William Holden
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 ...