Actors - William Holden

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	Actors - William Holden

William Holden (April 17, 1918 – on or about November 12, 1981) was an Oscar winning American film actor.

Early life and career

Born William Franklin Beedle Jr. in O'Fallon, Illinois, 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"

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, and 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).

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Actors - William Holden

Early life and career

Hollywood's "Golden Boy"

Later career

Private life

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