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Job Actor, film and television producer
Years active 1932-64
Known for Cool and taciturn
Top Roles Soldier in Photo Shop, Dr. James Calder, Shane, 'Baby', Beast
Top Genres Drama, Comedy, Romance, Crime, Adventure, Western
Top Topics Book-Based, World War II, Ranchers, Detectives, Pre-Code Cinema
Top Collaborators Anthony Caruso, Veronica Lake, William Bendix, Frank Faylen, Walter Sande, Arthur Loft, Irving Bacon, Frank Ferguson
Also Born on September 3
Also Born in 1913
Also Born in Arkansas
Also a Virgo

Alan Ladd Overview:

Legendary actor, Alan Ladd, was born Alan Walbridge Ladd on Sep 3, 1913 in Hot Springs, AR. Ladd appeared in over 95 film roles. His best known films include This Gun For Hire, The Blue Dahlia, Shane, The Proud Rebel and The Carpetbaggers. Ladd died at the age of 50 on Jan 29, 1964 in Palm Springs, CA and was laid to rest in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery (Glendale) in Glendale, CA.

MINI BIO:

Alan Ladd was cool and taciturn -- and too short at 5 feet 6 inches for 1930s films, therefore getting more work in radio than in movies. However, in the 1940s, he married astute agent, Sue Carol (second wife), and suddenly appeared as a kind of fair-haired avenging angel, teaming up with the equally pint-sized Veronica Lake and shooting to world stardom in This Gun for Hire. He then starred in a string of similar tough-guy films, but when the genre passed, so did his top stardom. He took to drink in later years, dying in bed from a mixture of medication and alcohol.

(Source: available at Amazon Quinlan's Film Stars).

HONORS and AWARDS:

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He was honored with one star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the category of Motion Pictures. Alan Ladd's handprints and footprints were 'set in stone' at Grauman's Chinese Theater during imprint ceremony #108 on May 12, 1954. Ladd was never nominated for an Academy Award.

Alan Ladd BlogHub Articles:

Alan Ladd and Olivia de Havilland shine in “The Proud Rebel”

Alan Ladd and Olivia de Havilland shine in “The Proud Rebel” The Proud Rebel (1958) is an American western directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Alan Ladd and Olivia de Havilland. Others in the case include Dean Jagger, Cecil Kellaway, Harry Dean Stanton (billed as Dean Stanton), ... Read full article


THE ALAN LADD BLOGATHON: Appointment with Danger (1950)

Pale Writer Gabriela is hosting The Man Who Would Be Shane: The Alan Ladd Blogathon on September 3-6. Click HERE for the tributes to the beloved star. The danger alluded to in the title of this film is in the form of a gang with plans for a big heist from the Postal Service, specifically one member... Read full article


Alan Ladd Betrayed in "Captain Carey, U.S.A."

The studio sets are pretty convincing. Webb Carey (Alan Ladd) provides intelligence to the Allies while hiding out on an island off the coast of Italy during World War II. The local residents know about the Americano and a fellow officer, but not the location of their base of operations. It turns o... Read full article


Alan Ladd Betrayed in "Captain Carey, U.S.A."

The studio sets are pretty convincing. Webb Carey (Alan Ladd) provides intelligence to the Allies while hiding out on an island off the coast of Italy during World War II. The local residents know about the Americano and a fellow officer, but not the location of their base of operations. It turns o... Read full article


Style Essentials--Veronica Lake Meets Alan Ladd + Iconic Style in 1942's THIS GUN FOR HIRE

As most know, I am an enormous fan of film noir, particularly those that premiered in the 1940s, and have written about many of them on GlamAmor. It seems appropriate, then, that I have been asked to speak on this very subject at the Skirball Cultural Center on December 7th as part of their extensi... Read full article


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Alan Ladd Quotes:

Al Goddard: Sure I know what love is - it's what goes on between a man and a .45 that won't jam.

Dr. Thomas: Don't you feel like a murderer?
Johnny MacKay: No, sir.
Dr. Thomas: Shouldn't you?
Johnny MacKay: I've never shot anyone without cause. My job is to protect the wagon train. When somebody shoots at my people, I shoot back.
— From: Drum Beat

Captain Francis A. Thompson: Mr. Foster, remove his shirt.
2nd Mate Foster: Aye, aye, sir.
Charles Stewart: Never mind. I'll take it off.

Joe Jagger: Well, you know my problem. What's yours?
Chad Morgan: I should have killed a man the other day.
Joe Jagger: Killed a man? What for?
Chad Morgan: He needed it.
— From: The Big Land

Man recommending a motel: [walking into the cheap motel] Clean sheets every day they tell me.
Johnny Morrison: How often do they change the fleas?
— From: The Blue Dahlia
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Alan Ladd Facts
In a 1961 interview Ladd was asked, "What would you change about yourself if you could?" He replied tersely: "Everything."

In 1954 he and Barbara Stanwyck won the top spots in "Modern Screen" magazine's Star of Stars Award competition as the most popular actors among fans in the previous ten years.

His former home in Palm Springs, California, is still on the bus tour of movie stars' homes. An office building also bears his name.

Attempted suicide by shooting himself in November 1962.

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.

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