(Yutaka Nagata/Stars and Stripes)

Tokyo, Japan, Dec. 14, 1956: Actor William Holden readies to move his queen in a game of chess with Pfc. Robert Nimensky, of Cliffside, N.J., at the Tokyo Army Hospital. Holden visited the hospital during a stopover in Japan en route to Sri Lanka to begin filming “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” adapted from the novel by French writer Pierre Boulle. The movie would go on to win seven of its eight Oscar nominations, including the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture and Best Director.

Want to read Stars and Stripes’ coverage of other artists and celebrities? Subscribe to Stars and Stripes’ historic newspaper archive! We have digitized our 1948-1999 European and Pacific editions, as well as several of our WWII editions and made them available online through https://starsandstripes.newspaperarchive.com/