Actor William Holden. Marine???

[kansascdr]

My mom and dad just got the new calender sent out by the WWII memorial fund. Each page shows photos of WWII vets. One page shows William Beedle known to movie fans as William Holden. He appears to be wearing a cover with a USMC emblem. I know he played a Marine in a movie but was he in the Marines in WWII?

[Phantom Blooper]

He came from a wealthy family which moved to Pasadena CA when he was three. His father was an industrial chemist and his mother 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, Golden Boy (1939). From then on he was type-cast 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) the tutor in Born Yesterday (1950) followed by his Oscar-winning role as the cynical sergeant in Stalag 17 (1953) and stayed popular through the '50s, e.g., 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.

Academy Awards
1 Oscar 1954
Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Stalag 17 (1953)

Birth Date : 17/4/1918


:marine:

[thedrifter]

WILLIAM HOLDEN
Biography:

Born William Franklin Beedle, Jr. on April 17, 1918, William Holden made his film debut it 1938's Prison Farm. He had his first major role in Golden Boy (1939), where he played a boxer-violinist opposite screen legend Barbara Stanwyck, who would prove to be a major influence on him for the rest of his life. He was a contract player for Paramount Pictures, and appeared in numerous productions in the boy-next-door types of roles.

He joined the Air Force and served during World War II. After the war, he began to attract the attention of moviegoers by taking on considerably more challenging roles. In 1950, he appeared in two critically-acclaimed features which were both nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards: Born Yesterday, opposite Judy Holliday (who won that year's Academy Award for Best Actress); and Sunset Boulevard, as Joe Gillis, the young writer who romances Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). For the latter role, he received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

He reteamed with Billy Wilder, his Sunset Boulevard director for 1953's Stalag 17, where he played a sergeant suspected of being a Nazi spy. It was for this role that he won his only Academy Award.

From 1954-1958, he was a leading box-office star and was considered the top draw for 1956. Among the films he starred in during this time were 1954's Sabrina (opposite Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn), 1955's Picnic (with Kim Novak) and Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1956), opposite Jennifer Jones. This last film is particularly memorable because by this time, Holden had quite a reputation of getting involved with his leading ladies, and Jones, as Hollywood legend would have it, couldn't stand him. She even went as far as throwing a bouquet of flowers given by Holden back in his face. Although they were hostile off-screen, their on-screen chemistry was magical, and the film has endured as a classical weepy melodrama.


Can read more bio......
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6980/holden.htm


Sempers,

Roger
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