Happy Birthday, William Holden!!!

Happy 95th birthday to one of my most beloved actors...my #1 guy---the sensational William Holden!!  (April 17, 1918 - November 12, 1981).  Five more years and I will throw him a centennial blogathon like I did for John Garfield last month.

As regular readers of this blog already know, the incredibly talented, fabulously good-looking Mr. Holden---who was born with the name William Franklin Beadle, Jr.---is one of my two #1 guys.  I completely adore this man!!   He has occupied #1 status for about four years now (though he shares that status with Robert Ryan).  I have Audrey Hepburn to thank for bringing him into my life, as my introduction to classic movies began with Roman Holiday.  As I sought out more of Miss Hepburn's works, naturally, I discovered Sabrina...which led to my discovery of the gorgeous Mr. Holden.  Completely taken with the incredible smile he flashed several times in that film, I simply had to see more of his works, and as I did, I fell more and more in love with him.

My five favorites of his films have changed only slightly since last year's birthday post (HERE). Still at #1 is Sunset Boulevard (with Gloria Swanson---reviewed HERE). Not only is this my favorite William Holden movie, but it is my second favorite film of the entire 1950's and among my top 5 movies of all-time.

Rounding out my five favorite William Holden films are:

2.  Stalag 17  (Mr. Holden's Academy Award-winning performance---reviewed HERE)

3.  Born Yesterday  (with Judy Holliday and Broderick Crawford---reviewed HERE)

4.  The Bridges at Toko-Ri  (with Grace Kelly and Fredric March---reviewed HERE)

5.  Picnic  (with Kim Novak---reviewed HERE)

Sabrina is pretty much neck and neck with Picnic, but in the end, thanks to that beautiful, sensual dance scene Mr. Holden shares with Kim Novak, Picnic grabbed the #5 slot---but only by the narrowest of margins.

It is my goal to see Mr. Holden's entire filmography, and I am well over halfway there.  (I've got about 13 films left to go.) Given that he was making films in the 70's and even into the 80's, and given that he also made many Westerns, I realize that if I want to complete his filmography, I am going to have to watch films I wouldn't ordinarily choose to watch.  Such is the life of a #1 fan!  My hope is to be able to track down and view all the remaining films by the time I observe Mr. Holden's centennial in five years.

So, here's to you, Mr. William Holden, on your 95th birthday.  You were a wonderful actor who always gave a terrific performance.  I completely adore you and will always consider you one of my #1 guys.  And, in the words of George Eliot, "Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them."  Since we have not forgotten you (nor will we ever!), you do, indeed, live on! Thanks for enriching my life with so many incredible films!!