Alan Ladd

Infobox actor
bgcolour = silver
name = Alan Ladd


imagesize = 230px
caption = Ladd in "The Man in the Net" (1959)
birthname =
birthdate = birth date|1913|9|3|mf=y
location = Hot Springs, Arkansas, U.S.
deathdate = death date and age|1964|1|29|1913|9|3|mf=y
deathplace = Palm Springs, California, U.S.
othername =
homepage = http://www.cmgww.com/stars/ladd
academyawards =
goldenglobeawards =
spouse = Marjorie Jane Harrold
(1936-1941) (divorced)
Sue Carol (1942–1964) (his death)

Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American film actor.

Early life

Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas to an American father (Alan Ladd, Sr.) and an English-American mother (Ina Raleigh Ladd). His father died when the boy was four, and his mother relocated to Oklahoma City, where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter. The family moved again, to North Hollywood, California. There Ladd became a high school swimming and diving champion. Burdened with a hated nickname ("Tiny"), the then-5'4" student fell under the spell of high school dramatics and set his mind toward becoming an actor. He opened his own hamburger and malt shop, which he called Tiny's Patio in defiance of the nickname's negative aspect. He worked briefly as a studio carpenter (as did his stepfather) and for a short time was part of the Universal Pictures studio school for actors. But Universal decided he was too blond and too short and dropped him. Intent on acting, he found work in radio. His rich baritone voice got him increasingly more work.

Career

He appeared in dozens of films in bits and small roles, including "Citizen Kane". These barely kept him and his household afloat. (He had married a high-school acquaintance, Midge Harrold, with whom he had a son, Alan Ladd, Jr.) His stepfather died suddenly. Then his mother, who suffered from depression, committed suicide by poison.

Ladd married his agent/manager and former movie actress Sue Carol in 1942. It was at this point that Carol found a vehicle which made Ladd's career, "This Gun for Hire". His performance as a hitman with a conscience made him a sensation. Ladd went on to become one of Paramount Pictures' most popular stars. A brief timeout for military service with the United States Army Air Force's First Motion Picture Unit did not diminish his popularity. None of his subsequent films of the 1940s were as notable as "This Gun for Hire", but he did appear to good effect in Raymond Chandler's story "The Blue Dahlia" alongside the similarly diminutive Veronica Lake (5'2" or 1.57 m), with whom he had been paired in "This Gun for Hire". His "Captain Carey, U.S.A." (1950) was notable for its soundtrack containing Nat King Cole's classic song, "Mona Lisa".He formed his own production companies for film and radio and starred in his own syndicated series "Box 13", which ran from 1948 to 1949. Ladd became most famous for his title role as a gunslinger in the classic 1953 western "Shane". Ladd made the Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll 3 times, in 1947, 1953 and 1954.

Clinical depression, which Ladd had inherited from his mother, combined with age and aggravated by alcoholism, began to affect both his appearance and his personal life. In 1962, he suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound that was explained in various ways at various times. In 1963, Ladd co-starred in one of the biggest film productions of his career, "The Carpetbaggers," not as a leading man but as a supporting actor. He would be dead before the film was released. In 1964 Ladd died in Palm Springs, California, of an acute overdose of alcohol and sedatives at the age of 50, a probable suicide.Fact|date=August 2008 He was entombed in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Alan Ladd has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1601 Vine Street. [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000042/awards Alan Ladd, Awards] ] His handprint appears in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theater, in Hollywood.

Personal life

Thanks to wise business investments, Ladd became a wealthy man, with properties in Beverly Hills and, in Palm Springs, Alan Ladd Hardware. His son Alan Ladd, Jr., by his first wife Midge Harrold, is a motion picture executive and producer and founder of The Ladd Company. His daughter Alana is married to the veteran talk radio broadcaster Michael Jackson. Another son, actor David Ladd, who co-starred as a child with his father in "The Proud Rebel", married "Charlie's Angels" star Cheryl Ladd. Actress Jordan Ladd is his granddaughter. [ [http://movies.msn.com/celebs/celeb.aspx?c=171845 MSN - Movies: Jordan Ladd] ]

He was famous for his emotionless demeanor and small stature. Reports of his height vary from 5'5" to 5'6" (1.65 to 1.68 m), with 5'5" (1.65 m) being the most generally accepted today.Shipman, David. The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years. New York: Hill & Wang, 1979. ISBN 0-8090-5170-2] Linet, Beverly. "Ladd: The Life, the Legend, the Legacy of Alan Ladd". New York: Arbor House, 1979. ISBN 0-87795-203-5]

