OVERLAY REPORT

The lead actor in **Sunset Boulevard (1950)** is **William Holden**, who played the struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis. His performance earned him his first Academy Award nomination and transformed him into one of Hollywood’s most bankable and respected stars of the 1950s. Below is a comprehensive look at William Holden's filmography, categorized by the phases of his career to help you pinpoint where else you may have seen him. ### 1. Breakthrough and Early Career (1939–1949) Before *Sunset Boulevard*, Holden was often cast as the "clean-cut" leading man. He was famously known as "The Golden Boy" after his breakout role. * **Golden Boy (1939):** His first major role as Joe Bonaparte, a violinist who becomes a prizefighter. * **Our Town (1940):** Played George Gibbs in this classic adaptation of Thornton Wilder's play. * **Arizona (1940):** A Western starring alongside Jean Arthur. * **I Wanted Wings (1941):** A popular war film where he played an aspiring pilot. * **Texas (1941):** A Western co-starring Glenn Ford. * **The Fleet’s In (1942):** A musical comedy with Dorothy Lamour. * **Dear Ruth (1947) & Dear Wife (1949):** Popular romantic comedies about a soldier returning from war. * **Rachel and the Stranger (1948):** A frontier drama with Robert Mitchum and Loretta Young. * **Apartment for Peggy (1948):** Played a GI student living in a trailer. * **Streets of Laredo (1949):** A Western where he played a reformed outlaw turned Texas Ranger. ### 2. The Golden Era & superstardom (1950–1959) This decade was Holden's peak, during which he became a top box-office draw and won an Oscar. * **Born Yesterday (1950):** Released the same year as *Sunset Boulevard*, he played a journalist hired to educate a tycoon’s girlfriend (Judy Holliday). * **Stalag 17 (1953):** **Won the Academy Award for Best Actor.** He played Sefton, a cynical, opportunistic POW in a German camp. * **The Moon Is Blue (1953):** A controversial (at the time) romantic comedy that helped break the Hollywood Production Code. * **Executive Suite (1954):** Part of an all-star cast in a drama about corporate power struggles. * **Sabrina (1954):** Played the playboy brother David Larrabee, vying for Audrey Hepburn’s affection against Humphrey Bogart. * **The Country Girl (1954):** Played a theater director trying to help an alcoholic actor (Bing Crosby) and his wife (Grace Kelly). * **The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954):** A gritty Korean War drama where he played a carrier pilot. * **Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955):** A romantic drama set in Hong Kong; he played an American reporter. * **Picnic (1955):** Played Hal Carter, a drifter who arrives in a small town and stirs up passions; a massive box-office hit. * **The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957):** One of his most iconic roles as Commander Shears, a Navy officer forced to help blow up the bridge. * **The Horse Soldiers (1959):** A Civil War Western co-starring John Wayne. ### 3. Mature Roles & Later Career (1960–1981) As he aged, Holden moved into more grizzled, cynical, and complex roles. * **The World of Suzie Wong (1960):** Played an artist who falls for a prostitute in Hong Kong. * **The Counterfeit Traitor (1962):** A spy thriller set in WWII. * **Paris When It Sizzles (1964):** Reunited with Audrey Hepburn in a meta-comedy about screenwriting. * **Alvarez Kelly (1966):** A Western set during the American Civil War. * **Casino Royale (1967):** Appeared as Ransome in this James Bond spoof. * **The Devil’s Brigade (1968):** A war film about a specialized WWII commando unit. * **The Wild Bunch (1969):** A landmark "revisionist" Western directed by Sam Peckinpah. Holden played Pike Bishop, the leader of an aging gang of outlaws. * **Wild Rovers (1971):** A Western directed by Blake Edwards. * **Breezy (1973):** Directed by Clint Eastwood; Holden played a middle-aged man who falls for a teenage hippie. * **The Towering Inferno (1974):** Played Jim Duncan, the builder of the burning skyscraper, in this massive disaster epic. * **Network (1976):** Received his third **Oscar nomination** for playing Max Schumacher, a veteran news executive witnessing the decline of his industry. * **Fedora (1978):** Reunited with director Billy Wilder for this mystery about a reclusive film star. * **Damien: Omen II (1978):** Played the uncle/guardian of the young Antichrist. * **The Earthling (1980):** Played a man returning to the Australian outback to die, who mentors an orphaned boy. * **S.O.B. (1981):** His final film, a satire of the film industry directed by Blake Edwards. **Other notable credits:** Holden also appeared in various cameos and smaller films like *Variety Girl* (1947), *The Remarkable Andrew* (1942), *The Man from Colorado* (1948), *Submarine Command* (1951), and *Escape from Fort Bravo* (1953). He also won an **Emmy** for the TV movie *The Blue Knight* (1973).