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William Holden Biography

original name William Franklin Beedle, Jr.

(1918 - 1981)

Related Works

1941 I Wanted Wings
1971 Wild Rovers
1941 Texas

1978 Fedora
1949 Dear Wife
1953 Forever Female
1953 Stalag 17
1943 Reconnaissance Pilot
1962 The Lion
1953 The Moon Is Blue
1955 Picnic
1939 Invisible Stripes
1952 Boots Malone
1972 The Revengers
1948 The Man from Colorado
1979 Ashanti
1950 Union Station
1948 Rachel and the Stranger
1947 Dear Ruth
1967 The 7th Dawn
1949 Miss Grant Takes Richmond
1955 Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
1942 The Fleet's In
1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai
1947 Blaze of Noon
1951 Force of Arms
1973 The Blue Knight (TV)
1980 When Time Ran Out
1956 The Proud and Profane
1966 Alvarez Kelly
1956 Toward the Unknown
1942 The Remarkable Andrew
1974 The Towering Inferno
1939 Golden Boy
1952 The Turning Point
1940 Our Town
1952 Submarine Command
1964 Paris-When It Sizzles
1943 Young and Willing
1973 Breezy
1980 The Earthling
1967 Casino Royale
1950 Sunset Boulevard
1940 Those Were the Days
1949 Streets of Laredo
1962 The Counterfeit Traitor
1938 Prison Farm
1939 Million Dollar Legs
1978 Damien: Omen II
1962 Lykke og krone
1969 The Wild Bunch
1954 Sabrina
1950 Father Is a Bachelor
1940 Arizona
1954 Executive Suite
1954 The Country Girl
1942 Meet the Stewarts
1960 The World of Suzie Wong
1976 Network
1950 Born Yesterday

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(born April 17, 1918, O'Fallon, Ill., U.S.—found dead November 16, 1981, Santa Monica, Calif.) major American film star who perfected the role of the cynic who acts heroically in spite of his scorn or pessimism.

While attending Pasadena Junior College, Beedle acted in local radio plays and became involved with the Pasadena Playhouse. He was discovered by a Paramount Pictures talent scout and given the more glamorous surname “Holden.” Drawing on his muscular build and good looks, the studio assigned him the lead in the boxing melodrama Golden Boy (1939). The role was a challenge for the inexperienced young actor, who was tutored by costar Barbara Stanwyck in the basics of performing before a camera.Columbia Pictures picked up half of his contract, and Holden alternated between the two studios, appearing in several forgettable films before serving in the Army Air Force during World War II. After the war, he continued to perform in what he referred to as “smiling Jim” parts. In later years, Holden bitterly resented the studios' exploitation of his physical appearance at the expense of his development as an actor.Director Billy Wilder rescued Holden's career by hiring him for the lead in Sunset Boulevard (1950). As Joe Gillis, the jaded screenwriter so desperate for a job that he becomes the gigolo of a faded silent-film star, Holden found his niche and turned in a strong performance as the cynical leading man. He went on to produce his strongest body of work during the 1950s in such films as Born Yesterday (1950), Stalag 17 (the film that earned for Holden the best actor Oscar for 1953), Sabrina (1954), The Country Girl (1954), The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1955), Picnic (1955), and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957).In later years Holden appeared in few films of quality. Disillusioned with Hollywood, he spent much of his time and money supporting conservation efforts in Africa. Those roles that do stand out from his later career—those of Pike Bishop in The Wild Bunch (1969), TV executive Max Schumacher in Network (1976), and hard-drinking film producer Tim Culley in Blake Edwards's S.O.B. (1981; Holden's final film)—captured a bit of Holden's real-life bitterness and depression and added a tinge of melancholy to his screen image.Holden's death was especially unfortunate and probably quite unnecessary. Evidence suggests that after an evening of drinking, Holden suffered a severe laceration to his forehead during a household mishap. He remained conscious for at least half an hour after the accident but did not realize the severity of his injury and did not make the phone call that would surely have saved his life. He subsequently passed out and bled to death; his body was discovered some four days later.