Alan Ladd
born: 09-03-1913 birth place: Hot Springs, USA
died: 29-01-1964
Born to an English mother in Arkansas, icy-cool actor Alan Ladd’s father died when he was only four.
Moving to California as a child, Ladd became a gifted sportsman, and also took to performing in school productions. He excelled in swimming and athletics, and in 1931, he decided to train for the 1932 Olympics. Training didn’t last long, however, as an injury would prevent him from participating in the Olympic trials.
Struggling to enter the acting profession, Ladd supported himself in a number of odd jobs – including as a gas station attendant, a hot dog vendor and a lifeguard.
His first real foray into show business came in radio, where he played small parts, and he then moved into local theatre. It was as a grip and bit-player that Ladd began to enter the film-world in his late teens. He was appearing regularly in minor film parts by the mid 1930s.
In 1936, he married Marjorie Jane Harrold. A year later the couple gave birth to their first child, Alan Ladd, II.
Ladd’s early film work consisted of mostly minor parts, such as the role of a reporter in Orson Welles’ 1941 classic, “Citizen Kane.”
He met Hollywood agent and former screen actress, Sue Carol, around this time. She helped him get work and promoted him around town, landing him a major part as an assassin in the 1942 film, 'This Gun for Hire', opposite Veronica Lake. After divorcing his first wife, Ladd and Carol married in 1942.
The visual combination of Ladd and Lake proved so popular that they were paired for several other films, including 'The Blue Dahlia', 'Saigon' and 'The Glass Key'.
Ladd’s films remained on the Top Ten box-office list in 1947, 1953, and 1954, as he played a succession of action-packed, tough-guy roles.
It was in the classic Western, 'Shane', in 1953, where Ladd truly excelled himself, in an uncharacteristically honest role, showcasing both his visual magnetism and subtle style.
Most of his films during the 1950s were seen by critics as clichéd bare-chested bar room movies, and his star was falling by the early 1960s.
Ladd continued to make films up until his early death, aged 51, in 1964.
