Golden Boy

More old Hollywood gossip -- I've been busy reading biographies this week. Golden Boy: The Untold Story of William Holden is the only biography of William Holden and it is an incredibly crappy book. The author writes the biography as if he was there, transcribing the conversations from a variety of Hollywood stars. After I finished the first chapter, I wanted to return the book to the library, but I decided to carry on to get a quasi-real story about Holden.

And what a sordid story I got. Basically, he was an alcoholic. Holden had to drink before he was able to act in movies, and much is made of the couple belts he would take before a scene. The drinking eventually lead to his downfall -- and actually caused his death. Holden died from a laceration to his forehead which was caused by hitting his head during a bout of heavy drinking. He apparently remained conscious for half an hour or so after the injury but never realized he should phone for help and died.

The author coyly refers to his reputation as a lady's man, and the affairs he apparently had with his co-stars, but I didn't get many details on many of them. The most interesting is that he was going to leave his wife for Audrey Hepburn after starring in Sabrina. But she wanted to have kids, and he no longer could have them, thanks to surgery. (Snip-snip!)

I think I may be a little harsh on the bio -- but seriously, the writing style was awful. Leonard Maltin sums it up in his mini-bio by saying, "Bob Thomas' melancholy biography, "Golden Boy," revealed that the handsome, self-assured actor so admired by men and women alike onscreen was in fact a man fraught with insecurity who essentially drank himself to an early grave."

FILE UNDER: Biography ; Books on Film