Holden Caulfield is the man who calls Peter Griffin a “phony” in "The Kiss Seen Around the World", for pretending to play a self-playing keyboard. He later levels the charge at Neil Goldman for admitting to Meg he wasn't going to jump.

Although unnamed in any episode, he is often referred to as “Holden Caulfield”, the protagonist of J.D. Salinger's classic 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, who often accused others of being “phonies”.

He later appeared in Something, Something, Something, Dark Side as Admiral Ozzel, again using the "phony" line a scene before his death at the hands of Darth Vader, played by Stewie Griffin for coming out of light speed too early. The Fact-Ups special feature of the DVD acknowledge the fan's name for him.

Glenn Quagmire likens Brian to the original literary Caulfield very negatively in "Jerome Is the New Black".

Holden Caulfield is voiced by Mark Hentemann.