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Alan Ladd
| Biography |
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.
Struggling to enter acting, 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 Alan 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.
He married and become a father in 1936 and, in 1941, anded the small part of the reporter in Orson Welles’ 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 other 1950s films were clichéd bare-chested bar room movies, and his stardom was waning by the early 1960s.
Ladd continued to make films up until his early death, aged 51, in 1964.
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