{"id":22529,"date":"2012-05-18T06:00:59","date_gmt":"2012-05-18T10:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=22529"},"modified":"2014-02-11T09:41:33","modified_gmt":"2014-02-11T14:41:33","slug":"just-shy-of-respect-the-hollywood-life-and-death-of-alan-ladd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=22529","title":{"rendered":"Just Shy of Respect: The Hollywood Life and Death of Alan Ladd"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Guest blogger \u00a0presents this captivating look at the life and death of a true Hollywood original: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Most people believe Alan Ladd <\/a>committed suicide, but the details surrounding his death are so convoluted no one can be sure what really happened. History is often guilty of erring on the side of sensationalism \u2014 but in Ladd\u2019s case suicide is the logical assumption. In 1962 he was found lying half-dead in a pool of blood with a bullet lodged in his chest. The newspapers bought into the story of an accident, but everyone who knew him believed it was a botched suicide attempt. It really doesn\u2019t matter whether his January 1964 death was intentional or not; Ladd\u2019s life had been in a downward spiral for years \u2014 some could say from the moment he broke into the movie business \u2014 and it was apparent that he was hell-bent on digging an early grave.
<\/span><\/p>\n

The average movie watcher doesn\u2019t understand how difficult life could be for the stars of studio-era Hollywood, or how truthful that old industry adage: \u201cyou\u2019re only as good as your last picture\u201d really was. It\u2019s a dollars and cents, bottom line, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately kind of business, and despite a product that was typically lighthearted, uplifting, and sentimental, the industry itself could be painfully harsh. It goes without saying that Hollywood dreamers had to be made of tough stuff, but as is often the case in life, many of those who struggled mightily to achieve success didn\u2019t know how to hold themselves together once they made it \u2014\u00a0or what to do when the spotlight moved on to the next big thing. Certainly this was the case with Alan Ladd, a hardscrabble kid who worked a million humble jobs before he finally arrived, only to be so terrified of losing it all that he let his insecurities devour him. The foundation upon which his self-esteem stood was simply not strong enough to sustain him. His fame and wealth notwithstanding, he was the most insecure, frightened, and guilt-ridden superstar in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

Few performers ever made as smashing a debut as Ladd did in the 1942 film This Gun for Hire<\/a> \u2014\u00a0if it can be called a debut at all. Devotees know This Gun wasn\u2019t his first appearance, though the misconception exists owing to the \u201cand introducing Alan Ladd as Raven\u201d treatment he gets in the title cards. Ladd had appeared from time to time, usually inconsequentially, in movies since the mid-thirties; he had a small but important part in 1942\u2019s Joan of Paris<\/a>, and a bit role as a reporter in Citizen Kane<\/a>. His breakout in This Gun for Hire is unforgettable. After the first rushes came in, Paramount execs and director Frank Tuttle realized they had a potential superstar on their hands, and reworked numerous shots to build him up, shifting the focus away from top-billed Robert Preston<\/a>, and bolstering Ladd\u2019s scenes with Veronica Lake<\/a>. It still fell to the inexperienced actor to make good on the investment, and within a few minutes of running time he establishes himself as a bona fide movie marvel, creating the screen persona that he would riff on for more than a decade \u2014\u00a0one that would see him ascend to the peak of Mount Hollywood, and become for a few years the most popular screen actor in the world.<\/p>\n

Ladd emerged from This Gun for Hire as Paramount\u2019s shooting star \u2014\u00a0bigger even than Bing Crosby<\/a> \u2014\u00a0so the studio went to work carefully crafting an image that would ensure the continued adoration of the public. Adolph Zuckor felt it was important to create for him a fantastical, picture postcard life. The public loves movie stars a lot more than they do actors, so Paramount set out to turn Ladd into the biggest movie star of them all. Certain aspects of his past, such as the brief first marriage and resulting child were swept under the rug; he was given a carefully devised script from which to draw on for press interviews and public appearances. The newly-minted version of Alan Ladd would be featured primarily in romantic hero roles \u2014\u00a0still tough as nails \u2014\u00a0but always the good guy. The smiling family man on the cover of innumerable fan magazines wasn\u2019t an outright lie, but it was surely a sanitized version of the truth \u2014\u00a0and an impossible one for him to live up to, though he felt obliged to try.<\/p>\n

