Huston, Wilson, and Kingsley to Headline Actors’ Fund Benefit Reading of Sunset Boulevard Screenplay in L.A.

Angelica Huston, Patrick Wilson, and Ben Kingsley will take the roles of Norma Desmond, Joe Gillis, and Max von Mayerling in a benefit reading of the screenplay of the classic Paramount film Sunset Boulevard at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood on Sunday, April 4 at 4pm. All proceeds from the event will benefit The Actors’ Fund of America.

Directed by Peter Hunt, the reading will also feature Noah Wyle as Artie Green, Ed Begley, Jr. as Morino (Joe Gillis’s agent), Steve Guttenberg as the first A.D., and Charles Durning as the L.A homicide captain. Legendary film director Stanley Donen will appear in the role of the iconic Cecil B. DeMille. Stefanie Powers will introduce the evening and will also play gossip columnist Hedda Hopper.

Kate Edelman Johnson will host the event. She will be assisted by original cast member Nancy Olson Livingston and Audrey Wilder, wife of the late Billy Wilder, who directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Charles Brackett and D.M. Marshaman, Jr.

Sunset Boulevard concerns the fraught relationship between a has-been movie star and a young writer. Released in 1950, the film stars Gloria Swanson, William Holden, and Erich von Stroheim; it is generally considered one of the finest productions of Hollywood’s golden age. (The National Film Registry of the Library of Congress has placed Sunset Boulevard on its list of 25 landmark films.)

Regular tickets for the April 4 reading are priced from $26 to $151, with VIP admission available from $250 to $2,500. The Pantages Theater is located at 6233 Hollywod Boulevard. For more information, call 323-933-9244, ext. 54 or visit the website www.actorsfund.org.