The Biography

Tim Holt (February 5, 1918 – February 15, 1973) was a popular American film actor of the 1940s and early 1950s, appearing in forty-six "B" westerns released by RKO Pictures. Born in Beverly Hills to actor Jack Holt and his wife Margaret, he spent much of his childhood on set with his father, whose career began in 1914 during the silent pictures era and appeared mostly in westerns. Holt was signed to his first acting contract at the age of 17 by producer Walter Wanger who loaned him to RKO late that year. When that contract expired, RKO signed him to a seven-year contract and quickly put him to work, with Holt appearing in 24 westerns over the first three years for the studio to secure their permission for him to enlist during WWII. In 1943, he joined the Army Air Corps and became a distinguished B-17 and B-29 pilot in the Pacific Theatre, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and Purple Heart for bullet wounds he received while flying over Tokyo on the very last day of the war that ended in a crash landing. Once he had recovered, he returned to RKO to honor the remaining time of his contract, raising his total appearances with them to 46. In a career spanning more than four decades, he is best remembered for his leading role in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) and co-starring in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) alongside Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston—the latter becoming enshrined in 1997 as No. 30 on the American Film Institute's "100 Years…100 Movies" list.