Home> Facts and Trivia > Stars > William Holden
William Holden Facts
| Sign | Aries |
| Born |
Apr 17, 1918 O'Fallon, IL |
| Died |
Nov 16, 1981 Santa Monica, CA |
| Age | Died at 63 |
| Total Facts | 49 |
Brian Donlevy was his best man when Holden married Brenda Marshall in 1941. A Congregationalist Church service was planned in Las Vegas. Since William and Brian were still filming The Remarkable Andrew (1942), there were delays and it was 3am before they arrived for the ceremony. By that time the minister had long gone to bed. It was 4pm Sunday before another preacher could be found to perform the wedding. After they were married, they had a champagne breakfast and hopped a plane back to Los Angeles so he and Brian could wrap up shooting, and Brenda was off to Canada to film some location footage that she was still working on. It would be three more months before they would have a real honeymoon (one mishap after another postponed it ... including the TWO of them having to undergo emergency appendectomies)!
Toward the Unknown (1956) was the only movie made by his production company, "Toluca Productions".
A hygiene fanatic, he reportedly showered up to four times daily.
A Japanophile, someone preoccupied with Japanese culture, he befriended actor Toshirô Mifune on a visit to Japan in 1954. After seeing the film Mifune was working on at that time, Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1954/I), Holden offered to distribute the film in America. The producers agreed to let Holden record a narration to explain the film when it was released in America. This addition led American critics to wrongly think that Holden had recut the film for American distribution.
Adopted his stepdaughter, Virginia Holden (Virginia Gaines), from Ardis Ankerson's (Brenda Marshall's) first marriage. He and Marshall had two sons together, Peter Westfield "West" Holden, born November 17, 1943, and Scott Holden (Scott Porter Holden, born May 2, 1946.
Although it is thought by some that J.D. Salinger got the name for his hero Holden Caulfield in "The Catcher in the Rye" when he saw a marquee for Dear Ruth (1947), starring William Holden and Joan Caulfield, Salinger's first Holden Caulfield story, "I'm Crazy," appeared in Collier's on December 22, 1945, a year and a half before this movie came out.
Although married to Brenda Marshall for over 30 years, they were actually separated for most of their marriage. At the time of his death, he was the companion of Stefanie Powers.
Ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 391-397. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.
Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#57). [1995]
Considered himself to be a moderate Republican, although he was never involved in any political campaigns and never endorsed a candidate. In 1947 he joined the Committee for the First Amendment to oppose blacklisting in Hollywood, and was later very upset by the blacklisting of his close friends Dalton Trumbo and Larry Parks.
Died one day before his eldest son Peter's 38th birthday.
Family: Mother: Mary Beedle (nee Ball). Father: William Franklin Beedle, born 1892. Brother: Robert Westfield Beedle, born 1921; died January 1, 1944. Brother: Richard P. Beedle, born 1925.
Father of Scott Holden, Arlene Holden and Peter Holden.
Felt he didn't deserve the Academy Award for Best Actor for Stalag 17 (1953), and that the award should have gone to Burt Lancaster for From Here to Eternity (1953). His wife also felt that the honor was just a belated apology for snubbing his nomination for Sunset Blvd. (1950).
For The Horse Soldiers (1959) both Holden and John Wayne received $775,000, plus twenty per cent of the overall profits, an unheard-of sum for that time. The final contract, heralded as marking the beginning of mega-deals for Hollywood stars, involved six companies and numbered twice the pages of the movie's script. The film, however, was a critical and commercial failure, with no profits to be shared in the end.
He appeared among the top ten box office stars six times, as ranked by Quigley Publications' annual poll of movie exhibitors, The Top Ten Money-Making Stars, the definitive list of movie stars' pull at the box office. He actually topped the list in 1956, two years after entering it at #7 in 1954, the year he won the Best Actor Oscar with his performance in Stalag 17 (1953). In 1955, he was ranked #4, then hit #1 for the first and only time in 1956, and then dropped to #7 in 1957 before rebounding slightly to #6 in 1958. After five straight years in the Top 10, he dropped off the list in 1959 and 1960, but reappeared in the Top Ten in 1961, ranked in eighth place. His 1961 appearance among the Top Ten Box Office stars was his last.
He enjoyed firework displays.
