Son of silent movie tough-guy Jack Holt, Charles John Holt III was born in Hollywood, California. Exposed to expert horsemanship on the set of his father’s many Zane Grey westerns for Paramount and the family’s Fresno cattle ranch, young Tim grew up wanting to be a cowboy. He graduated from Culver Military Academy in Indiana, earning the school’s highest award for horsemanship, and returned to Hollywood where he played polo with the likes of Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Darryl Zanuck and Walt Disney in a league established by Will Rogers. Small parts in movies soon followed.
Initially under personal contract to independent producer Walter Wanger, Tim’s boyish good looks landed him attractive supporting roles as Anne Shirley’s love interest in STELA DALLAS (1937), Olivia de Havilland’s sister in GOLD IS WHERE YOU FIND IT (1938) and the straight-laced lieutenant in John Ford’s classic western STAGECOACH (1939). As Tim gained acting experience, his contract was sold to RKO where he co-starred in everything from romantic comedies like 5TH AVENUE GIRL (1939) opposite Ginger Rogers, to adventure stories like SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON (1940). Tim’s performances as the headstrong, spoiled George Minafer in Orson Welles’ period drama THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS (1942) and as a Nazi boy in love with Bonita Granville in HITLER’S CHILDREN (1943) both earned critical plaudits.
But for all his silver screen success, Tim was happiest on a horse and shortly after RKO’s reigning western star, George O’Brien, left the studio due to a contract dispute, Tim talked studio executives into starring him in such B-westerns as WAGON TRAIN (1940) with Martha O’Driscoll and ALONG THE RIO GRANDE (1941). He quickly found himself among the top-ten cowboy stars of his day.
Tim continued to make westerns until World War II, during which he served as a B-29 bombardier for the Army Air Force in the Pacific. After the war, he returned to Hollywood and resumed his starring westerns for RKO. Older now and smoking his trademark pipe, his characters were more serious and world-weary, but he still sported the fastest draw in Hollywood – just five frames (about 1/6 of a second). Never totally detached from prestige filmmakng, Tim also played notable supporting roles in John Ford’s MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (1946) and John Huston’s THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1947) which featured his father Jack in a small part.
When he wasn’t making movies, Tim toured the country riding for the Jennings-Lamarr Rodeo. While in Oklahoma with the rodeo, he met Harrah-native Berdee Stephens whom he married in 1952. At the peak of his popularity, Tim decided to retire from movie making. He toured with the rodeo for a while, then moved with Berdee to Oklahoma for a quieter life. The couple bought a parcel of land near Harrah where they raised two sons and a daughter.
Tim’s career activities in Oklahoma varied from the Holt Livestock and Supply Store near Harrah, to real estate with Midwest City developer Bill Atkinson (whom Tim also helped in his 1958 and 1962 campaigns for governor). When RKO sold its film library to television in the mid-1950s, Tim was hired by a local Oklahoma City TV station to host a Saturday morning series featuring a group of children and one of Tim’s films. “The Tim Holt Western Theatre” aired on KOCO in 1959 and 1960, after which Tim took his talents behind the scenes in radio. He worked as a sales manager, first for KLPR and later KEBC (“Keepin Every Body Country”).
In one of his few forays back into filmmaking after his retirement in 1952, Tim made gun safety films for young people called “Shooting Straight with Tim Holt” at the behest of the National Rifle Association. He appeared in his final film, the Oklahoma-made redneck crime drama THIS STUFF’LL KILL YA! (1971), as a favor to his radio friend Jack Beasley who was involved in the production.
Tim Holt died of cancer in 1973 at the age of 54 and was posthumously inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1991.