I wonder what kind of workout/training Bill Holden underwent for this role (it's clear he did something).
Interesting to note that back in the 50's, there were no 24 Hour Fitness gyms, and trainers like today.
My guess, is that he did have a trainer, and trained with fairly light weights.
He looked great in Sunset Boulevard also, and I wondered the same thing. There's an article on the Turner Classic Movie website about the movie Picnic that says he was at the time almost considered a little too old for this role (an old man of 37! how times have changed) and upon reading the script and seeing that it called for him to strip to the waist several times, said he was too old to do a strip tease. But they wouldn't change the script, so he went to work with a trainer at a gym to get back in shape.
shareI think gyms started popping up in L.A. around that time, although probably not with eliptical trainers and medicine balls that we have today! Likely just some treadmills, weight benches, and jumpropes.
Whadda ya hear, whadda ya say!
You're probably right, wasn't that around the time when Jack LaLane became popular?
shareWell according to the Jack La Lanne website - did you know this guy is still alive?? - he opened his first US health spa in 1936 and brought exercise to TV in 1951.
Whadda ya hear, whadda ya say!
There is something else going on here. I just noticed it when I rewatched Sunset Boulevard where he is rather hairy.
they shaved him for this role.
And what is this film about?
A woman's sexual desires where the man is the victim.
Interesting to note that back in the 50's, there were no 24 Hour Fitness gyms, and trainers like today
>> I just noticed it when I rewatched Sunset Boulevard where he is rather hairy.
they shaved him for this role. <<
Yes. Isn't it ridiculous? Like an adult female couldn't be trusted with her own sexual impulses...
I have no idea why Bill got shaved for certain roles and not for others... Certainly studio decisions...
With "Picnic" I thought it was pretty obvious that Holden's chest didn't look natural without hair.
Flanagan
Medicine balls go WAY back. They are one of the oldest conditioning devices.
The 50s were full of technological marvels, in the gym and out. Ever see those belt machines? They appeared in a lot of movies because they were so hilarious to watch. Just because something happened in the past doesn't mean it was simpler.
" There's an article on the Turner Classic Movie website about the movie Picnic that says he was at the time almost considered a little too old for this role (an old man of 37! how times have changed)"
Times haven't changed.
Holden *was* too old for the role. The key phrase is, "for this role".
The character is supposed to be out of college for a few years & trying to find himself. That simply isn't 37.
However, Holden is perfect in the part and plays it all off very well. I love the movie - but he really was too old for the role.
The first time I heard him refer to his 'old lady' in this film, I honestly thought 'Oh, he's married, I must have missed that somewhere ?'
A guy his age complaining about how his mom is always on his case just didn't work. James Dean maybe ... "You're tearing me apart !' LOL !!
Seeing him get out of the pool in Sunset Blvd shocked me, I've seen a lot of Classic films and unless they were athletes, actors usually did not have nice bodies. In Sunset Blvd, Holden was tan, broad shouldered, well muscled and toned, and had a small v tapered waist. Wow! He must've had a good physique to begin with even prior to the trainer in Picnic.
shareHe was delicious in Golden Boy and that was in 1939 when he was only 21.
shareIt's not that 37, itself, is old. But considering that Hal was supposed to be much younger and Holden looked every bit his age (even older) due to alcoholism, that is why he considered "too old"- for the role, that is.
shareThere was one scene where William Holden and Cliff Robertson are both bare chested and you see both of their physiques. I couldn't help but notice, how much better and beefier Holden looked versus Robertson, Robertson almost looked puney.
He looked perfect to me and no, not too old. Novak looked a bit older than her character.
shareI watched documentary film about Holden and it was mentioned that he learned some gymnastics since he was young. He could walk on his hands and even could ride a motorcycle standing on it on his hands!
share[deleted]
Burt Lancaster was pretty hot in Trapeze. :P
The Divine Genealogy Goddess
Holden was delicious in this! He always looked good though, so fit w/ just the right amount of muscle! As far as beefcakes go from yesteryear, I think William Holden & Gary Cooper were the sexiest :)
"Are you going to your grave with unlived lives in your veins?" ~ The Good Girl
I picture him working out with indian clubs, a medicine ball or climbing with those peg board things like Uncle Fester had.
I normally think Holden is pretty hot - but in a sophisicated way when he's in a suit. He's trim, and his body is well-proportioned but not a head-turner or a distraction. (Similar to Paul Newman's - nice but not a beefcake. Jeff Chandler was a beefcake.) All the references to his physique and his inappropriate flexing and swaggering made him look silly.
Rosalind Russell just called him Apollo!
"Who put the pineapple juice in my pineapple juice?"
Clark Gable definitely did do shirtless scenes (see Red Dust), and he was in great shape. He was no Bill Holden, but then who was?