In spite of the one-dimensional character types he played in his films, Ladd was a talented man. He was kind and good-natured, but horribly apprehensive about his size, his background, and most of all his acting. His costars usually found him unapproachably distant, though those he worked with more than once came to realize he was just mortified of being revealed as a fraud. Ladd\u2019s greatest problem was that he took to heart every negative thing written about him. When Geraldine Fitzgerald encouraged him to accept the lead in The Great Gatsby he confided, \u201cI won\u2019t be able to do it because I can\u2019t act, you know.\u201d Yet Robert Preston said, \u201c\u2026he was an awfully good actor. So many people didn\u2019t realize this. It\u2019s said that the publicity department invented him, but they didn\u2019t really have to. He would have made it without that \u2014\u00a0and I think his life would have been happier.\u201d Virginia Mayo<\/a>, who adored him, said it best: \u201cThe whole problem with Alan\u2019s psyche was his inability to remember that he was a big star. And he was the biggest\u2026. The lack of artistic recognition affected him, affected him tragically\u2026\u201d Though Veronica Lake, who appeared alongside Ladd more often than any other actress, and whose life in some ways paralleled his, characterized their time together in surprisingly professional terms: \u201cboth of us were very aloof\u2026. We were a very good match for one another. It enabled us to work together very easily and without friction or temperament.\u201d However, all who worked with him sensed a deep sadness in the man. When an interviewer asked him what he would change about himself if he could, he famously replied, \u201cEverything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ladd was always more at ease with the crew than he was other performers or studio executives. He had begun in Hollywood as a laborer and enjoyed being around those who worked behind the scenes. Yet he was able to form lasting friendships with a few of his costars in spite of being \u201caloof,\u201d including Edmond O\u2019Brien<\/a>, Lloyd Nolan<\/a>, and Van Heflin<\/a> \u2014\u00a0but most notably William Bendix<\/a>. The pair met while costarring in The Glass Key and would appear together in often. They began auspiciously, after Bendix accidentally cold-cocked Ladd during a fight scene. Ladd was so taken by the big man\u2019s concern for his safety that they formed an immediate bond. Their close friendship was widely publicized \u2014\u00a0they even purchased homes across the street from one another. According to Bill\u2019s wife Tess Bendix, things went astray when Ladd\u2019s wife Sue Carol made an offhand remark about Bendix\u2019s lack of military service. Stuck in the middle, Ladd was obliged to choose between his friend and his wife, and it would be a decade before the two would have a conversation that didn\u2019t involve reading lines on a movie set. Once they finally reconciled, Ladd would lean heavily on his old friend. Bendix was constantly out of town during the early sixties, working almost exclusively on the stage. Tess remembers many late-night phone calls that involved a despondent Ladd pleading with Bendix to break his contracts and return to California. Bendix\u2019s heartbreak in the wake of Ladd\u2019s 1964 death was tremendous, and unfortunately short-lived \u2014\u00a0suffering from pneumonia, he would follow his best friend in death before the year was out.<\/p>\n

The roots of Ladd\u2019s depression can almost certainly be traced back to his childhood, which was anything but stable \u2014 his father died before his eyes when he was only four years old. When his mother remarried, the family began a Joad-like trek west and eventually settled in California. Their itinerant days cost Ladd a few years in school \u2014\u00a0and consequently he was not only the smallest, but also the oldest boy in his year. Nor did it help that he made poor grades, was excruciatingly shy, and had no stable male role model. If suicide is hereditary, then he never had a chance. In 1937, wrecked on alcohol and poverty, his mother swallowed ant poison and died before his eyes, just as he was struggling to get his first break. The incident naturally devastated him, and many insiders have speculated that he spent the rest of his life seeking to replace the doting woman who had been his only source of reassurance and approval. Sue Carol, ten years his senior, filled some of the void left in his mother\u2019s wake, and Ladd came to consider the Paramount a surrogate home. Nonetheless, he was plagued with guilt about his mother for the rest of his days, and when he left the comfortable surroundings of Paramount his peace of mind and sense of stability deteriorated even further.<\/p>\n

