William Holden's Golden Year: 1950

One of my very favorite actors from back in the day. So handsome with an easy masculinity that always shone through on the big screen. Married to a very beautiful woman, but just couldn't keep that rampant, hefty cock in his pants. Boffed most of the really beautiful female stars that he worked with in his films. Very sad ending.

Brenda Marshall was indeed beautiful (she reminded me a bit of young Susan Lucci) but she was by most accounts a shrew. Not that being married to a rampant handsome leading man was always easy...

He must've lived a very hard life. He aged horribly from Sunset Boulevard to The Wild Bunch.

To me, he is the epitome of classic Hollywood leading man.

Such a handsome guy.

I love him in Sunset Boulevard. A perfect performance. He was an alcoholic, my dear.

The creases in his alcohol-soaked face turned into ravines in the coming decade.

He was wonderful in PICNIC.

Very handsome and sexy and refined in his beautiful youth, but a long time heavy drinker and smoker, it all caught up with him as he aged. Gorgeous man with a naturally hairy chest. Yum!

The alcoholic was narcoleptic during this painfully unfunny comedy.

He should have won the Oscar for Sunset Blvd. Ferrer’s Cyrano hasn’t aged well (and I live the play itself).

Most of the first and second generation leading men from Hollywood's "golden" era were heavy drinkers and smokers. Both habits got Bill. But he was a helluva an actor while he was around.

[quote] and I live the play itself.

I assume you love the play, Cyrano, R10.

He was already 32 in 1950. Here he is at 21 in 1939.

Handsome in his prime, he aged badly due to heavy drinking and chain smoking.

He would have been perfect in Born to Kill with Claire Trevor -- as gorgeous as Lawrence Tierney. They could have swapped roles in their prime; Tierney in Sunset Blvd and Holden in Born to Kill.

I'd have slept with William Holden as late as "Network".

I'd have slept with William Holden as late as "Sunset Boulevard" but I wouldn't expect conversation. He never looked as through he had a shred of intellect.

I knew him as a hard faced older actor. I was suprised it was him in Sunset Blvd even though I had seen it a few times. Shocking I know!

No one has mentioned he killed someone in Italy while driving drunk.

R19 Maybe because it didn't happen? If it did - receipts, please.

He sure as hell did. No jail time either. He surely paid his way out of that mess.

R21 Proof, please?

What a heartthrob he was! And a terrific actor as well.

R22. Google it, lazy whore.

R23 He wasn't an actor. He merely stood in front of a camera. He never appeared on stage and never attempted alternative characters.

R25 He stretched a bit for Stalag 17.

Actually, Bill Holden was discovered as a very young actor onstage. From a bio I read on Holden, he claimed not to be drunk, but both Holden and the other driver were driving at excessive speeds. From Golden Boy to Network, Bill did more than stand in front of a camera.

R16=Miss Dunaway

R27. Incorrect. Only Holden was driving fast and and drunk. He was cited for it. Friends said this incident bothered him and it drove him to drink even more. But all alcoholics drink more over time.

R14 You seem to be suggesting his 'prime' was in the 1940s. I agree with you.

Fake as anything.

His real name was Bill Beedle.

Surprisingly, they actually spent a couple hours a day in makeup "aging" him for Sunset Blvd, because he read too young next to Gloria Swanson. Death by throw rug + night table was very sad though.

Add me to the list of men who find Bill Holden very, very attractive and enjoyed a number of his performances. I saw him in The Towering Inferno, didn't know who he was or care, but I loved disaster movies. At some point there was a Bill Holden movie on TV and my mom mentioned that the actor was the same as the man in TI... I watched the movie (possibly Bridge Over the River Kwai) and couldn't take my eyes of of him. I was still young, did not know what "gay" meant, but know what I liked looking at.

Not a bad career, but as others have said, a mess in his personal life. Has Stefanie Powers ever spoken about her years with him? Very late in his life and much of their time was spent in Africa.

I think Stephanie Powers still helps maintain Holden's wildlife organization in Kenya. There are clips of Powers on YouTube discussing Bill.

I hope the DLer who lives next door to cray Stefanie weighs in here.

R13 - He looks like a 41 year old in that photo.

I just watched Fedora at the suggestion of some DL'er...I forget which thread. What a surprisingly good film. It was total camp, but camp done right.

Fedora's very watchable. Legend has it that Wilder originally wanted Faye Dunaway for young Fedora and Marlene Dietrich as aged Fedora!

Where did you stream Fedora? I'm not finding it.

Just a reminder as to why William Holden and 1950 work so well together 😛

Great actor or not? I loved him. What I did notice, is that when on camera anyone else in the frame seems to not even be there. Even in Sabrina with Audrey at her most adorable with that Givenchy wardrobe. Any time Bill is in the frame,. Audrey who? May just be that, "The camera loves him.", as a photographer friend of mine once said to explain that phenomena of someone who never photographs poorly.