Biography
Early life and career
Born William Franklin Beedle Jr. in O'Fallon, Illinois on April 17, 1918, he was the eldest of three sons of William Franklin Beedle, Sr., an industrial chemist and Mary Blanche Ball, a teacher. The family, who moved to Pasadena, California when he was three, 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 with 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"
Nancy Olson and William Holden in Sunset Boulevard. All four principal cast members including Holden were nominated for Academy Awards.
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 film he played a series of roles that combined good looks with 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 roles in light comedy, such as the dashing architect in The Moon is Blue, the tutor in Born Yesterday and Humphrey Bogart's younger, playboy brother in Sabrina.
However, Holden starred in more than his share of forgettable movies (which he was forced into by studio contracts). He suffered from alcoholism and 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 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, received an eight-month suspended prison sentence. Holden was overcome with guilt and friends said this led to even heavier bouts of drinking. The actor reportedly had another secret: For many years he did undercover work for the CIA, delivering messages to foreign leaders during his travels.
Later career
In 1969 he starred in director Sam Peckinpah's graphically violent Western The Wild Bunch, winning much acclaim. He was also praised for his leading performance in Network (1976), playing an older version of the character type he had perfected in the 1950s, only 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 how to survive. Schroder later named one of his sons Holden.
Private life
Holden was married to actress Brenda Marshall from 1941 until their divorce (after many long separations) in 1971. They had two sons, Peter Westfield (born in 1944) and Scott Porter (born in 1946). He also adopted Virginia, his wife's daughter from her 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 long relationship with actress Stefanie Powers which sparked her interest in animal welfare (Powers later became President of the "William Holden Wildlife Foundation" and a director of their Mount Kenya Game Ranch).
Other possible children
In addition to reported affairs with a number of Hollywood actresses (including Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Capucine, and a "yearly rendezvous" with Shelley Winters), Holden is said to have had a seven-year relationship with Eva May Hoffman, the wife of composer Emil Newman (Randy Newman's uncle). Hoffman had two children, Arlene Newman (who later married Dennis Crosby), and William Robert Newman. Arlene was apparently told by her uncle Irving Newman (the father of Randy Newman) that Holden was her father. Some have further speculated that her brother William, who is said to resemble the actor, was named after him and is also his child.
Death
William Holden died as the result of a fall in his highrise apartment on the seaside cliffs of Santa Monica, California in November 1981. Holden was alone and heavily intoxicated when he apparently slipped on a throw rug, gashed his head on a night table and bled to death. Evidence suggests he was conscious for at least a half an hour after the fall but may not have realized the severity of the injury and didn't summon aid. His body was found on November 16, but forensic and other evidence suggested he had been dead for several days and most likely died on November 12.
His body was cremated and his ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
Trivia
Holden's height was 5'11".
Good friends with Ronald Reagan.
Holden's acceptance speech for his Academy Award was among the shortest on record: "Thank you!"
According to Suzanne Vega, Holden is the actor mentioned in the lyrics of her song "Tom's Diner" (and has said a story about his death was on the New York Post's front page the day she wrote it):
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
His role in Stalag 17 earned him a Best Actor Academy Award. Holden felt he didn't deserve it, saying he thought Burt Lancaster should have won for From Here to Eternity.
He appeared in The Bridge Over the River Kwai with Sir Alec Guinness, another Best Actor winner.
Academy Awards and Nominations
Best Actor Nomination for Sunset Boulevard (1951)
Best Actor Award for Stalag 17 (1954)
Best Actor Nomination for Network (1977)
Filmography
Prison Farm (1938)
Million Dollar Legs (1939)
Golden Boy (1939)
Invisible Stripes (1939)
Our Town (1940)
Those Were the Days! (1940)
Arizona (1940)
I Wanted Wings (1941)
Texas (1941)
The Fleet's In (1942)
The Remarkable Andrew (1942)
Meet the Stewarts (1942)
Reconnaissance Pilot (1943) (short subject)
Young and Willing (1943)
Wings Up (1943) (short subject)
Blaze of Noon (1947)
Dear Ruth (1947)
Variety Girl (1947)
The Man from Colorado (1948)
Rachel and the Stranger (1948)
Apartment for Peggy (1948)
The Dark Past (1948)
Streets of Laredo (1949)
Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949)
Dear Wife (1949)
Father Is a Bachelor (1950)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Union Station (1950)
Born Yesterday (1950)
You Can Change the World (1951) (short subject)
Force of Arms (1951)
Submarine Command (1951)
Boots Malone (1952)
The Turning Point (1952)
Stalag 17 (1953)
The Moon Is Blue (1953) (also appeared, uncredited, in the German version)
Forever Female (1953)
Escape from Fort Bravo (1953)
Executive Suite (1954)
Sabrina (1954)
Musashi Miyamoto (1954) (narrator in original US version)
The Country Girl (1954)
The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1955)
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
Picnic (1955)
The Proud and Profane (1956)
Toward the Unknown (1956)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
The Key (1958)
The Horse Soldiers (1959)
The World of Suzie Wong (1960)
Et Par ord om Danmark (1960) (documentary) (narrator in English version)
Satan Never Sleeps (1962)
The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)
Lykke og krone (1962) (documentary)
The Lion (1962)
Paris, When It Sizzles (1964)
The 7th Dawn (1964)
Alvarez Kelly (1966)
Casino Royale (1967)
The Devil's Brigade (1968)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
The Christmas Tree (1969)
The Moviemakers (1971) (short subject)
Wild Rovers (1971)
The Revengers (1972)
Breezy (1973)
Open Season (1974)
The Towering Inferno (1974)
Network (1976)
Fedora (1978)
Damien: Omen II (1978)
Escape to Athena (1979) (uncredited as cigar smoking prisoner)
Ashanti (1979)
When Time Ran Out... (1980)
The Earthling (1980)
S.O.B. (1981)