Even in the years after he achieved stardom and financial security, Ladd\u2019s self-image and the rigors of a public life were a source of distress \u2014\u00a0he referred to himself as \u201cthe most insecure guy in Hollywood.\u201d He wanted to be thought of as a serious actor but took to heart the whisperings that he was more a product of Paramount\u2019s publicity machine than his own ability. He wanted to try different roles, but Adolph Zuckor considered him too valuable, and wouldn\u2019t risk damaging his carefully constructed screen persona by giving him other kinds of parts. Ladd never complained much \u2014\u00a0he would have felt too guilty. The studio had given him his start, and after having been poor for so long he felt deeply indebted; so much so that he played ball with his bosses in ways that seem perplexing today. For much of his career, he kept his first marriage and the resulting child, Alan Ladd Jr., a secret from the public. The fan magazines, as well as Sue Carol herself, were more than happy to go along with the script. Ladd\u2019s squeaky-clean image sold millions of magazines, and it did no one any good to rock the boat.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Carol, a former actress-turned-agent, represented Ladd tirelessly during the period leading up to This Gun for Hire. Even in the years after they were married, when her public role shifted to that of wife and mother, she remained the guiding force behind his career. Everyone from film historians to family friends has suggested that she did as much to maintain Ladd\u2019s screen image as the studios, and that while their marriage was sound (Ladd absolutely refused to remove his wedding ring during production of his films) she nevertheless contributed to the burden of stardom that so weighed on her husband\u2019s shoulders. She also contributed greatly to his happiness by giving him two children. Alana was born in 1943, followed by David in 1947.<\/p>\n

Of his three kids David would follow most closely in his father\u2019s footsteps. He appeared briefly in Shane, and then won a much larger role alongside Ladd in 1958\u2019s The Proud Rebel<\/a>. David received solid notices for his work \u2014\u00a0as well as a Golden Globe for Best Juvenile Actor \u2014 and quickly became a sought-after child star. He worked for two decades as a film and television actor, then transitioned to a long career as a film executive, and was married to Charlie\u2019s Angels actress Cheryl Ladd for seven years.<\/p>\n

The need to protect Alan Ladd\u2019s image waned with his stardom, and the full story of his first marriage and son finally became public. Movie fans embraced Laddie with no hint of scandal, though the guilt the father felt at keeping his son a secret for so long was debilitating. Alan Ladd Jr. would also enjoy a significant career in the movie industry, becoming one the most successful executives in Hollywood. His tenure as president of Twentieth Century Fox saw Young Frankenstein, Star Wars, and Alien hit theaters. In 1995 he was awarded the Academy Award for Best Picture as producer of Braveheart. He continues to produce quality films \u2014\u00a0most recently Ben Affleck\u2019s Gone Baby Gone.<\/p>\n

Alan Ladd spent a decade at Paramount following This Gun for Hire, in a succession of weaker and weaker films that still scored millions for the studio. By the end of the forties, he was arguably the most popular actor in the world, regardless of the second-rate material the studio put him in. Darryl Zanuck called him \u201cthe indestructible man,\u201d and fully aware of Ladd\u2019s reputation as a one trick pony, he longed to get him under contract at Fox. When Ladd finally left Paramount for big money from another studio, it wasn\u2019t Zanuck but Jack Warner who placed the winning bid. Warner would quickly come to regret the deal however, as Ladd, no longer in the comforting embrace of Paramount, began to flounder. His performances got worse and worse, and even 1953\u2019s Shane \u2014 made at Paramount but released after he and the studio separated \u2014\u00a0couldn\u2019t resurrect his career. He got great buzz and Shane was a colossal success, but the studios responded by rushing every awful Ladd picture they had canned into release in order to cash in \u2014 before long he was back where he started, longing to appear in a decent picture and wondering where things went wrong. For the rest of the fifties Ladd made one bad movie after the next. He was hopeful about 1957\u2019s Boy on a Dolphin. Cast next to rising star Sophia Loren, he was devastated when director Jean Negulesco favored the statuesque Italian beauty and treated him like an afterthought in every shot. Michael Curtiz helmed 1959\u2019s The Man in the Net<\/a>, with Ladd in the title role. He was excited to work with an A-list director, even if Curtiz had a reputation for being a tyrant. Both were awful failures; it was clear to all that Ladd\u2019s tenure as an above-the-title film star was over.<\/p>\n

