The Greatest Star

Behind the Scenes of Sunset Boulevard

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by Jeffrey Vance and Nancy Olson Livingston

Type: Stories
Subject: One Film > Sunset Boulevard
Keywords: Billy Wilder, Gloria Swanson, film making
Publishing date: 2025 (September 23, 2025) (Upcoming)
Publisher: Weldon Owen
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 288 pages
9 x 11 inches (23 x 28 cm)

ISBN

979-8-88674-332-6

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Book Presentation:
Including the Original Shooting Script
Celebrate the 75th anniversary of one of cinema’s greatest achievements, Sunset Boulevard, with rare archival photographs and materials from the Paramount archives.

1950 was a seminal year for filmmaking: All About Eve, Born Yesterday, Father of the Bride, and more. But one movie stands above the rest: Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder’s searing look at—and indictment of—the studio industry at one of its most influential and powerful times of its reign. The story of Joe Gillis, a down-on-his-luck writer who falls in with Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen who is trying to scramble back into the limelight, is considered by many to be the greatest movie about Hollywood ever produced.

Now, fans can step behind the camera with this commemorative celebration of the making of this classic. Featuring rare materials from the Paramount archives, The Greatest Star includes extraordinary production and behind-the-scenes stills, posters, and more, which are all used to illustrate Billy Wilder’s original shooting script for the movie. Also featuring a fascinating essay about the movie from noted film historian Jeffrey Vance and a preface looking back at her time on the film by cast member Nancy Olson Livingston (Betty Schaefer), The Greatest Star is a fitting tribute to one of the greatest films of our time.

©2025 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

NEVER BEFORE SEEN: Enjoy behind-the-scenes stills, production stills, posters, and more from Paramount’s archives.

OFFICIAL ACCOUNT: The Greatest Star is made in collaboration with Paramount and offers readers a definitive look at the art and making of one of history’s greatest films.

About the authors:
Film historian Jeffrey Vance is the author of several acclaimed books on film, including Douglas Fairbanks (2008), Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema (2003), Harold Lloyd: Master Comedian (2002), and Buster Keaton Remembered (2001). He is also the author of A Star Is Born: Judy Garland and the Film That Got Away (2018) co-written with Lorna Luft. An archivist, producer, and lecturer, Vance has served as consultant to every major motion picture studio, has appeared at numerous festivals, contributed audio commentary to several DVDs, and produced and directed the short subject Rediscovering John Gilbert (2010).Signed to Paramount Pictures in 1948, Nancy Olson Livingston received an Academy Award nomination only two years later for her role as Betty Schaefer in Billy Wilder’s film classic, Sunset Boulevard. Her career spanned nearly four decades, including pictures with William Holden, Bing Crosby, and John Wayne. She also starred in a string of iconic Disney films including Pollyanna and The Absent-minded Professor and starred in three plays on Broadway. In 2022, she published her memoir, A Front Row Seat.

See the publisher website: Weldon Owen

See Sunset Boulevard (1950) on IMDB ...

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