Cinematic Crush: William Holden

Often underrated but never overlooked, William Holden was a Golden Boy long before he got his big break opposite Barbara Stanwyck in that film. He could have easily coasted through life on his boy-next-door looks and rakish charm, but he proved time and time again that he had talent behind that cleft chin and those dreamboat eyes.

Holden became a leading man when Montgomery Clift turned down Sunset Boulevard, and never looked back: he was a natural. As Joe Gillis, the opportunistic yet tortured screenwriter-turned-kept man, Holden earned his first Academy Award nomination. He would win the Oscar three years later as a cynical P.O.W. in Stalag 17.

As adept at comedy (Born Yesterday, The Moon is Blue) and romance (Sabrina, Love is a Many-Splendored Thing) as drama (The Country Girl, The Bridge on the River Kwai), Holden never took himself too seriously. All you have to do is watch his legendary guest spot on I Love Lucy to see that. He never shied away from the hunk factor either, often appearing shirtless in the posters advertising his movies (Picnic being the famous example).

In later years, Holden alternated between acclaimed pictures (The Wild Bunch, Network -- his third and final Oscar nomination) and far lesser fare (The Towering Inferno, Damien: Omen II) while his handsomeness grew more rugged and his personal life more tempestuous. But he will always be a "golden boy" in our hearts.

Links via Imdb.com and IMPAwards.com.