Alan Ladd

He was the only child of Ina Raleigh (also known as Selina Rowley) (1888–1937), and Alan Ladd (1874–1917), a freelance accountant.

His mother was English, from County Durham, and had migrated to the U.S. in 1907 when she was 19.

His father died of a heart attack when Ladd was four.

Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American actor and film producer.

Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, on September 3, 1913.

On July 3, 1918, young Alan accidentally burned down the family home while playing with matches.

In the early 1920s an economic downturn led to Ladd's family moving to California, which took four months.

They lived in a migrant camp in Pasadena, California, at first and then moved to the San Fernando Valley, where Beavers went to work at FBO Studios as a painter.

Ladd enrolled in North Hollywood High School on February 18, 1930.

He became a high-school swimming and diving champion and participated in high school dramatics in his senior year, including the role of Ko-Ko in The Mikado.

Ladd appeared unbilled in Once in a Lifetime (1932), but the studio eventually decided Ladd was too blond and too short, and it dropped him after six months.

(All of Ladd's fellow "discoveries" eventually were dropped, including a young Tyrone Power.)

His diving skills led to his appearance in the aquatic show Marinella in July 1933.

Ladd's performance in The Mikado was seen by a talent scout.

In August 1933 Ladd was one of a group of young "discoveries" signed to a long-term contract with Universal Pictures.

The contract had options that could continue for seven years, but they were all in the studio's favor.

At 20, Ladd graduated from high school on February 1, 1934.

He worked in the advertising department of the San Fernando Sun Valley Record, becoming the newspaper's advertising manager.

When the paper changed hands, Ladd lost his job.

He sold cash registers and borrowed $150 to open his own hamburger and malt shop, across from his previous high school, which he called Tiny's Patio (his nickname at high school was Tiny), but he was unable to make a success of the shop.

In another attempt to break into the film industry, Ladd went to work at Warner Bros. as a grip and stayed two years.

He was injured falling off a scaffold and decided to quit.

Ladd managed to save and borrow enough money to attend an acting school run by Ben Bard, who had taught him when he was under contract at Universal.

Ladd appeared in several stage productions for Bard.

Bard later claimed Ladd "was such a shy guy he just wouldn't speak up loud and strong. I had to get him to lower his voice too; it was too high. I also insisted that he get himself a decent set of dentures."

His mother moved to Oklahoma City, where she married Jim Beavers, a house painter (d. 1936).

In 1936, Ladd played an unbilled role in Pigskin Parade.

He had short-term stints at MGM and RKO and got regular professional acting work only when he turned to radio.

Ladd had worked to develop a rich, deep voice ideal for that medium, and in 1936 he was signed by station KFWB as its sole radio actor.

He stayed for three years at KFWB, working as many as 20 shows per week.

One night Ladd was playing the roles of a father and son on radio when he was heard by the agent Sue Carol.

She was impressed and called the station to talk to the actors and was told it was one person.

She arranged to meet him and, impressed by his looks, she signed him to her books and enthusiastically promoted her new client in films as well as on radio.

Ladd found success in film in the 1940s and early 1950s, particularly in films noir and Westerns.

He was often paired with Veronica Lake in films noir, such as This Gun for Hire (1942), The Glass Key (1942), and The Blue Dahlia (1946).

His other notable credits include Two Years Before the Mast (1946) and The Great Gatsby (1949).

Whispering Smith (1948) was his first Western and color film, and Shane (1953) was noted for its contributions to the genre.

Ladd also appeared in ten films with William Bendix.

His popularity diminished in the mid-1950s, though he continued to appear in numerous films, including his first supporting role since This Gun for Hire in the smash hit The Carpetbaggers released in 1964.

He died of an accidental combination of alcohol, a barbiturate, and two tranquilizers in January 1964.