Lacking the meaningful work to distract him from his thoughts, Ladd became an alcoholic. He couldn\u2019t sleep and got hooked on Secobarbital. Neither his family, his legacy, nor his tremendous wealth could undo the damage. He believed he had never been given the chance to be a real actor and had never been taken seriously as anything other than a pretty face. His problem was that he believed every bad word the critics had ever written about him, and it was too late to rewrite history. He appeared one last time, in 1964\u2019s The Carpetbaggers, as an aging western star. He got decent notices and there was talk of a comeback as a character actor, \u00e0 la Edward G. Robinson, but it wasn\u2019t to be. The once beautiful lead of such films as Lucky Jordan, Two Years Before the Mast, and The Great Gatsby was simply used up. On January 29, 1964, eight weeks prior to the release of The Carpetbaggers, Ladd\u2019s butler discovered his body in his Palm Springs bedroom. Having mixed liquor and sleeping pills one time too many, his body finally failed. It\u2019s easy to believe he killed himself, but whether he chose to end his life that night or not, the more important truth is that some people are simply not blessed with happiness, despite fame and fortune, and try as they might their pain is such that it eventually overwhelms them. Nobody in Hollywood was surprised to learn that Alan Ladd was dead.<\/p>\n

Returning to This Gun for Hire after viewing the full arc of Ladd\u2019s career is jarring: his blonde hair is burned into our memory, though for his debut Paramount ironically dyed his hair black \u2014\u00a0a character named Raven couldn\u2019t possibly be fair-haired. Ladd\u2019s mop had held him back for years \u2014studios believed dark hair photographed better! Paramount, home of Sterling Hayden and William Holden, was the only lot where sandy hair wasn\u2019t considered a setback. However it\u2019s the industry\u2019s never-ending campaign to camouflage Ladd\u2019s height that we recall now, particularly in This Gun for Hire. Few other actors have been so stigmatized by their shortness, Ladd especially so because he was a screen tough guy. Sure, Edward G. Robinson was Little Caesar, but with him size was part of his swagger, an integral part of his screen image \u2014\u00a0and unlike Ladd, Robinson was never a romantic leading man. In Ladd\u2019s case, everyone wished he were taller. He stood 5\u20196\u201d, as tall as Cagney and just two measly inches shorter than Bogart. Yet there was something about his look \u2014\u00a0his boyishness, the pretty face, thin frame \u2014 that made him appear smaller than his older and more famous peers. Like most small men Ladd was sensitive; he would shy away from making personal appearances in order to avoid the surprised expressions and hurtful slights of his those surprised at his size. And while he could occasionally dodge the public, his stature was an inescapable issue on-set. Robert Preston would write of their time doing This Gun for Hire, \u201c\u2026you couldn\u2019t use a stand-in when you were working in a scene with him because there would be so many cables and stands and reflectors you couldn\u2019t get in or out. And this is what sort of stultified Laddie. They were photographing a doll \u2026 It\u2019s so sad, because he was an awfully good actor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet it is to Ladd\u2019s credit that Paramount went to such extremes to give him a public face, as well as conceal his height \u2014\u00a0for anyone else they wouldn\u2019t have bothered. He was the studio\u2019s golden goose; audiences just loved him. There was no need to purchase a major literary property or shoot on-location, Ladd\u2019s name on the marquee ensured major profits \u2014 even if the picture was a stinker. Throughout the 1940s his movies were simply bulletproof: every single one made money, to the tune of $55,000,000 in the studio coffers. No other star made so much money in such cheap pictures. In the grand scheme of things, making him look taller was just good business.<\/p>\n

Nowhere are the studio\u2019s efforts to carefully cultivate Ladd\u2019s screen image more apparent than in This Gun for Hire\u2019s opening scene, which finds his Philip Raven waking from a night of troubled sleep. He sits up and reaches for an envelope, while palming his nickel-plated automatic. The camera work is all strictly low angle, and when Ladd finally gets off the bed his head practically brushes the ceiling. Whether it was the camera position, a shallow depth of field, or a cut-down set, the shot is obviously contrived to make Raven appear a great deal taller than Alan Ladd. When that famous kitten-hating maid shows up, itching for one of the best slaps in movie history, the camera angle shifts from low to high, and Ladd, now looming over the girl, is suddenly ten feet tall. This sort of cinematic sleight of hand would characterize his career. The studios used a number of tricks to make him appear as tall as possible: he might stand on a raised platform or his leading lady might step into a freshly dug hole. It\u2019s worth noting that in addition to their great sexual chemistry, Paramount loved pairing Ladd with Veronica Lake because she was barely five feet tall \u2014\u00a0one of the few actresses who could wear heels and still look right to him.<\/p>\n

