Gloria Swanson's greatest role is a warning to our own celebrity culture. Now, as 'Sunset Boulevard' is rereleased, the star's daughter, in her first interview, remembers her own fear of her mother's alter ego
Each night during the filming of Sunset Boulevard, Gloria Swanson would return to the rented house on Mulholland Drive she shared with her mother, Addie and the youngest of her three children, Michelle, then 16. As the 50-year-old actress swept into the grounds, Addie would turn to her granddaughter and say, 'Oh, here comes Norma', a reference to Swanson's role as the half-insane former silent star in Billy Wilder's film. 'After each day's shooting, she carried on talking in the voice of Norma Desmond,' remembers Michelle Farmer-Amon, now 70, 'and she stayed in that personnage for the duration of work on the movie.'
It wasn't until principal photography had been completed on Sunset Boulevard - which tells the story of the tragic affair between a struggling Hollywood screenwriter, Joe Gillis (played by William Holden) and an ageing, forgotten star Norma Desmond (Swanson) - that Swanson stopped bringing her alter ego home for dinner. On the last day of filming, she drove back to her house and announced to her family that 'there were only three of us in it now, meaning that Norma Desmond had taken her leave'.
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Each night during the filming of Sunset Boulevard, Gloria Swanson would return to the rented house on Mulholland Drive she shared with her mother, Addie and the youngest of her three children, Michelle, then 16. As the 50-year-old actress swept into the grounds, Addie would turn to her granddaughter and say, 'Oh, here comes Norma', a reference to Swanson's role as the half-insane former silent star in Billy Wilder's film. 'After each day's shooting, she carried on talking in the voice of Norma Desmond,' remembers Michelle Farmer-Amon, now 70, 'and she stayed in that personnage for the duration of work on the movie.'
It wasn't until principal photography had been completed on Sunset Boulevard - which tells the story of the tragic affair between a struggling Hollywood screenwriter, Joe Gillis (played by William Holden) and an ageing, forgotten star Norma Desmond (Swanson) - that Swanson stopped bringing her alter ego home for dinner. On the last day of filming, she drove back to her house and announced to her family that 'there were only three of us in it now, meaning that Norma Desmond had taken her leave'.
Continue reading...
- 3/9/2003
- by Andrew Wilson
- The Guardian - Film News
Gloria Swanson's greatest role is a warning to our own celebrity culture. Now, as 'Sunset Boulevard' is rereleased, the star's daughter, in her first interview, remembers her own fear of her mother's alter ego
Each night during the filming of Sunset Boulevard, Gloria Swanson would return to the rented house on Mulholland Drive she shared with her mother, Addie and the youngest of her three children, Michelle, then 16. As the 50-year-old actress swept into the grounds, Addie would turn to her granddaughter and say, 'Oh, here comes Norma', a reference to Swanson's role as the half-insane former silent star in Billy Wilder's film. 'After each day's shooting, she carried on talking in the voice of Norma Desmond,' remembers Michelle Farmer-Amon, now 70, 'and she stayed in that personnage for the duration of work on the movie.'
It wasn't until principal photography had been completed...
Each night during the filming of Sunset Boulevard, Gloria Swanson would return to the rented house on Mulholland Drive she shared with her mother, Addie and the youngest of her three children, Michelle, then 16. As the 50-year-old actress swept into the grounds, Addie would turn to her granddaughter and say, 'Oh, here comes Norma', a reference to Swanson's role as the half-insane former silent star in Billy Wilder's film. 'After each day's shooting, she carried on talking in the voice of Norma Desmond,' remembers Michelle Farmer-Amon, now 70, 'and she stayed in that personnage for the duration of work on the movie.'
It wasn't until principal photography had been completed...
- 3/9/2003
- by Andrew Wilson
- The Guardian - Film News
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