William Holden (April 17, 1918 - ca. November 12, 1981) was an Academy Award-winning American film actor. He was named one of the "Top 10 stars of the year" six times (1954-1958, 1961) and appeared on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars list as #25.
William Holden came from a wealthy family (the Beedles) that moved to Pasadena, California, when he was three. His father William Franklin Beedle was an industrial chemist and his mother Mary Blanche Ball a teacher. In 1937, while studying chemistry at Pasadena Junior College, he was signed to a film contract by Paramount. His first starring role was as a young man torn between the violin and boxing in Golden Boy (1939). From then on he was typecast as the boy-next-door. After returning from World War II military service, he got two very important roles: Joe Gillis, the gigolo, in Sunset Blvd. (1950), and the tutor in Born Yesterday (1950). These were followed by his Oscar-winning role as the cynical sergeant in Stalag 17 (1953). He stayed popular through the 1950s, appearing in such films as Picnic (1955). He spent much of his later time as co-owner of the Mount Kenya Safari Club, dividing his time between Africa and Switzerland.
