William Holden

Billy Wilder once called William Holden "the ideal motion picture actor." For nearly four decades, the handsome and affable "Golden Holden" remained one of Hollywood's most enduring and engaging stars. He was born William Franklin Beedle Jr., one of three sons, to Mary Blanche (Ball), a high school English teacher, and William Franklin Beedle, a chemical and fertilizer analyst and head of the George W. Gooch Laboratories in Pasadena. His father, an enthusiast of physical fitness, taught young Bill tumbling and boxing. During his time at South Pasadena High, he became skilled in team sports such as football and baseball, and also learned to ride, shoot, and play piano, clarinet, and drums. Though his father hoped he would follow in his footsteps, Bill instead majored in chemistry at Pasadena Junior College. A trip to New York and Broadway solidified his decision to pursue acting. By then, he had already performed in school plays and contributed his voice to several radio plays in Los Angeles. He was discovered by a Paramount talent scout while playing the role of octogenarian Eugene Curie at the Pasadena Workshop Theatre. In early 1938, he was offered a six-month studio contract with a weekly salary of $50. Naturally, the name Beedle was changed. Several alternatives were considered—including Randolph Carey and Taylor Randolph—until Paramount's publicity head chose Holden, inspired by a personal friend who was an associate editor at the *L.A. Times*. Joining Paramount's Golden Circle Club of promising young actors, Bill was groomed for stardom. A loan-out to Columbia led to his breakthrough role. He was the sixty-sixth actor to audition for the part of an Italian violinist who becomes a boxer in *Golden Boy* (1939). His earlier pugilist training was somewhat helpful, but Barbara Stanwyck, his co-star, played a key role in helping him rehearse and overcome his nerves while working alongside Lee J. Cobb and Adolphe Menjou. The film was a minor hit, and Columbia acquired half of his contract. For the next few years, Bill continued playing wholesome, everyman types and rookie servicemen in films such as *Our Town* (1940), *I Wanted Wings* (1941) (which launched the career of "peek-a-boo" star Veronica Lake), and *The Fleet's In* (1942). His salary increased to $150 a week. In July 1941, he married 25-year-old actress Brenda Marshall, who earned five times his salary. In 1942, he enlisted in the Officers Candidate School in Florida, graduating as an Air Force second lieutenant. He spent the next three years on public relations duties and making training films for the Office of Public Information. One of his brothers, a naval pilot, was shot down and killed over the Pacific in 1943. After the war, he returned to Hollywood to continue playing similar characters in similar films. He later admitted he found little interest or enjoyment in portraying the same "nice-guy" roles in "meaningless movies." That changed when he was invited to play caddish, down-on-his-luck scriptwriter Joe Gillis in *Sunset Boulevard* (1950). The screenplay, by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder (from their story *A Can of Beans*), was narrated in flashback by Bill's character, opening with Gillis floating face-down in the swimming pool of a decaying mansion. With *Sunset Boulevard*, Holden transitioned from leading man to leading actor. No longer typecast, he was cast in more complex and morally ambiguous roles: a self-serving prisoner-of-war in *Stalag 17* (1953), for which he won an Academy Award; an unemployed drifter who disrupts a small Kansas town in *Picnic* (1955); a carefree gigolo in *Sabrina* (1954); and an ill-fated U.S. Navy pilot in *The Bridges at Toko-Ri* (1954), set during the Korean War. His charm and sharp dialogue also elevated potentially dull or melodramatic films such as *Forever Female* (1953) and *Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing* (1955). Already one of the highest-paid stars of the 1950s, Holden received 10% of the gross for *The Bridge on the River Kwai* (1957), making him an instant multi-millionaire. He invested much of his earnings in various ventures, including a radio station in Hong Kong. By the end of the decade, he had moved his family to Geneva, Switzerland, but spent increasing time traveling the world. In the 1960s, Holden co-founded the exclusive Mount Kenya Safari Club with oil billionaire Ray Ryan and Swiss financier Carl Hirschmann. His passion for wildlife conservation consumed more of his time than acting. His films began to decline in quality. Increasingly heavy drinking and aging also took their toll. By the time he appeared as the leader of an outlaw gang in *The Wild Bunch* (1969), his face was so lined that it was compared to "a map of the United States." He still delivered strong performances in *The Towering Inferno* (1974) and *Network* (1976), before his sudden death in 1981 from blood loss due to a fall at his apartment while intoxicated. In 1982, actress Stefanie Powers, with whom he had been in a relationship since 1972, helped establish the William Holden Wildlife Foundation and the William Holden