Alan Ladd

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Alan Ladd

Ladd in The Man in the Net (1959)
Born September 3, 1913(1913-09-03)
Hot Springs, Arkansas, U.S.
Died January 29, 1964 (aged 50)
Palm Springs, California, U.S.
Spouse(s) Marjorie Jane Harrold
(1936-1941) (divorced)
Sue Carol (1942–1964) (his death)
Official website

Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American film actor. He was famous for his emotionless demeanor and small stature. Reports of his height vary from 5'4" to 5'6" (1.63 to 1.68 m), with 5'5" (1.65 m) being the most generally accepted today.[1][2]

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[edit] 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.[2]

Intent on acting, he found work in radio, where being "too blond and too short" was not a hindrance. His rich baritone voice got him increasingly more work. It also got him an agent.

[edit] Career

He appeared in dozens of films in bits and small roles, including Citizen Kane. Most of these barely kept him and his household afloat. (He had married a high-school acquaintance, Midge Harrold, with whom he had a son.) His stepfather died suddenly and then his mother, to whom he was intensely devoted, killed herself by eating arsenic-laden ant paste. Ladd, who had suffered on and off from depression throughout his youth, lost his greatest champion and with her, one of the few strong supports for his fragile self-esteem. He still chafed at the negative effects his height had on his career and his self-image.[1]

It was at this point that Carol made Ladd's career. His performance as a hitman with a conscience made him a sensation. Ladd went on to become one of Paramount Pictures' most popular stars. Even a brief timeout for military service with the US Army Air Corps' 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 teamed in several films.

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 starring role as a gunfighter in the classic 1953 western Shane. Ladd made Quigley's Top 10 Stars of the Year List 3 times, in 1947, 1953 and 1954.[2] Age and alcohol began to affect both his appearance and his personal life. In 1962, he nearly died from a self-inflicted gunshot that was explained in various ways at various times.[2]

In 1963, Ladd co-starred in one of the biggest film productions of his career, not as a leading man but as a supporting actor. But Ladd would be dead before the film was released.

[edit] Personal life

Ladd married his agent/manager Sue Carol in 1942. The former silent film actress survived him. His son Alan Ladd, Jr. by his first wife Midge Harrold became a motion picture executive and producer, founding The Ladd Company. 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.[3]

[edit] Death

Ladd died in Palm Springs, California of an acute overdose of alcohol and sedatives at the age of 50, a probable suicide.[1] On his death in 1964, Ladd was entombed in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Alan Ladd has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1601 Vine Street.[4]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Shipman, David. The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years. New York: Hill & Wang, 1979. ISBN 0-8090-5170-2
  2. ^ a b c d Linet, Beverly. Ladd: The Life, the Legend, the Legacy of Alan Ladd. New York: Arbor House, 1979. ISBN 0-87795-203-5
  3. ^ MSN - Movies: Jordan Ladd
  4. ^ Alan Ladd, Awards

[edit] External links


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.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Ladd"
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