page_title: William Holden
section_title: Personal life
hierarchical_section_title: William Holden / Personal life
caption_attribution_description: English: Nancy and Ronald Reagan — 1952 wedding day picture, with best man William Holden and his wife Brenda Marshall. No copyright renewal listed.
context_page_description: William Holden was an American actor who was one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. He won the Oscar for Best Actor for the film Stalag 17, and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for the television film The Blue Knight. Holden starred in some of Hollywood's most popular and critically acclaimed films, including Sunset Boulevard, Sabrina, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Wild Bunch, Picnic, and Network. He was named one of the "Top 10 Stars of the Year" six times, and appeared as 25th on the American Film Institute's list of 25 greatest male stars of Classic Hollywood Cinema.
context_section_description: Holden was best man at the wedding of his friend Ronald Reagan to Nancy Davis in 1952; although a registered Republican, he never involved himself in politics.
  While in Italy in 1966, Holden was responsible for the death of another driver in a drunk-driving incident. He received an eight-month suspended sentence for vehicular manslaughter.
  Holden maintained a home in Switzerland and also spent much of his time working for wildlife conservation as a managing partner in an animal preserve in Africa. His Mount Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki (founded 1959) was popular with the international jet set. On a trip to Africa, he fell in love with the wildlife and became increasingly concerned with the animal species that were beginning to decrease in population. With the help of his partners, he created the Mount Kenya Game Ranch and inspired the creation of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation. The Mount Kenya Game Ranch works to assist in Kenya with the wildlife education of its youth. Within the Mount Kenya Game Ranch is the Mount Kenya Conservancy, which runs an animal orphanage as well as the Bongo Rehabilitation Program in collaboration with the Kenya Wildlife Service. The orphanage provides shelter and care for orphans, injured and neglected animals found in the wild, with the aim of releasing these animals back into the wild whenever possible. The conservancy is home to the critically endangered East African mountain bongo, and aims to prevent its extinction by breeding.
caption: Matron of honor Brenda Marshall (left) and best man William Holden, sole guests at Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan's wedding in 1952
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