ALAN LADD
Information From IMDb
Date of Birth
3 September 1913,
Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA
Date of Death
29 January 1964,
Palm Springs, California, USA
(acute overdose of alcohol and sedatives)
Birth Name
Alan Walbridge Ladd
Nickname
Laddie
Height
5' 5" (1.65 m)
Spouse
Sue Carol (1942 - 29 January 1964) (his death) children: Alana, David
Marjorie Jane Harrold (October 1936 - 1941) (divorced) 1 child
Trivia
Father of Alan Ladd Jr. with first wife, Marjorie 'Midge' Harrold. Father of Alana Ladd and David Ladd with second wife, Sue Carol. Grandfather of Jordan Ladd.
Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, California, USA, in the Freedom Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Heritage.
Owing to a clerical error, Ladd was inaccurately included in the cast credits for Born to the West (1937) in studio publicity material. In fact, he was never in the film, despite the fact that it often shows up in his credits and even on the video box!.
In his movies, suffers two cat-o-nine-tails floggings aboard sailing ships: (1) in Two Years Before the Mast (1946), he receives 10 lashes for striking an officer; (2) in Botany Bay (1953), he receives 50 lashes for attempting to escape from a prison transport ship.
He so badly wanted the title role in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) that he personally pressed his case with director David Lean, but Lean cast Peter O'Toole in the part.
The prisoner he plays in 1953's Botany Bay (1953) is keelhauled, marking what may be the only time a Hollywood leading man suffers this particular form of punishment.
In a 1961 interview Ladd was asked, "What would you change about yourself if you could?" He replied tersely: "Everything."
Father of Alana Ladd and Alan Ladd Jr.
Son with Sue Carol: David Ladd.
Ladd portrayed Dan Holiday on Mutual Radio's "Box 13" (1948-1949). This show was also syndicated.
A photograph of his flogging in Two Years Before the Mast (1946) appears on the cover of the 2004 book: "Lash! The Hundred Great Scenes of Men Being Whipped in the Movies".
Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1601 Vine Street.
He and Veronica Lake made seven movies together: The Blue Dahlia (1946), Duffy's Tavern (1945), The Glass Key (1942), Saigon (1948), Star Spangled Rhythm (1942), This Gun for Hire (1942) and Variety Girl (1947). In Variety Girl (1947), Star Spangled Rhythm (1942) and Duffy's Tavern (1945), they appear as themselves.
In 1956, Ladd proposed a television series based on his radio series "Box 13". The idea didn't sell. Ladd himself had played his "Box 13" character Dan Holiday in the "Committed" episode of "General Electric Theater" (1953) on television. In 1963, Ladd said he hoped to reunite several of his 1940s era co-stars, including William Bendix and Veronica Lake, for a big screen version of "Box 13".
His former home in Palm Springs, California, is still on the bus tour of movie stars' homes. An office building also bears his name.
According to his biography, the end of his love affair with June Allyson, his co-star in The McConnell Story (1955), led to his late-life depression.
Discovered Rory Calhoun while riding in Griffith Park, a notorious cruising area.
Turned down James Dean's role in Giant (1956) and Spencer Tracy's role in Bad Day at Black Rock (1955).
Father of Alan Ladd Jr. with first wife; father of David Ladd with second wife.
At the time of his death he had expressed an interest in playing Steve McQueen's role in Nevada Smith (1966).
Personal Quotes
"Once Ladd had acquired an unsmiling hardness, he was transformed from an extra to a phenomenon. Ladd's calm slender ferocity make it clear that he was the first American actor to show the killer as a cold angel." - David Thomson ("A Biographical Dictionary of Film, " 1975)
"That the old fashioned motion picture gangster with his ugly face, gaudy cars, and flashy clothes was replaced by a smoother, better looking, and better dressed bad man was largely the work of Mr. Ladd." - "New York Times" obituary (January 30, 1964)
"Alan is a big star to everyone in the world except Alan. He thinks he's in the business on a raincheck." -- Sue Carol, his wife/manager
"I have the face of an ageing choirboy and the build of an undernourished featherweight. If you can figure out my success on the screen you're a better man than I."
