William Holden
Even though William Holden perfectly captures the combination of youthful hopefulness and the jaded disposition of Joe Gilles, he was not Wilder’s first choice. Montgomery Clift was cast but withdrew a few weeks before filming, and Wilder was forced to consider the available Paramount stars. They fixated on Holden—who made an impressive debut in Golden Boy (1939) a decade earlier—and he enthusiastically accepted the role.
Sunset Boulevard was Holden’s breakout role, and he became a notable box-office draw throughout the 1950s and 60s. He went on to star in some of Hollywood’s most acclaimed films, including Sabrina (1954), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), The Wild Bunch (1969), and Network (1976). He was nominated for the Best Actor in a Leading Role three times and won for Stalag 17, also directed by Wilder.
Gloria Swanson
Swanson was also not Wilder’s first choice; silent-screen stars Mae West, Mary Pickford, and Pola Negri were approached for the role before her. Wilder and Brackett then considered Swanson, whose confidence and theatricality made the duo eventually insistent upon casting her. Swanson was also an adored silent film actress, and was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Sadie Thompson (1928) and The Trespasser (1929). Her popularity and career declined in 1930s during the standardization of talkies. Swanson's performance in Sunset Boulevard is regarded by many—including Roger Ebert—as one of the all-time great film performances.
Erich Von Stroheim
Known as one of the first cinema auteurs and an important avant-garde figure, Erich von Stroheim was a visionary Austrian-American director and actor. Greed (1924), his adaptation of Frank Norris’s McTeague, is one of the most celebrated silent films ever made. Stroheim’s films consistently went over budget—including Queen Kelly (1929), coincidentally starring Gloria Swanson—and this led to his eventually being shunned by studios, who would not hire him to direct. He went on to become an acclaimed actor, both within American and French cinema, with his role as Rittmeister von Rauffenstein in Jean Renoir's masterpiece La Grande Illusion (1937) as one of his definitive career peaks.
Nancy Olson
Nancy Olson is best known for her role as Betty in Sunset Boulevard, which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She co-starred with William Holden three more times in her career, in The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), Son of Flubber (1963), and Airport 1975 (1974). Her career activity declined in the 1980s, though she recently made a return to the big-screen as Bianca Cummings in Dumbbells (2014).
Fred Clark
Fred Clark was a popular character actor in the 1940s and 50s. Though best known for his small role in Sunset Boulevard, he also starred in The Unsuspected (1947) with Claude Rains, Auntie Mame (1958) with Rosalind Russell, and Flamingo Red (1949) with Joan Crawford.
Jack Webb
Jack Webb was praised for his role as Joe Friday in the Dragnet franchise, which he also created. He was nominated for 5 Primetime Emmys for the series, both in the acting and directing categories.
Cecil B. DeMille
Acknowledged as one of the most commercially and critically acclaimed filmmakers of all time, Cecil B. DeMille directed over 70 films, many of them—The Ten Commandments (1956), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), and Samson and Delilah (1949)—highly regarded classics. DeMille made stars out of previously unknown actors, including Gloria Swanson, Claudette Colbert, Charlton Heston, and William Boyd. DeMille was nominated for 5 Academy Awards throughout his life, and he won 3: Best Picture and Best Director for The Greatest Show on Earth, and an Honorary Award for his decades of remarkable contributions to film.
H.B. Warner
As one of the most well-beloved actors of the silent era, H.B. Warner was celebrated for his role as Jesus Christ in Cecil B. DeMille’s The King of Kings (1927). He successfully transitioned into the sound era in supporting roles, such as Mr. Gower in It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) and Chang in Lost Horizon (1937), which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Anna Q. Nilsson
Though she was one of the few Swedish actresses to achieve some fame during the American silent era, Anna Q. Nilsson’s career sharply declined with the introduction of sound films.
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton is known as landmark figure, both as an actor and a director, of the silent era. He was best-known for his trademark physical comedy, which often incorporated a deadpan stoicism. Some of Keaton’s most praised films of the 1920s include Sherlock Jr. (1924), The General (1926), and The Cameraman (1928). His career waned in the 1930s when his relationship with MGM compromised his artistic freedom, but it saw a resurgence in the 40s. Keaton won an Honorary Academy Award in 1960.
