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Joe Gillis
Played by: William Holden
- Deadpan Snarker: All through the narration, and sometimes even in his writing.
- Foregone Conclusion: Considering we saw Joe's dead body in a pool towards the beginning of the film, we know he's not going to have a happy ending.
- Lemony Narrator: He's a particularly cynical example, probably because he's dead.
- Most Writers Are Writers
- Posthumous Character: He's already dead when the film starts and the film's about what led up to that moment.
- Posthumous Narration: One of cinema's most famous examples.
- Private Eye Monologue: Well it is a film noir.
Norma Desmond
Played by: Gloria Swanson
- Disco Dan: It's currently the 50s, and she still lives in the 20s.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Norma is jealous of Joe's potential relationship with Betty.
- High Hopes, Zero Talent: She wants to make a comeback in films by writing her own script, but has taken twenty years to perfect it, and Joe the professional screenwriter can tell it's hopeless immediately.
- Large Ham: Oh yeah, Gloria Swanson really knew how to act, and when to overact.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: She's inspired by several former stars of the Silent Era, named after Norma Talmadge and the murder scandal taken from Mabel Normand, the reclusiveness from Mary Pickford and Greta Garbo, and the mental health problems from Clara Bow, Mae Murray and Valeska Surrat. There were also some elements of her actress Gloria Swanson, who likewise had been a Silent Era star, but lived a far more active life than Norma.
- Old Maid: She's fifty and unmarried, delusionally still believing she's twenty-five.
- Rich Bitch: She's extremely wealthy and very full of herself, but for most of the movie, she wasn't really that nasty. Yes, she forces Joe to work her script as a (hopeless) ploy to get back in the spotlight, but she treats him incredibly well. But then she lives up to the "bitch" part, when Joe quits writing the script and tries to abandon Norma, and she responds by shooting him.
- Sanity Slippage: Over time, she loses her grip of reality and get strapped in her past-life dreams.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Despite her time in the spotlight being up, she still vows to make a return some day in the near future.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Yes, Norma murders Joe when he tries to leave her—but the action breaks her mind entirely and sends her spiraling into complete delusion. Everyone around her looks at her with complete pity and terror as she enters her fantasy world of making movies again; a few people are even crying as she speaks.
- Villain Protagonist: She's a power-crazed freakshow who murders one of the main leads, and yet she herself is one of the leads.
- White-Dwarf Starlet: What gave that away?
- Yandere: She murders Joe when she realises she can't have him the way she wanted.
Max Von Mayerling
Played by: Erich von Stroheim
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: He's an Expy of his actor and real-life silent film director, Erich Von Stroheim.
- Not So Stoic: Even Max is on the verge of tears when he sees Norma go completely insane at the end of the film, and he can only watch in silence as she slips into her fantasies forever.
- Riches to Rags: He used to be a world-famous Hollywood director, before he gave it all up to get married to Norma, and eventually become her butler.
- The Stoic: Max remains completely grounded throughout the film and puts up with all of Norma's tantrums, fits, and illusions without complaint.
- Undying Loyalty: Max gave up his career as a director to marry Norma, and even after she divorced him, he still loves her. He manifests that love by becoming Norma's loyal butler, and enables all of her delusions—even going so far as to personally write fake fan mail every single day—as a sign of his devotion.
Betty Schaefer
Played by: Nancy Olson
- Foil: To both of the film's central characters in a way:
- To Joe: Joe ended up trying to write scripts just to get ahead in the industry. Betty on the other hand, wants to make sure the script actually has a message and makes sense. Her politeness also contrasts Joe's perpetual sarcasm.
- To Norma: They're both major love interests for our central character Joe Gillis. While Norma's trapped in the silent age and is crazy desperate to be back in the spotlight, Betty's aware of the reality of the of the current period and is perfectly fine with not being on camera. Norma treats Joe as a tool for editing her script, and sometimes as a straight-up boy toy, but Betty has a real relationship with him.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: She's one of the only characters who didn't get corrupted by the fame and glory of being in a Hollywood picture.
Hollywood Directors and Stars
In General
- As Himself: Nearly all the celebrities in the film are playing themselves.
