Paramount Holden appeared uncredited in
Prison Farm (1939) and
Million Dollar Legs (1939) at Paramount. A version of how he obtained his stage name "Holden" was given by George Ross of
Billboard in 1939: "William Holden, the lad just signed for the coveted lead in
Golden Boy, used to be Bill Beedle. And here is how he obtained his new movie tag. On the
Columbia lot is an assistant director and scout named
Harold Winston. Not long ago, he was divorced from the actress,
Gloria Holden, but carried the torch after the marital rift. Winston was one of those who discovered the
Golden Boy newcomer and who renamed him—in honor of his former spouse!"
Golden Boy (right) in
Invisible Stripes (1939) Holden's first starring role was in
Golden Boy (1939), costarring
Barbara Stanwyck, in which he played a violinist-turned-
boxer. Next he starred with
George Raft and
Humphrey Bogart in the
Warner Bros. gangster epic
Invisible Stripes (1939), billed below Raft and above Bogart. Back at Paramount, he starred with
Bonita Granville in
Those Were the Days! (1940) followed by the role of George Gibbs in the film adaptation of
Our Town (1940), done for
Sol Lesser at United Artists. Columbia put Holden in a Western with
Jean Arthur,
Arizona (1940), then at Paramount he was in a hugely popular war film,
I Wanted Wings (1941) with
Ray Milland and
Veronica Lake. He did another Western at Columbia,
Texas (1941) with
Glenn Ford, and a musical comedy at Paramount, ''
The Fleet's In'' (1942) with
Eddie Bracken,
Dorothy Lamour, and
Betty Hutton. He stayed at Paramount for
The Remarkable Andrew (1942) with
Brian Donlevy, then made
Meet the Stewarts (1943) at Columbia. Paramount reunited Bracken and him in
Young and Willing (1943).
World War II Holden served as a second lieutenant and then a first lieutenant in the
United States Army Air Force during
World War II. He acted in
training films, including
Reconnaissance Pilot (1943), for the
First Motion Picture Unit.
Post war Holden's first film back from the services was
Blaze of Noon (1947), an aviator picture at Paramount directed by
John Farrow. He followed it with a romantic comedy,
Dear Ruth (1947) and he was one of many cameos in
Variety Girl (1947). RKO borrowed him for
Rachel and the Stranger (1948) with
Robert Mitchum and
Loretta Young. Holden starred in the
20th Century Fox film
Apartment for Peggy (1948). At Columbia, he starred in film noirs,
The Dark Past (1948),
The Man from Colorado (1949) and
Father Is a Bachelor (1950). At Paramount, he did another Western,
Streets of Laredo (1949). Columbia teamed him with
Lucille Ball for
Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949), and the sequel to
Dear Ruth,
Dear Wife (1949).
Sunset Boulevard in
Sunset Boulevard (1950) Holden's career took off again in 1950 when
Billy Wilder tapped him to play a down-at-heel screenwriter taken in by a faded silent film actress (
Gloria Swanson) in
Sunset Boulevard. Holden earned his first Best Actor Oscar nomination for the role. Getting the role was a lucky break for Holden, as
Montgomery Clift was initially cast but backed out of his contract. Swanson later said, "Bill Holden was a man I could have fallen in love with. He was perfection on and off screen." Paramount reunited him with
Nancy Olson, one of his
Sunset Boulevard costars, in
Union Station (1950). Holden had another good break when he was cast as
Judy Holliday's love interest in the big-screen adaptation of the Broadway hit
Born Yesterday (1950). He made two more films with Olson:
Force of Arms (1951) at Warner Bros. and
Submarine Command (1951) at Paramount. Holden did a sports film at Columbia,
Boots Malone (1952), then returned to Paramount for
The Turning Point (1952).
Stalag 17 and peak of stardom Holden was reunited with Wilder in
Stalag 17 (1953), for which Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor. His acceptance speech at the
26th Academy Awards was one of the shortest in Oscar history: "Thank you ... thank you." His success in
Stalag 17 ushered in the peak years of Holden's stardom.
