When casting about for the role of Norma Desmond for the 1950 film "Sunset Boulevard", Billy Wilder offered West the role. Still smarting from the censorship debacle of "The Heat's On", and the constraints placed on her characterization, she declined. The theme of the Wilder film, she noted, was pure pathos, while her brand of comedy was always "about uplifting the audience". Mae West had a unique comic character that was timeless, in the same way Charlie Chaplin did. After Mary Pickford also declined the role, Gloria Swanson was cast.