Who directed the 1950 film noir Sunset Boulevard?

Billy Wilder directed the 1950 film noir Sunset Boulevard.

Wilder also co-wrote the screenplay with Charles Brackett and D. M. Marshman Jr. The film stars Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, a faded silent-film star, and William Holden as Joe Gillis, a struggling screenwriter drawn into her fantasy of a triumphant comeback.

Sunset Boulevard is both a noir mystery and a dark satire of Hollywood. Its opening reveals Gillis dead in a swimming pool, after which his voice narrates the events leading to the killing. The film’s unusual structure, cynical view of fame, and mixture of comedy and tragedy made it one of Wilder’s defining achievements.

The movie also features real Hollywood figures, including director Cecil B. DeMille and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. It received 11 Academy Award nominations and won three. A frequent mix-up is Otto Preminger, who directed Laura, another major 1940s noir; Alfred Hitchcock and Nicholas Ray likewise directed other landmark films, not Sunset Boulevard.