Editing William Holden (section)

==Early life and education==
[[File:William Holden-Cobb-Golden Boy.jpg|thumb|With [[Lee J. Cobb]] (right) in Holden's first starring role in a film, ''[[Golden Boy (1939 film)|Golden Boy]]'' (1939)]]
Holden was born William Franklin Beedle Jr. on April 17, 1918, in [[O'Fallon, Illinois]], son of Mary Blanche Beedle (née Ball), a schoolteacher, and her husband, William Franklin Beedle Sr., an industrial [[chemist]].<ref name="ref1">[http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/williamh/index.html "Ancestry of William Holden"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080222041044/http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/williamh/index.html |date=February 22, 2008 }}, Genealogy.com; retrieved November 13, 2011.</ref> He had two younger brothers, Robert Westfield Beedle and Richard Porter Beedle. One of his father's grandmothers, Rebecca Westfield, was born in England, while some of his mother's ancestors settled in Virginia's [[Lancaster County, Virginia|Lancaster County]] after emigrating from England in the 17th century.<ref name="ref1"/>

His family moved to [[South Pasadena, California|South Pasadena]] when he was three. After graduating from [[South Pasadena High School]], Holden attended [[Pasadena City College|Pasadena Junior College]], where he became involved in local radio plays.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Noguchi |first1=Thomas T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVA9DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22William+Holden%22+%22radio+plays%22&pg=PT136 |title=The Coroner Series: America's Most Controversial Medical Examiner Tells All |last2=DiMona |first2=Joseph |date=2017-11-28 |publisher=Open Road Media |isbn=978-1-5040-4967-2 |language=en}}</ref>