Which actress plays script reader Betty Schaefer in Sunset Boulevard?

Nancy Olson plays script reader Betty Schaefer in Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950).

Betty works at Paramount Pictures, where she reads and evaluates screenplays. She first encounters Joe Gillis when she criticizes one of his scripts, not realizing he is nearby. Their professional collaboration later develops into a romantic subplot, contrasting Betty’s youthful idealism with Norma Desmond’s obsession with a vanished silent-film career.

Olson was a Paramount contract player, and Wilder chose her because he wanted Betty to project an ordinary, wholesome image opposite Gloria Swanson’s flamboyant Norma. Olson’s performance earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. A common mix-up is confusing the actress with the character: Gloria Swanson plays Norma Desmond, while Olson plays Betty Schaefer. The film also features William Holden as Joe Gillis and Erich von Stroheim as Max von Mayerling.