Alan Ladd

Alan Walbridge Ladd
1913 - 1964 (acute overdose of alcohol and sedatives)
American born Hot Springs, Arkansas

Nickname Laddie . Height 5' 5" (1.65 m) . 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 (1953)_ ). 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. Spouse Sue Carol (1942 - 29 January 1964) (his death) children: Alana, David, Marjorie Jane Harrold (October 1936 - 1941) (divorced) 1 child.

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