I need my 1987 DG20 Casio electric guitar set to mandolin, yeah...
You bet. I just watched It Happened One Night and now I understand why my grandmother would nearly faint whenever a movie of his came on.
shareWow, is that true? Sounds sexy!
shareHe's not particularly muscular but he's thin around the waist which really makes one's whole body look leaner and is quite an achievement for a man in his mid-late 30s and above. All you really need to do that is lose enough weight or, better still, never put it on in the first place. Generally speaking, men until the 1960s and before were thinner than what became the norm later.
sharegenerally speaking, we also all did more physical stuff than we do today.
1. rolling up and down your car window
2. opening / closing your garage door
3. stairs, not escalators or elevators as frequently
4. more walking, less driving.
Yes, he was in shape -- as were most, at that time. We've "automated" ourselves into obesity -- and into NEEDING gyms... when before, we were just more active because we, um, had to be.
Less physical activity is only a small part of it. The main cause is the significant increase in calorific intake.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE-H__aIEFE
[deleted]
jason -- thanks for the lesson.
I'm a professional weight loss counselor -- I was merely remarking on the lack of a need to join a gym to get/stay in shape waaaaay back in the mid part of the last century because a prior poster asked about Holden and going to the gym.
Holden used a two-handed set shot with the basketball. Which is practically never seen anymore. But if you see pre-1960 footage of college and pro games, you'll notice plenty of set shots. I saw a kid do it in the last NCAA tournament, and I damn near fell off my barstool!
"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"
[deleted]
Holden was delicious in this! He always looked good though, so fit w/ just the right amount of muscle!
http://tnation.t-nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding/sean_connery_3rd_place_mr_universe
Sean Connery was a runner up in the 1953 Mr. Universe contest.
The difference between today's steroid bulked up monstrosities and the basic genetically endowed bodies of Connery and Holden are quite interesting.
William Holden actually was better endowed (torso folks, torso!) than Connery.
I agree with you about today's chemically-induced bodies and I too appreciated William Holden's natural masculine form.
as a man even i had to give props to holden, he was in great shape. this and birdge on the river kwai, both films he had his shirt off and i was impressed especially for that time. oh yeah also Love is a many splendid thing too. he had his shirt off alot haha.
sharePeople were more active and ate better in the past.
And physical fitness has been around forever. "Physical Culture" magazine was first published in 1899. Charles Atlas then came along, followed by Jack LaLanne
I saw an interview w/ Kim Novak about Picnic and she said Holden had to work out a lot for the film w/ a trainer. And he was self-conscious about having his chest shaved. Not sure why, but at that time they didn't want to show a man w/ a hairy chest on film.
shareI don't know if they never had men with hairy chest, but with certain actors I think they thought the no chest hair looked better.
Realism, Remakes and Unnecessary Sequels are ruining movies!
I think that they thought that no chest hair looked less provocative, and it was all dictated by the Haye's Code - which was still in place a the time.
shareThey shaved his chest hair so that it might shave 13 years off him for his character who was around 24. Didn't work out that way, IMO, he looked like a plucked chicken or peacock.
shareYeah, he had a more well-developed physique than most leading men of that time. :)
"Joey, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?"
The "Trivia" section for this movie says the cast and crew were besieged and eaten by bugs.
I'm sure Holden was bitten more than the others if he had to run around shirtless for much of the movie.
Wish I had been one of those bugs...
"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"
I thought it was to make him look younger as well.
Holden was a movie star, so it made sense to cast him in the lead. Problem is that Holden was in his mid to late thirties playing a man in his early 20's. still, I didn't dwell on it. He looks fine and is why I like the movie.
Cliff Robertson's chest is also bare.
Someone may have mentioned this, but in his book UNLEASHING THE WILD PHYSIQUE, ahead-of-his-time trainer Vince Gironda (aka "The Iron Guru")had a chapter on the many actors who trained at Vince's Gym. He mentions Holden, who apparently was pretty dedicated to his training. Even in THE WILD BUNCH, when he was much older, you can see in the steambath scene, when Holden is shirtless, that he still had a basically good physique, although he had lost some definition. I understand he was an alcoholic, and booze can undo a lot of training--especially after several decades of "hitting the sauce."
shareIn the book Golden Boy, it's well-established that Holden was an acrobat, did most of his own stunts, and was pretty much a daredevil who did things that were seriously dangerous. So, the bod was there, even tho working out with a trainer might have given it some more definition.
shareYes, Bill Holden had a naturally muscular, sturdy body.Nice chest,broad shoulders, small waist.Working out with a trainer gave it more definition. He also had beautiful hands and nice legs.He was a natural athlete. His body did lose some definition as he aged, but he never was overweight.
share