Anna Q. Nilsson plays herself in a cameo role in Sunset Boulevard (1950) as one of the people playing in Norma’s bridge game. Anna Q. Nilsson, much like our main character Norma Desmond, played by Gloria Swanson, was a famous silent film actor who was later pushed out once movies added sound. Nilsson is referred to as one of Norma’s “waxworks” which implies that she is something molded by Norma in order for her to bring some semblance of familiarity to those around her. Nilsson acts as a reflection of Norma and shows that Norma’s rejection of change in how films are being made is not an unaccompanied issue. Nilsson’s role in Sunset Boulevard can be related to what Christian Keathley describes as “memorable bits” (105) in the ‘Small Parts, Small Players” dossier of Screen. While Nilsson only shows up in this one scene, her credibility and former stardom gives her memorability to the scene as it further exemplifies the issues that Norma is going through. Additionally, it demonstrates the almost ‘communal’ aspect of formally famous actors lamenting about their prior stardom together. Keathley states, “In cinema, of course, ‘concrete reality’ has a special force, for in cinema, reality is not described through writing or represented through painting, it is literally shown to us” (111). This type of ‘concrete reality’ can clearly be seen by the bridge game as they quietly hand out cards and smoke cigarettes in a large, nearly abandoned house. The silence of Anna Q. Nilsson and her accompanying players reflects their glory days of silent films all while providing the audience with the information of just how alone these former greats really are.
Works Cited
Keathley, Christian. “Pass the Salt … and Other Bits of Business.” Screen, vol. 52, no. 1, 2011, pp. 105–113., https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/hjq065.
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