Alan Ladd

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.

Biography

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).

Distant Drums

Distant Drums is a 1951 "Florida Western" film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Gary Cooper. It is set during the Second Seminole War in the 1840s, with Cooper playing an Army captain who destroys a fort held by the Seminole Indians then retreats into the Everglades while under chase.

The actual location of the fort in the film was the historic Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida, where most of the filming took place.

The enduring legacy of this movie is the earliest known use of the Wilhelm scream sound effect, originally used to vocalize a character being torn to pieces by an alligator.

The title of Pedro Almodóvar's film Tacones lejanos (literally "Distant Heels" but released as High Heels) is a reference to the Spanish title of this film (Tambores lejanos).

Plot

In 1840, U.S. Army General Zachary Taylor sends out naval Lieutenant Tufts and scout Monk to a remote Florida island home, where the reclusive Captain Quincy Wyatt lives with a 5-year-old son.

The soldiers' mission is to destroy an old Spanish fort used by gunrunners, and rescue men and women taken prisoner by Seminole warriors. One of them, Judy Beckett, develops a romantic attraction to Capt. Wyatt as they flee the Indians into the Everglades.

Distant Drums (song)

"Distant Drums" is a song which provided US singer Jim Reeves with his only UK number one hit – albeit posthumously – in the United Kingdom in 1966, some two years after his death in a plane crash on 31 July 1964. The song remained in the UK Singles Chart for 45 weeks. The single also topped the US country chart for four weeks, becoming his most successful posthumous single.

Legacy

Although Roy Orbison had recorded the song in 1963, it is Reeves' version of "Distant Drums" which has endured over the years.

During its time at the top of the UK chart, the song beat off stiff competition from several major (and living) artists of the day. These included The Beatles - who had entered the UK chart around the same time with their double A-sided release "Eleanor Rigby"/"Yellow Submarine" - and the Small Faces, who had also charted in the UK with "All or Nothing".

It was an unexpected achievement for a song that Reeves had recorded for its composer, Cindy Walker, under the impression it was for her private use only and had earlier been dismissed by both the RCA record company and Chet Atkins (a noted guitarist and record producer who worked with Reeves) as unsuitable for wider public release.

Jim Reeves discography

This is a detailed discography for American country pop artist Jim Reeves.

Albums

Singles

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

Other singles

B-Sides

Notes

References

External links