Filmography

Features

*"Tom Brown of Culver" (1932)
*"Once in a Lifetime" (1932)
*"Island of Lost Souls" (1933)
*"Saturday's Millions" (1933)
*"Pigskin Parade" (1936)
*"The Last Train from Madrid" (1937)
*"Souls at Sea" (1937)
*"All Over Town" (1937)
*"Hold 'Em Navy" (1937)
*"The Goldwyn Follies" (1938)
*"Come On, Leathernecks!" (1938)
*"Freshman Year" (1938)
*"The Mysterious Miss X" (1939)
*"Hitler - Beast of Berlin" (1939)
*"Rulers of the Sea" (1939)
*"The Green Hornet" (1940)
*"Brother Rat and a Baby" (1940)
*"The Light of Western Stars" (1940)
*"In Old Missouri" (1940)
*"Gangs of Chicago" (1940)
*"Cross-Country Romance" (1940)
*"Those Were the Days!" (1940)
*"Captain Caution" (1940)
*"The Howards of Virginia" (1940)
*"Meet the Missus" (1940)
*"Victory" (1940)
*"Her First Romance" (1940)
*"Petticoat Politics" (1941)
*"Citizen Kane" (1941)
*"The Black Cat" (1941)
*"Paper Bullets" (1941)
*"The Reluctant Dragon" (1941)
*"They Met in Bombay" (1941)
*"Great Guns" (1941)
*"Cadet Girl" (1941)
*"Joan of Paris" (1942)
*"This Gun for Hire" (1942)
*"The Glass Key" (1942)
*"Lucky Jordan" (1942)
*"Star Spangled Rhythm" (1942)
*"China" (1943)
*"And Now Tomorrow" (1944)
*"Salty O'Rourke" (1945)
*"Duffy's Tavern" (1945)
*"Two Years Before the Mast" (1946)
*"The Blue Dahlia" (1946)
*"O.S.S." (1946)
*"My Favorite Brunette" (1947)
*"Calcutta" (1947)
*"Variety Girl" (1947)
*"Wild Harvest" (1947)
*"Saigon" (1948)
*"Beyond Glory" (1948)
*"Whispering Smith" (1948)
*"The Great Gatsby" (1949)
*"Chicago Deadline" (1949)
*"Captain Carey, U.S.A." (1950)
*"Branded" (1950)
*"Appointment with Danger" (1951)
*"Red Mountain" (1951)
*"The Iron Mistress" (1952)
*"Thunder in the East" (1952)
*"Botany Bay" (1953)
*"Desert Legion" (1953)
*"Shane" (1953)
*"The Red Beret" (1953)
*"Hell Below Zero" (1954)
*"Saskatchewan" (1954)
*"The Black Knight" (1954)
*"Drum Beat" (1954)
*"The McConnell Story" (1955)
*"Hell on Frisco Bay" (1955)
*"Santiago" (1956)
*"A Cry in the Night" (1956) (narrator)
*"The Big Land" (1957)
*"Boy on a Dolphin" (1957)
*"The Deep Six" (1958)
*"The Proud Rebel" (1958)
*"The Badlanders" (1958)
*"The Man in the Net" (1959)
*"Guns of the Timberland" (1960)
*"All the Young Men" (1960)
*"One Foot in Hell" (1960)
*"Duel of Champions" (1961)
*"13 West Street" (1962)
*"The Carpetbaggers" (1964)

hort Subjects

*"Unfinished Rainbows" (1940)
*"Meat and Romance" (1940)
*"Blame It on Love" (1940)
*"American Portrait" (1940)
*"I Look at You" (1941)
*"Training Film No. A-3: Military Training" (1941)
*"Letter from a Friend" (1943)
*"Screen Snapshots: Hollywood in Uniform" (1943)
*"Skirmish on the Home Front" (1944)
*"Hollywood Victory Caravan" (1945)
*"Screen Snapshots: The Skolsky Party" (1946)
*"Eyes of Hollywood" (1949)
*"Grantland Rice Sportlight No. R11-10: A Sporting Oasis" (1952)

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0000042|name=Alan Ladd
*tcmdb name|id=1122096|name=Alan Ladd
* [http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article/?cid=161109 Profile] @ Turner Classic Movies
* [http://www.cmgww.com/stars/ladd/ Official website]
* [http://www.filmnight.org/alanladd.htm Film Night Tribute]
*Find A Grave|id=595

Persondata
NAME= Ladd, Alan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Actor
DATE OF BIRTH= September 3, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH= Hot Springs, Arkansas, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH= January 29, 1964
PLACE OF DEATH= Palm Springs, California, U.S.