One of the greatest actors ever to live. Not held in the same regard as many actors of his day, but to me he is the best. Much loved and missed his death was tragic.
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William Holden is my all-time favourite actor. Some only see him as, yes, a good-looking man who could act, but I think his acting is very much underrated. He was natural in whatever he did; whether he was playing "an uncle" in Father is a Bachelor, a playboy in Sabrina, a cynical POW in Stalag 17 or a man nearing the end of his life in Network, William Holden was always the character and not the actor. He was believable, he was palpable, he was real. William Holden was no Cary Grant, but to me he was the perfect leading man. I love when he played romantic leads, because he just knew how to bring out sensitivity that would make you melt through his eyes alone...and okay, maybe that smile. But I love him most when he played dark characters like Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard, and especially Sefton in Stalag 17. I think the fact that he looked like the boy-next-door, yet he played tough, conflicted characters, the contrast made him most appealing. He could play rugged roles like in The Bridge on the River Kwai, but just the same, he could play refined roles as he did in Born Yesterday and The Country Girl. He had charm, he was deep and he has all my respect and admiration. I love William Holden.
William Holden is one of my faverite stars ever. His combined strength and talent when merged with the awesome power of director Billy Wilder was awe inspiring. Nowadays, people of my age don't even remember Holden. Everyone always metion Bogart or Tracy or Cary Grant as the best of that generation and I fully support all of those actors, but for me none of them have the appeal of William Holden. There was always to much unsaid in his eyes with every role. You knew that there was something that he was holding back and keeping it in a distance because it was too powerful for the average bear. I don't care how he died or how he lived. He was a man's man back in the silver age of men's men and I worship him and will watch anything he was ever in.
