In the film *Sunset Boulevard* (1950), there are two notable deaths that frame the narrative: the protagonist **Joe Gillis** and Norma Desmond's unnamed **pet chimpanzee**.
### 1. Joe Gillis
Joe Gillis (played by William Holden) is the central character whose death is famously revealed in the film's opening shot.
* **How he dies:** Joe is murdered by **Norma Desmond**. As Joe attempts to leave her mansion for good—after bluntly telling her the truth about her faded stardom and his own lack of feelings for her—a distraught and jealous Norma follows him out to the driveway. She brandishes a revolver and **shoots him three times**.
* **Specific Details:** The first shot hits him in the back, the second in the stomach, and the third as he stumbles toward the edge of the property. He collapses and falls face-down into the mansion’s **swimming pool**. The film is unique in that the entire story is narrated by Joe’s ghost (or his "dead" voice) in a long flashback, explaining the six months of events that led to his body floating in the pool.
### 2. The Pet Chimpanzee
While not a human character, the death of Norma's pet chimp is the narrative catalyst for the entire movie.
* **How it dies:** The chimp dies of **natural causes** (implied to be old age or illness) shortly before the film’s main events begin.
* **Specific Details:** When Joe Gillis first pulls into Norma's driveway to hide from repossession agents, he is mistaken for an **undertaker** whom Norma had summoned to arrange a funeral for the animal. Joe is led upstairs to a room where the chimp’s body is lying in state, covered by a white cloth. This bizarre and macabre introduction to Norma’s household establishes her eccentric and delusional state of mind; she even commissions a custom-made, white satin-lined coffin for the animal and holds a private midnight burial for it.
### Other "Deaths" and Background
* **Max von Mayerling:** Though some viewers initially assume Norma’s previous husbands might be dead, it is revealed that her butler, Max, was actually her **first husband**. He is very much alive, having chosen to remain as her servant to protect her from the reality of her decline.
* **The "Waxworks":** Joe refers to Norma’s group of friends (actual silent film stars like Buster Keaton) as "The Waxworks," suggesting they are effectively "dead" to the modern Hollywood industry, though they are physically alive.
* **Original Opening:** In the original (and later deleted) opening of the film, Joe’s body was shown in a **morgue** alongside several other corpses who talk to one another about how they died. This scene was cut after preview audiences found it unintentionally funny, leading to the now-iconic swimming pool opening.