Mini Biography
Alan Ladd's mother immigrated from England age 19. His accountant father died when he was four. At age five he burned his apartment playing with matches, and his mother moved them to Oklahoma City. He was malnourished, undersized, and nicknamed Tiny. His mother married a house painter who moved them to California a la "Grapes of Wrath" when he was eight. He picked fruit, delivered papers, and swept stores. In high school he discovered track and swimming. By 1931 he was training for the 1932 Olympics, but an injury put an end to those plans. He opened a hamburger stand called Tiny's Patio, and later worked as a grip at Warner Brothers Pictures. He married friend Midge in 1936 but couldn't afford her, so they lived apart. In 1937 they shared a friend's apartment. They had a son,Alan Ladd Jr., and his destitute alcoholic mother moved in with them, her agonizing suicide from ant poison witnessed a few months later by her son.
His size and coloring were regarded as not right for movies, so he worked hard at radio where talent scout and former actress Sue Carol discovered him early in 1939. After shopping him through bit parts he tested for This Gun for Hire (1942) late in 1941. His fourth-billed role as the psychotic killer Raven made him a star. He was drafted in January 1943 and discharged in November with an ulcer and double hernia.
Throughout the 1940s his tough-guy roles filled theaters and he was one of the very few males whose cover photos sold movie magazines. In the 1950s he was performing in lucrative but unrewarding films (an exception being what many regard as his greatest role, "Shane". By the end of the 1950s,liquor and a string of so-so films had taken their toll. In November 1962 he was found unconscious lying in a pool of blood with a bullet wound near his heart. In January 1964 he was found dead, apparently due to an accidental combination of alcohol and sedatives.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan
Filmography
Actor
1. The Carpetbaggers (1964) .... Nevada Smith
2. 13 West Street (1962) .... Walt Sherill
3. Orazi e curiazi (1961) .... Horatius
... aka Duel of Champions (USA)
4. One Foot in Hell (1960) .... Mitch Garrett
... aka The Last Man
5. All the Young Men (1960) .... Sgt. Kincaid
6. Guns of the Timberland (1960) .... Jim Hadley
7. The Man in the Net (1959) .... John Hamilton
8. The Badlanders (1958) .... Peter Van Hoek ('The Dutchman')
9. The Proud Rebel (1958) .... John Chandler
10. "General Electric Theater" .... Dan Donlan / ... (3 episodes, 1954-1958)
- Silent Ambush (1958) TV episode .... Dan Donlan
- Farewell to Kennedy (1955) TV episode .... Joe
- Committed (1954) TV episode .... Dan Holiday
11. The Deep Six (1958) .... Alexander 'Alec' Austen
12. Boy on a Dolphin (1957) .... Dr. James Calder
13. The Big Land (1957) .... Chad Morgan
... aka Stampeded (UK)
14. A Cry in the Night (1956) (voice) .... Opening off-screen narrator
15. Santiago (1956) .... Caleb 'Cash' Adams
... aka The Gun Runner
16. Hell on Frisco Bay (1955) .... Steve Rollins
17. The McConnell Story (1955) .... Capt. Joseph C.'Mac' McConnell, Jr.
... aka Tiger in the Sky (UK)
18. Drum Beat (1954/I) .... Johnny MacKay
... aka Delmer Daves' Drum Beat (USA: complete title)
19. The Black Knight (1954/I) .... John
20. "The Red Skelton Show" (1 episode, 1954)
... aka The Red Skelton Hour (USA: new title)
- Freddie's Birthday (1954) TV episode
21. Saskatchewan (1954) .... Thomas O'Rourke
... aka O'Rourke of the Royal Mounted (UK)
22. Hell Below Zero (1954) .... Duncan Craig
23. The Red Beret (1953) .... Canada
... aka Paratrooper (USA)
24. Shane (1953) .... Shane
25. Desert Legion (1953) .... Paul Lartal
26. Botany Bay (1953) .... Hugh Tallant
27. Thunder in the East (1952) .... Steve Gibbs
28. The Iron Mistress (1952) .... Jim Bowie
29. Red Mountain (1951) .... Capt. Brett Sherwood
30. Appointment with Danger (1951) .... Al Goddard
31. Branded (1950) .... Choya
32. Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950) .... Captain Webster Carey
... aka After Midnight (UK)
