Medford mail tribune., June 05, 1960, Image 44

Even Hollywood knows .
little about this
million-dollar mystery man
is he a heavy drinker
who's unhappily married
or a solid family man?
A "Golden Boy"
or a tarnished idol? For the
first time, here are the
no-punches-pulled answers
Bill Holden leaped to glory in his first
role, "Golden Boy" (left). But afterward
there were nothing but "nice-boy" parts. A
second big chance came in 1953 when he
costarred with Gloria Swanson in "Sunset
Boulevard" (center). After that, Holden
had his pick of choice and varied roles,
such as in "The Horse Soldiers" (right).
When we mel for tea the following afternoon,
he referred to the previous evening. "You prob
ably saw how hard I worked to relax last night,"
he observed. "It's like that everywhere I go. Comes
from living out of suitcases. How happy I'd be to
wake up in my own bed in Switzerland tomorrow!
Some day . . ."
At one time drinking also seemed to be a means
of drowning disgust with his career. After a spec
tacular role in "Golden Boy" in 1938, he won only
mediocre parts until 1953 when "Sunset Boule
vard" saved him from oblivion.
Being a "nice guy," Bill was never able to "blow
olT steam." Instead, he took his frustrations out on
himself, and the prolonged era of run-of-the-mill
films' wns especially hard because he had made
such a promising start.
Early Career in Slow-motion
Bill was in the sixth grade when he first became
interested in acting, after playing Rip Van Winkle
in a school play. There seemed little opportunity
for the stage or screen, though. His father took for
granted that Bill and his two brothers would fol
low him into the chemical fertilizer business a
fate that Bill didn't relish in spite of a great re
spect for his dad.
He probably would have joined his father if
fate hadn't intervened when he was 20 and a second-year
student at South Pasadena Junior Col
lege. A producer who had heard Bill sing in a
church choir and liked his voice offered him the
part of an 80-year-old man in a Pasadena Play
house play. Bill accepted and did so well that
talent scout Milt Lewis arranged a screen test for
him at Paramount.
No one at the studio got wildly enthusiastic
about the results, but Bill was signed to a $50-a-weck
contract, had his name changed from Beetlle
to Holden, and was sent to Columbia to test for the
lead in "Golden Boy."
At this point, Holden gives two people credit
for his big break the late Columbia studio boss,
Harry Cohn, and the star of the film, actress Bar
bara Stanwyck.
When he was ushered into Mr. Cohn's office for
his "Golden Boy" interview, Cohn asked him
if he played the violin, as called for in the role.
"No, sir," said Holden.
Cohn asked, "Can you box?" After all, Golden
Boy was a fighter, too.
Bill shook his head.
"Can you act?"
"I don't think so," Bill replied.
"Then why did you come here?" Cohn exploded.
"Because you sent for me," Bill said.
"In that case," Cohn sighed,' "we better make a
test to find out why I did that."
That's how Bill got his chance.
With seemingly no qualifications to play Golden
Boy, Bill became extremely nervous during his
first days on the set. To conceal his fear, he gave
director Rouben Mamoulian amateurish advice on
how the film should be done. That would have
gotten him fired if it hadn't been for Barbara Stan
wyck's interference on his behalf. Moreover, to
help him, she began giving him private rehearsals
for the next day's scenes.
"She pulled me through," Bill says.
The film made him a star overnight and led
nowhere.
Bill was only 21 and. at that time, there were
few parts for fellows his age. Also, he was modest
and unspectacular. He never did anything to make
headlines, and he was quickly forgotten in what
he refers to as a "long series of nothing roles."
Four years in the Army interrupted his career.
When he returned, the studio gateman no longer
recognized him and wouldn't even let him in.
Executives weren't much more impressed. It
took them seven months before they put Bill into
his first film more "Smiling Jim" parts, as he calls
his "nothing" roles.
"Sunrise" on "Sunset Boulevard"
By 1953, 15 years after becoming an "overnight
hit," Bill was still just another second lead on
Paramount's long roster of stars. And it wasn't his
ability that finally gave Bill a fresh start but Mont
gomery Clift's unwillingness to play a part espe
cially wi'itten for him in "Sunset Boulevard." With
no other suitable actor available, Ilulden got his
chance to play Joe Gillis, the opportunistic, penni
less young writer.
As director Billy Wilder puts it, "If Clift hadn't
turned clown the role. Holden wouldn't have got
ten to work with me. If he hadn't gotten to work
with me, he wouldn't have been cast as a scroung
ing chiseler in my film, 'Stalag 17.' No Holden in
(Combined)
Fuiiuli IVcrkli, June 5 I9WI
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