Biography

Alan Ladd

Jump to

Overview

Born
September 3, 1913 · Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA
Died
January 29, 1964 · Palm Springs, California, USA (acute overdose of alcohol and sedatives)
Birth name
Alan Walbridge Ladd
Nickname
- Laddie
Height
5′ 6″ (1.68 m)

Mini bio

Alan Walbridge Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the only child of Ina Raleigh (aka Selina Rowley) and Alan Harwood Ladd, a freelance accountant. His mother was English, from County Durham. His 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 "The 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 his 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 here 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 a string of bit parts in "B" pictures--and an unbilled part in Orson Welles' classic Citizen Kane (1941)--he tested for This Gun for Hire (1942) late in 1941. His fourth-billed role as 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 packed audiences into 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, a probable suicide attempt. In January 1964 he was found dead, apparently due to an accidental combination of alcohol and sedatives.
- IMDb mini biography by: Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>

Family

Spouses
Children
Relatives

Trivia

After Dick Cavett made a disparaging remark to John Houseman about Ladd's minimal acting talents, Houseman replied, "You would be in despair. You would go down to the set and you would say, 'Why are we even making this film?' Then you would go to the rushes, and there would be these beautiful eyes, full of hidden thoughts. A marvelous film actor.".
In a 1961 interview, Ladd was asked, "What would you change about yourself if you could?" He replied tersely: "Everything".
He was the visual inspiration for the original illustrations of superhero Green Lantern/Alan Scott (created in 1940). Ladd was 27 years old at the point. Scott's full name is Alan Ladd Wellington Scott.
In November 1962, he made an unsuccessful suicide attempt and was found unconscious after shooting himself. The incident was covered up as an accident by the studio. His death from an overdose in January 1964, although suspected to be suicide, was officially ruled to be accidental.
According to June Allyson in her biography, he was scared of flying. When he had to travel to Europe he went by boat and traveled around in a train or by car.

Quotes

I have the face of an aging 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.