33. Chicago Deadline (1949) .... Ed Adams
34. The Great Gatsby (1949) .... Jay Gatsby
35. Eyes of Hollywood (1949)
36. Whispering Smith (1948) .... Luke 'Whispering' Smith
37. Beyond Glory (1948) .... Capt. Rockwell 'Rocky' Gilman
38. Saigon (1948) .... Maj. Larry Briggs
39. Wild Harvest (1947) .... Joe Madigan
40. Calcutta (1947) .... Neale Gordon
41. My Favorite Brunette (1947) (uncredited) .... Sam McCloud
42. O.S.S. (1946) .... Philip Masson/John Martin
43. The Blue Dahlia (1946) .... Johnny Morrison - Lt.Cmdr., ret.
44. Two Years Before the Mast (1946) .... Charles Stewart
45. Duffy's Tavern (1945) .... Alan Ladd
46. Salty O'Rourke (1945) .... Salty O'Rourke
47. And Now Tomorrow (1944) .... Doctor Merek Vance
48. Skirmish on the Home Front (1944) .... Harry W. Average
49. China (1943) .... David Jones
50. Letter from a Friend (1943)
51. Lucky Jordan (1942) .... Lucky Jordan
52. The Glass Key (1942) .... Ed Beaumont
53. This Gun for Hire (1942) .... Philip Raven
54. Joan of Paris (1942) .... Baby
55. Military Training (1941) (uncredited) .... Lieutenant, Platoon Leader, County Fair
... aka Training Film No. A-3
56. Cadet Girl (1941) (uncredited) .... Cadet
57. Great Guns (1941) (uncredited) .... Soldier in Photo Shop
58. They Met in Bombay (1941) (uncredited) .... British Soldier
59. The Reluctant Dragon (1941) .... Al, Baby Weems storyboard artist
... aka A Day at Disneys (USA: TV title)
... aka Behind the Scenes at Walt Disney Studio
60. Paper Bullets (1941) .... Jimmy Kelly aka Bill Dugan
... aka Crime, Inc.
... aka Gang War (USA: reissue title)
... aka Gangs, Inc. (USA: reissue title)
61. The Black Cat (1941) .... Richard Hartley
62. Citizen Kane (1941) (uncredited) .... Reporter smoking pipe at end
63. Petticoat Politics (1941) .... Higgins Daughter's Boyfriend
64. I Look at You (1941)
... aka Soundie #1125
65. Her First Romance (1940) .... John Gilman
... aka The Right Man (USA: reissue title)
66. Victory (1940) (uncredited) .... Heyst as an 18-year-old
67. Meet the Missus (1940) .... John Williams, Betty's boyfriend
68. The Howards of Virginia (1940) (uncredited) .... Neighbor
... aka The Tree of Liberty (UK)
69. Captain Caution (1940) .... Newton - Mutinous Sailor
70. Those Were the Days! (1940) .... Keg Rearick
... aka At Good Old Siwash
... aka Good Old Schooldays (UK)
71. Cross-Country Romance (1940) (uncredited) .... Mr. Williams (ship's First Mate)
72. Gangs of Chicago (1940) (uncredited)
73. The Light of Western Stars (1940) .... Danny - Stillwell Ranch Hand
... aka Border Renegade (USA)
74. In Old Missouri (1940) .... Landlord's Son
75. Brother Rat and a Baby (1940) (uncredited) .... Cadet in Trouble
... aka Baby Be Good (UK)
76. The Green Hornet (1940) (uncredited) .... Gilpin, student pilot [Ch. 3]
77. American Portrait (1940) .... Young man/Old man
78. Blame It on Love (1940)
79. Unfinished Rainbows (1940) .... Charles Martin Hall
... aka More Worlds to Conquer (USA: new title)
80. Meat and Romance (1940) .... Bill Allen
81. Rulers of the Sea (1939) .... Colin Farrell
82. Hitler - Beast of Berlin (1939) (as Allan Ladd) .... Karl Bach
83. The Mysterious Miss X (1939) (uncredited) .... Henchman
84. Freshman Year (1938) (uncredited) .... Student
85. Come On, Leathernecks! (1938) (uncredited) .... Club Waiter
86. The Goldwyn Follies (1938) (uncredited) .... First Auditioning Singer
87. Hold 'Em Navy (1937) (uncredited) .... Chief Quartermaster
... aka That Navy Spirit (UK)
88. All Over Town (1937) (uncredited) .... Young Man
89. Souls at Sea (1937) (uncredited) .... Sailor
90. The Last Train from Madrid (1937) (uncredited) .... Soldier
91. Pigskin Parade (1936) (uncredited) .... Student
... aka Harmony Parade (UK)
92. Saturday's Millions (1933) (uncredited) .... Student
93. Island of Lost Souls (1932) (uncredited) (unconfirmed) .... Beast
94. Once in a Lifetime (1932) (uncredited) .... Projectionist
95. Tom Brown of Culver (1932) (uncredited)
