Are you ready for your close-up?

I’ll always remember Gloria Swanson’s immortal scene in “Sunset Boulevard” as she descended the curved staircase of her once grand mansion, tilted her head for just the right camera angle and uttered the infamous line, “I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille.” She was just one of many great stars of the cinema’s Golden Age who lived their entire life just to hear those words—”Lights! Camera! Action!”

My fantasy as a teen growing up in the ’50s was taking Hollywood by storm and returning home to a ticker tape parade, the key to the city, and waving to the crowds from a new model convertible. It was a great dream until my alarm clock woke me up.