DIED. William Holden, 63, Oscar-winning actor who played in more than 50 films; of head injuries suffered in a fall; in his Santa Monica, Calif., apartment. Holden became a star at 21 as the hard-punching innocent in Golden Boy (1939), but his appeal for the next 40 years was that of the man's man, cocky and cynical, meeting the demands of any situation head-on and with no sweat. He could lead a troop of renegade soldiers out of Stalag 17 (for which he won his Oscar as Best Actor) or across The Bridge on the River Kwai. He was equally at home on the range, leading The Wild Bunch to one last dustup with destiny. Moving and speaking with the languid grace of inherited wealth (his father ran a chemical business), he wooed Audrey Hepburn into maturity in Sabrina and shepherded Gloria Swanson through the gaudy dementia of Sunset Boulevard. His easy sexual authority dared women to try to impress him. One who did, Kim Novak, made film history with Holden: their slow dance in Picnic (1956) remains an electrifying expression of romantic passion. In the '60s, Holden found refuge in the wilds of Kenya, where he supported conservation causes. In Santa Monica to read a movie script, Holden fell down after drinking heavily, lost consciousness and bled to death.

DIED. Bob Eberly, 65, one of the great crooners of the Big Band era and star with the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra; of cancer; in Glen Burnie, Md. Eberly, who helped popularize such songs as Blue Champagne, Green Eyes and The Breeze and I, signed with Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey when he was 17. When the Dorsey brothers split up in 1935, Eberly remained with Jimmy and went on to a career on concert stages and in nightclubs that spanned more than four decades.

DIED. Daniel Lang, 68, author of eight critically acclaimed books concerned with social and scientific dilemmas; of leukemia; in New York City. Lang's best-known works were Casualties of War (1969), about the rape-killing of a young Vietnamese woman by American soldiers, and A Backward Look: Germans Remember (1978), on modern-day

German views of the Third Reich. He recently completed a libretto for opera, Minutes to Midnight, which deals with a favorite theme: the moral predicament of scientists engaged in nuclear-weapons research.

DIED. Charles Parlin, 83, former co-president of the World Council of Churches and former president of the World Methodist Council; in New York City. A staunch ecumenist, Parlin was the first American layman to be named to the six-member presidium of the World Council of Churches, where he served from 1961 to 1968. A lawyer, he defended Methodist Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam when the House Un-American Activities Committee investigated charges in 1953 that Oxnam had a Communist Party affiliation.

DIED. Enid Markey, ninetyish, multifaceted actress who played the first Jane in the original Tarzan of the Apes and whose 60-year career included not only silent movies but Broadway plays, radio and television productions and several talkies; in Bay Shore, N.Y.

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