Although Ladd is more often described as a movie star rather than an actor (which meant then, as it does now, that critics credited his success more to his looks than his ability), his performance in This Gun for Hire is damn good. The producers knew the film depended casting an actor able to portray a psychopathic killer who would come across as both cold-blooded and sympathetic. Ladd was blessed with a face that was chiseled and attractive, and his knife-edge voice was simply magnificent. His early-career experience as a radio actor had given him precise control over his pitch and timbre \u00a0\u2014\u00a0he could portray different emotions while keeping his face cold, making Raven one of noir\u2019s iciest killers. In a few key moments throughout the movie Ladd softens his character just enough to give the audience a glimpse of the hurt kid lurking underneath the grim fa\u00e7ade. The effect is powerful, and in terms of Hollywood currency, a star-maker. His special ability to play characters both vulnerable and tough-as-nails was unique \u2014\u00a0it was his special something, the \u201cit\u201d that made him a magnificent screen star. His physical beauty and potent chemistry with Lake was the icing on the cake. The Hayes code demanded that Raven pay for his crimes in the final reel of This Gun for Hire, but you ache for it not to be so. You wish that he could somehow survive to escape with the girl, his misdeeds revealed as a frame-up or as a hoax. Instead, the denouement is clumsy and artificial, with Lake and her putz boyfriend Preston awkwardly embracing as Ladd bleeds to death at their feet.<\/p>\n

The New York critics may have had Alan Ladd\u2019s number when they derided him as merely a movie star, and it may also be true that the \u201cserious\u201d career he wanted so badly eluded him. But in spite of all the criticism and Ladd\u2019s immense self-loathing, his movies have pleased millions. He made his first splash as a professional killer in an iconic film noir, establishing a potent new character type that would stand the test of time and be exploited to the point of clich\u00e9 in the crime pictures of the forties and fifties. From trendsetting early efforts such as This Gun for Hire and The Glass Key, through the more mature The Blue Dahlia, and even in less well known noirs such as Calcutta, Chicago \"\"<\/a>Deadline, and the fantastic Appointment with Danger, Ladd was a key actor in the canon of film noir. His screen charisma, immense popularity, and ability to humanize the hoodlum ensured the continued development of the noir style in the Hollywood studio system; and his movies have weathered the years in ways he couldn\u2019t possibly have imagined. His last great role came as the good-guy hero in what many consider to be the American western.<\/p>\n

And he thought he was small.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mark Fertig is chair of the department of art and art history at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. His film interests focus on mid-century crime films and the Academy Awards. For more on his views on cinema, visit Where Danger Lives<\/strong><\/a>. <\/em>This essay was originally published in Noir City, the magazine of the Film Noir Foundation<\/a>. If the noir community has a hub, it\u2019s the FNF. Mr. Fertig’s pals over there are working hard to preserve original 35 mm prints of classic noirs, putting on the fantastic Noir City film festivals, publishing a great magazine and tirelessly working to promote the wonders of film noir. By all means check out their peerless work!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest blogger \u00a0presents this captivating look at the life and death of a true Hollywood original: \u00a0Most people believe Alan Ladd committed suicide, but the details surrounding his death are so convoluted no one can be sure what really happened….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9707,"featured_media":22530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[5596,3279],"coauthors":[5393],"class_list":["post-22529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-articles","tag-actor-profiles","tag-alan-ladd"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Hollywood Life and Death of Alan Ladd<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Alan Ladd: A look at Hollywood screen legend Alan Ladd. Famous for 1942 film This Gun for Hire, 1942\u2019s Joan of Paris and a bit role in Citizen Kane\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=22529\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Hollywood Life and Death of Alan Ladd\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alan Ladd: A look at Hollywood screen legend Alan Ladd. 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