75 years after the movie was largely snubbed on Oscar night, Sunset Boulevard star Nancy Olson reflects on the film’s enduring legacy. Gloria Swanson and William Holden portrayed the bizarre co-dependent twosome at the center of Billy Wilder’s Hollywood gothic-noir, with Olson cast in the supporting role of a good-girl script reader who becomes the doomed Holden’s wholesome love interest. Nominated for 11 Oscars, including Best Picture, the film walked away with just three trophies, none for any of its nominated actors.
Olson was one of those Sunset Boulevard stars left without a statue on Oscar night, and recently the 96-year-old reflected on being snubbed by the Academy, revealing how she knew ahead of time that she wouldn’t be winning, and reflecting on the film’s legacy after 75 years. Olson began by expressing her gratitude for her Best Supporting Actress nomination, the only nomination of her career (via THR):
“I did not expect to win and I did not win. I felt very rewarded being nominated and that was quite enough.”
Olson then explained how the seating arrangement at the Oscars’ venue clued her in to the fact that someone else would take home Best Supporting Actress that evening (Josephine Hull won for the Jimmy Stewart comic fantasy Harvey):
“I was seated in the back, on the side.”
The next year, Olson returned to the Oscars on behalf of her otherwise-occupied husband, composer Alan Jay Lerner, and received a much more promising seat:
“He was in New York with his father who was dying. And so I picked up the Oscar for him. My seat was in the fourth row on the aisle — and I knew right away that Alan was going to get the award.”
Olson then discussed the movies competing with Sunset Boulevard in 1950, including the classics All About Eve and Born Yesterday, the latter of which starred the night’s upset Best Actress winner Judy Holliday (who beat out screen legends Swanson and Bette Davis):
“I mean, they were all wonderful, wonderful movies. And I can understand why there was other choices. On the other hand, what is the most fascinating is that Sunset Boulevard has outlasted them all. The desire, the gravity that brings people to it is fascinating.”
What This Means For Sunset Boulevard’s Legacy
Its Critical Reputation Remains Strong
Sunset Boulevard had a chance to sweep the Oscar’s major trophies, with nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and all four acting awards. It did walk away with three statues, for screenplay, black-and-white art direction and score, but its performance in the marquee categories was a major disappointment. Interestingly, it was another showbiz insider movie, All About Eve, that came away the night’s big winner, snagging six awards, including Best Picture.
Sunset Boulevard‘s Oscar Nominations | Nominees | Winner |
|---|---|---|
Best Picture | Paramount Pictures | All About Eve |
Best Actor | William Holden | Jose Ferrer (Cyrano de Bergerac) |
Best Actress | Gloria Swanson | Judy Holliday (Born Yesterday) |
Best Supporting Actor | Erich von Stroheim | George Sanders (All About Eve) |
Best Supporting Actress | Nancy Olson | Josephine Hull (Harvey) |
Best Director | Billy Wilder | Joseph L. Mankiewicz (All About Eve) |
Best Writing, Story And Screenplay | Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder and D.M. Marshman Jr. | Sunset Boulevard |
Best B&W Art Direction | Hans Dreier and John Meehan art directors, and Samuel M. Comer and Ray Moyer set decorators | Sunset Boulevard |
Best B&W Cinematography | John F. Seitz | The Third Man |
Best Film Editing | Arthur P. Schmidt and Doane Harrison | King Solomon’s Mines |
Best Scoring Of A Drama Or Comedy | Franz Waxman | Sunset Boulevard |
Olson is incredibly gracious in appreciating her own Oscar nomination, and sounds like she was not too disappointed when her name wasn’t called 75 years ago. It’s her opinion that, in a way, Sunset Boulevard was the ultimate winner over All About Eve and the other films that beat it out, as their reputations have somewhat faded over the decades, while her movie continues to enthrall viewers after three-quarters of a century.
Our Take On Olson’s Assessment Of Sunset Boulevard’s Legacy
David Lynch Would Have Agreed With Her
There is much about Sunset Boulevard that feels fresh and fascinating even today. Firstly, Swanson’s performance as faded movie star Norma Desmond remains one of film history’s definitive portrayals of showbiz delusion. The movie’s strange, dark tone also remains compelling, Norma’s bizarre relationship with Holden’s hack screenwriter Joe becoming a study in noirish perversity. The film’s finale, in which Swanson fully unravels, madly believing herself to be shooting a new movie by Cecil B. DeMille, is included in nearly all packages highlighting the greatest movie endings.
Related
Sunset Boulevard Ending Explained
Sunset Boulevard was one of the defining films of the 1950s, and its ending had a lot to say about the dark and comic world of Old Hollywood.
Sunset Boulevard still does well on greatest movie lists after 75 years, placing 16th in AFI’s 2007 rundown, and 62nd in Sight & Sound’s 2022 director’s poll. The film’s influence on other filmmakers has also been undeniable, especially in the case of the late David Lynch, whose Mulholland Drive bears many thematic similarities to Wilder’s 1950 noir. Oscar-winner Clint Eastwood also expressed his love for the film, calling it his all-time favorite. Overall, Olson is correct that of all the movies nominated for Oscars in 1950, Sunset Boulevard has held up the best over time.
Source: THR
Sunset Boulevard
- Release Date
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August 10, 1950
- Runtime
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110 Minutes
- Director
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Billy Wilder
- Writers
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Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, D.M. Marshman Jr.
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William Holden
Joe Gillis
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Gloria Swanson
Norma Desmond