Sabrina in
Sabrina (1954) Holden made a third film with Wilder,
Sabrina (1954), billed beneath
Audrey Hepburn and
Humphrey Bogart. Holden and Hepburn became romantically involved during the filming, unbeknownst to Wilder: "People on the set told me later that Bill and Audrey were having an affair, and everybody knew. Well, not everybody! I didn't know." Holden recalls their romance: Their relationship did not last much beyond the completion of the film. Holden, who was at this point dependent on alcohol, said, "I really was in love with Audrey, but she wouldn't marry me." Rumors at the time had it that Hepburn wanted a family, but when Holden told her that he had had a vasectomy and having children was impossible, she moved on. (A few months later, Hepburn met
Mel Ferrer, whom she later married and with whom she had a son
Sean Hepburn Ferrer.) He took third billing for
The Country Girl (1954) with
Bing Crosby and
Grace Kelly, directed by George Seaton from a play by
Clifford Odets. It was a big hit, as was
The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), a
Korean War drama with Kelly. In 1954, Holden was featured on the cover of
Life. On February 7, 1955, Holden appeared as a guest star on
I Love Lucy as himself. The golden run at the box office continued with
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), from a bestselling novel, with
Jennifer Jones, and
Picnic (1955), as a drifter, in an adaptation of the
William Inge play with
Kim Novak.
Picnic was his last film under the contract with Columbia. A second film with Seaton did not do as well,
The Proud and Profane (1956), where Holden played the role with a moustache. Neither did
Toward the Unknown (1957), the one film Holden produced himself.
The Bridge on the River Kwai during shooting Holden had his most widely recognized role as "Commander" Shears in
David Lean's
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) with
Alec Guinness, a huge commercial success. His deal was considered one of the best ever for an actor at the time, with him receiving 10% of the gross, which earned him over $2.5 million. He stipulated that he only receive a maximum of $50,000 of this per year ($ in dollars ). at the 1954
Academy Awards show He made another war film for a British director,
The Key (1958) with
Trevor Howard and
Sophia Loren for director
Carol Reed. He played an American Civil War military surgeon in
John Ford's
The Horse Soldiers (1959) opposite
John Wayne, which was a box-office disappointment. Columbia would not meet Holden's asking price of $750,000 and 10% of the gross for
The Guns of Navarone (1961); the amount he wanted exceeded the combined salaries of stars
Gregory Peck,
David Niven, and
Anthony Quinn. Holden had another hit with
The World of Suzie Wong (1960) with
Nancy Kwan, which was shot in Hong Kong. Less popular was
Satan Never Sleeps (1961), the last film of
Clifton Webb and
Leo McCarey;
The Counterfeit Traitor (1962), his third film with Seaton; or
The Lion (1962), with
Trevor Howard and
Capucine. The latter was shot in Africa and sparked Holden's fascination with the continent that was to last for the rest of his life. Holden's films continued to struggle at the box office:
Paris When It Sizzles (1964) with Hepburn was shot in 1962 but given a much delayed release;
The 7th Dawn (1964) with Capucine and
Susannah York, a romantic adventure set during the
Malayan Emergency produced by
Charles K. Feldman;
Alvarez Kelly (1966), a Western; and ''
The Devil's Brigade'' (1968). He was also one of many stars in Feldman's
Casino Royale (1967).
The Wild Bunch '' (1972) In 1969, Holden made a comeback when he starred in director
Sam Peckinpah's graphically violent Western
The Wild Bunch, Holden made a Western with
Ryan O'Neal and
Blake Edwards,
Wild Rovers (1971). It was not particularly successful. Neither was
The Revengers (1972), another Western. For television roles in 1974, Holden won a
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his portrayal of a cynical, tough veteran
LAPD street cop in the television film
The Blue Knight, based upon the bestselling
Joseph Wambaugh novel of the same name. Also in 1974, Holden starred with
Paul Newman and
Steve McQueen in the critically acclaimed disaster film
The Towering Inferno, which became a box-office smash and one of the highest-grossing films of Holden's career. Two years later, he was praised for his Oscar-nominated leading performance in
Sidney Lumet's classic
Network (1976), an examination of the media written by
Paddy Chayefsky, playing an older version of the character type for which he had become iconic in the 1950s, only now more jaded and aware of his own mortality. Around this time he also appeared in
21 Hours at Munich (1976).
Final roles Holden made a fourth and final film for Wilder with
Fedora (1978). He followed it with
Damien – Omen II (1978) and had a cameo in
Escape to Athena (1978), which co-starred his real-life love interest
Stefanie Powers. Holden had a supporting role in
Ashanti (1979) and was third-billed in another disaster film,
When Time Ran Out... (1980), which was a flop. Holden starred in
The Earthling, as a loner dying of cancer in the Australian
outback and accompanying an orphan boy (
Ricky Schroder). After his final film
Blake Edwards' S.O.B., with
Julie Andrews, Holden declined to star in
Jason Miller's film
That Championship Season. ==Personal life==