's lofty delusional silent screen star Norma Desmond. All four lead actors - Swanson, Holden, Olson, and Erich von Stroheim - were nominated for Oscars. They didn't win, but the film did take home awards for the script, music, and black-and-white art/set decoration.
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