Profile of William Holden on Famous Like Me

For the North Carolina Governor by this name, please see William Woods Holden. For the California Lieutenant Governor by this name, please see William Holden (politician).

William Holden (April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981, body found November 16, 1981) was an Oscar winning American film actor.

Early life and career

Born William Franklin Beedle Jr. in O'Fallon, Illinois he moved with his wealthy family to Pasadena, California when he was three. His father, William Franklin Beedle, Sr., was an industrial chemist and his mother, Mary Blanche Ball, a teacher. The family was of English descent; Holden's paternal great-grandmother, Rebecca Westfield, was born in England in 1817, while some of his mother's ancestors immigrated to the U.S. in the 17th century from Millenback, Lancaster, England. While attending Pasadena Junior College he became involved in local radio plays and the Pasadena Playhouse, leading to his discovery by a talent scout from Paramount Pictures in 1937. His first role was in Prison Farm the following year.

Hollywood's "Golden Boy"

His first starring role was in 1939's Golden Boy in which he played a boxer who wants to be a violinist. After Columbia Pictures picked up half of his contract he alternated between starring in several minor pictures for Paramount and Columbia before serving in the Army Air Corps during World War II, where he acted in training films. Beginning in 1950 his career rebounded when Billy Wilder tapped him to star as the down at the heels screenwriter in Sunset Boulevard. Following this breakthrough he played a series of roles that mixed his good looks and cynical detachment, including the prisoner of war entrepreneur in Stalag 17 (for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor), the wandering braggard in Picnic and the ill-fated prisoner in The Bridge on the River Kwai. He also played a number of sunnier parts in light comedy with much success, such as the dashing architect in The Moon is Blue, the tutor in Born Yesterday and Humphrey Bogart's younger brother in Sabrina.

However, Holden starred in more than his share of forgettable movies which he was forced into by studio contracts and suffered from alcoholism and severe depression for many years. By the early 1960s his roles were having less critical and commercial impact. In 1966 while in Italy Holden was involved in a serious car accident in which the other driver was killed. It was determined Holden had been driving under the influence of alcohol, he was charged with vehicular manslaughter and received an eight-month suspended prison sentence. Holden was overcome with guilt and friends said this led to even heavier drinking. The actor reportedly had another secret in his life: For many years he did undercover work for the CIA, delivering messages to foreign leaders during his travels.

Later career

In 1969 he had a role in director Sam Peckinpah's graphically violent movie The Wild Bunch. He was praised for his leading performance in Network (1976), playing an older version of the character type he had perfected in the 1950s, now more jaded and aware of his own mortality. In 1980 Holden appeared in The Earthling with child actor Ricky Schroder, playing a loner dying of cancer who goes to the Australian Outback to end his days, meets a young boy whose parents have been killed in an accident and teaches him to survive. Schroder thought so highly of Holden, he named one of his sons after him.

Private life and death

Holden was married to the actress Brenda Marshall from 1941 to 1971, when they divorced. The couple had two sons and he adopted the daughter of his wife's first marriage. Holden had a busy social life, maintained a home in Switzerland and also spent much of his time working for wildlife conservation as a managing partner in an animal preserve in Africa. He began a relationship with actress Stefanie Powers who shared his interest in animal welfare (Powers later became President of the "William Holden Wildlife Foundation" and a director of their Mount Kenya Game Ranch).

Holden reportedly had a seven year affair with Eva May Hoffman (wife of composer Emil Newman, Randy Newman's uncle) which produced two children, Arlene Newman (who later married Dennis Crosby) and William Robert Newman.

William Holden died of a fall in his highrise apartment on the seaside cliffs of Santa Monica, California in 1981. His body was found on 16 November, but forensic evidence suggested he had died on on November 12th. Holden had been alone, heavily intoxicated, and slipped on a rug, gashed his head on a table, and bled to death. Evidence suggests he was conscious for at least half an hour after the fall, but may not have realized the severity of the injury, and failed to summon aid.

Holden's body was cremated. His ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.

Trivia

• Holden's acceptance speech for his Academy Award was the shortest on record: "Thank you."

• Holden, according to Suzanne Vega, is the "actor" mentioned in the following lyrics of the song Tom's Diner (his death was on the New York Post's front page on the day she wrote the song):

I open

Up the paper

There's a story

Of an actor

Who had died

While he was drinking

It was no one

I had heard of

Academy Awards and Nominations

• Best Actor Nomination for Sunset Boulevard (1951)
• Best Actor Award for Stalag 17 (1954)
• Best Actor Nomination for Network (1976)

Filmography

• S.O.B. (1981)
• The Earthling (1980)
• When Time Ran Out (1980)
• Ashanti (1979)
• Fedora (1978)
• Damien: Omen II (1978)
• Network (1976)
• The Towering Inferno (1974)
• Open Season (1974)
• Breezy (1973)
• The Revengers (1972)
• Wild Rovers (1971)
• The Christmas Tree (1969)
• The Wild Bunch (1969)
• The Devil's Brigade (1968)
• Casino Royale (1967)
• Alvarez Kelly (1966)
• The 7th Dawn (1964)
• Paris, When It Sizzles (1964)
• The Lion (1962)
• The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)
• Satan Never Sleeps (1962)
• The World of Suzie Wong (1960)
• The Horse Soldiers (1959)
• The Key (1958)
• The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
• Toward the Unknown (1956)
• The Proud and Profane (1956)
• Picnic (1955)
• Love Is a Many Splendored Thing (1955)
• The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1955)
• The Country Girl (1954)
• Sabrina (1954)
• Executive Suite (1954)
• Escape from Fort Bravo (1954)
• Forever Female (1953)
• Stalag 17 (1953)
• The Moon Is Blue (1953)
• The Turning Point (1952)
• Submarine Command (1952)
• Boots Malone (1952)
• Force of Arms (1951)
• Born Yesterday (1950)
• Union Station (1950)
• Sunset Boulevard (1950)
• Father Is a Bachelor (1950)
• Dear Wife (1949)
• Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949)
• Streets of Laredo (1949)
• The Man from Colorado (1949)
• The Dark Past (1948)
• Apartment for Peggy (1948)
• Rachel and the Stranger (1948)
• Dear Ruth (1947)
• Blaze of Noon (1947)
• Young and Willing (1943)
• Meet the Stewarts (1942)
• The Remarkable Andrew (1942)
• The Fleet's In (1942)
• Texas (1941)
• I Wanted Wings (1941)
• Arizona (1940)
• Those Were the Days (1940)
• Our Town (1940)
• Invisible Stripes (1939)
• Golden Boy (1939)
• Prison Farm (1938)

External link

• William Holden at the Internet Movie Database
• Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): William Holden

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