Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American actor and film and television producer. Ladd found success in film the 1940s and early 1950s, particularly in Westerns such as Shane (1953) and film noirs where he was often paired with Veronica Lake, such as This Gun for Hire (1942), The Glass Key (1942) and The Blue Dahlia (1946). Other notable credits include Two Years Before the Mast (1946), Whispering Smith (1949) and The Great Gatsby (1949). His popularity diminished in the late 1950s, though he continued to appear in popular films until his accidental death due to a lethal combination of alcohol, a barbiturate, and two tranquilizers.
Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas on 3 September 1913. He was the only child of Ina Raleigh (also known as Selina Rowley) (b 25 November 1888), and Alan Ladd, a freelance accountant. His mother was English, from County Durham, and had migrated to the USA in 1907 when she was nineteen. His father died of a heart attack when Ladd was four. On 3 July 1918 a young Alan accidentally burnt down the family home while playing with matches. His mother relocated to Oklahoma City, where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter (d 1936).
Alan Ladd was a good man.
He shot holes in the wigwams.
What would he say to the cavalry, now?
'I've got a touch of the Van Dammes.'
Here's another slug in your eye.
Catch you on the wagon again,
on the wagon again.
If you dance on the desert floor enough
Indians will come back like rain.
Bopping around on the ground like Hollywood made them
To fall off the map, to fall off the map,
to fall off the map for John Wayne
ooh, John Wayne (John Wayne)
John Wayne
I wish I had your brain
John Wayne
I wish I had your brain
Yeah and my gun,