He had a daughter, Arlene, in 1937 with actress Eva May Hoffman. Arlene was raised by her mother and her stepfather, composer Emil Newman.
He suffered a laceration to his forehead and bled to death, after he slipped on a throw rug and hit his head on a table. Claims that he was intoxicated at the time are disputed.
He was of entirely English heritage.
He was so grateful to Barbara Stanwyck for her insistence on casting him in Golden Boy (1939), his first big role, that he reportedly sent her flowers every year on the anniversary of the first day of the filming.
He was very instrumental in animal preservation in Africa. In the 1970s he purchased a large acreage of land with his own money and began an animal sanctuary. His love of the wild animal was shared with his then companion Stefanie Powers (from "Hart to Hart" (1979)). He would appear on talk shows to promote the saving of animals and to spread the word of anti-poaching and illegal animal trade.
He was voted the 63rd Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
Held a press conference in late 1980 to deny newspaper reports that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer.
His younger brother, Robert Beedle, was actually a Navy fighter pilot who was killed in action in World War II, and after The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954) was released, he was remembered by his squadron-mates as having been very much like Holden's character of Lt. Harry Brubaker in that movie.
Holden said that, at some point, he lost his passion for acting and that it eventually just became a job so that he could support himself.
Holden was cast as Pike Bishop in The Wild Bunch (1969) after the role had been turned down by Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, James Stewart, Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck, Sterling Hayden, Richard Boone and Robert Mitchum. Marvin actually accepted the role but pulled out after he was offered a larger pay deal to star in Paint Your Wagon (1969).
Immortalized in [Canadian band], Blue Rodeo's song "Floating" with the lyric: "I need love and it's you, And I feel like William Holden floating in a pool" - Greg Keelor, the writer of the song, said this: "That sort of quiet desperation at the end of a relationship when nothing's really making sense and I sort of had the image of William Holden at the beginning of Sunset Blvd. (1950) in my head, and I'd always sort of related to that character floating in that pool. I was always hoping for the opportunity to play the gigolo for some wealthy woman. This is a song about identifying with that sort of compromised existence."
In the last years of his life he increasingly suffered from emphysema.
In the song "Tom's Diner" by Suzanne Vega, the lyrics "I open up the paper / there's a story of an actor / who died while he was drinking / he was no one I had heard of" refer to Holden, whose death was indeed reported in the New York Post on November 18, 1981, when the song was written.
Is portrayed by Gabriel Macht in The Audrey Hepburn Story (2000) (TV)
Made two films with Audrey Hepburn: Sabrina (1954) and Paris When It Sizzles (1964).
Moved to Switzerland for tax reasons in 1959, and did not return to live in Hollywood until 1967.
Not to be confused with the character actor William Holden.
Starred alongside Grace Kelly in The Country Girl (1954) and Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina (1954). Both actresses were nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for their performances in these films. Kelly won.
Starred alongside Gloria Swanson in Sunset Blvd. (1950) and Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday (1950). Both actresses were nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for their performances in these films. Holliday won.
Turned down Marlon Brando's role in Sayonara (1957) in order to make The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957).
Turned down Henry Fonda's role in Mister Roberts (1955).
Turned down The Guns of Navarone (1961) because producer Carl Foreman wouldn't meet his fee of $750,000 + 20% of the gross.
Was an avid art collector. His private collection at his exclusive hilltop home in Palm Springs featured antique Asian art. Upon his death, the priceless collection was donated to the Palm Springs Museum of Art, where it is proudly displayed today.
Was considered for the role of "Maurice Novak" in Career (1959).
Was friends with photographer Peter Beard.
Was involved in a serious road accident in Italy in July 1966.
Was named #25 Actor on the 50 Greatest Screen Legends by the AFI
Was originally cast for the lead in The Rainmaker (1956), role eventually played by Burt Lancaster.
Was the best man at Ronald Reagan's and Nancy Davis' wedding in 1952.
Was the Top Box Office Star of 1956, as ranked by Quigley Publications' annual poll of movie exhibitors, The Top Ten Money-Making Stars, the definitive list of movie stars' pull at the box office.
Won Best Actor for his role in Stalag 17 (1953). When accepting his statue at the Acadamy Awards, simply stated, "Thank you" and walked off.