Military and university athletic records are at odds with statements by the new president of Hollywood's writers' union that he served as an intelligence officer in an elite Army Special Forces unit and attended college on a football scholarship, a review by The Times shows.
Questions about Charles D. Holland's background have been brewing in the screenwriting community since the veteran television writer assumed the presidency of the beleaguered Writers Guild of America, West, on Jan. 6. Holland took office after an internal report found that his predecessor, Victoria Riskin, was ineligible to run for reelection in September because she had not written enough to keep her membership current.
The crisis elevated Holland, who was vice president, to the leadership of one of Hollywood's most powerful unions.
The questions about his background come at a delicate time for the 9,000-member guild, which represents film and TV writers in Los Angeles: Holland is about to lead the guild into negotiations with studios over a new contract involving such sticky issues as whether writers deserve a bigger piece of DVD revenue and how its health plan can be strengthened.
Inquiries by The Times to the Army and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign were made after a number of writers both in e-mails and on the Internet questioned details of Holland's widely publicized past. The queries confirmed that Holland served in the military and graduated from the school. But records provided by the Army and the university showed no evidence of Special Forces service or of a college football career.
In an interview Friday, Holland, 44, said his past statements on both scores were accurate.
A WGA spokesman said Holland needed more time to provide records that would document his military service.
Late Friday, Holland told The Times that to provide such documentation would require him to violate the law protecting classified documents. He said the portion of his military record involving the Special Forces didn't appear with the rest of his service record because it was classified information.
Regarding his football experience, Holland said no record surfaced because he had played wide receiver at Illinois under a different name. Holland agreed to provide that name only on condition that it not be printed.
