Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 film noir containing elements of drama, horror, and black comedy. Directed and cowritten by Billy Wilder, it was named for the famous boulevard that runs through Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. William Holden plays down-on-his-luck screenwriter Joe Gillis and Gloria Swanson is Norma Desmond, a faded movie star who entraps the unsuspecting Gillis into her fantasy world in which she dreams of making a triumphant return to the screen. Director Cecil B. DeMille and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper portray themselves, and the film includes cameo appearances by leading silent film figures Buster Keaton, H. B. Warner and Anna Q. Nilsson. Praised by many critics when first released, Sunset Boulevard was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won three. It is widely accepted as a classic, often cited as one of the most noteworthy films of American cinema. Deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress in 1989, Sunset Boulevard was included in the first group of films selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1793: French playwright, journalist and outspoken feminist Olympe de Gouges was guillotined for her revolutionary ideas. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympe_de_Gouges)

1838: The Times of India, the world's largest circulated English language daily broadsheet newspaper was founded. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times_of_India)

1848: A new constitution drafted by Johan Rudolf Thorbecke was proclaimed, severely limiting the powers of the monarchy of the Netherlands. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Rudolf_Thorbecke)

1957: The Sputnik 2 spacecraft was launched, carrying Laika the Russian space dog as the first living being to orbit the Earth. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_2)

1971: The UNIX Programmer's Manual was first published. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high,There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue,And the dreams that you dare to dream Really do come true. -- Judy Garland as "Dorothy Gale" in The Wizard of Oz -- (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Judy_Garland)