William Franklin Holden was an American actor and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film Stalag 17 (1953) and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for the television miniseries The Blue Knight (1973).
Holden in a publicity photo, 1950
With Lee J. Cobb (right) in Holden's first starring role in a film, Golden Boy (1939)
With George Raft (right) in Invisible Stripes (1939)
With Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Academy Award for Best Actor
The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 1st Academy Awards to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Actress winner.
The 2023 recipient: Cillian Murphy
Emil Jannings was the inaugural winner, for two films: The Last Command (1928) & The Way of All Flesh (1927).
Warner Baxter won for In Old Arizona (1928).
George Arliss won for Disraeli (1929).