Alan Ladd

Born in Hot Springs, Arkansas on September 3, 1913, Alan Ladd’s All-American good looks took him far in Hollywood. His family moved to Hollywood when he was four years old and he attended high school there where he became a successful swimming and diving champion. He was also a prominent player in high school dramas and after graduation, he briefly worked at various jobs before attending acting school at Universal pictures. The school deemed him too short, at 5’5” and too blonde for movies, so he turned to radio as a career.

Radio didn’t care about his height or the color of his hair, and he was soon active in broadcasting. Ladd was cast in the role of Dan Holiday in the mystery/adventure series Box 13. This radio series was about a retired newspaper fiction writer and also starred Sylvia Picker and regulars such as Lurene Tuttle and John Beal.

During the war time years, Ladd made appearances on the patriotic wartime drama, Ceiling Unlimited, which was produced and directed by Orson Welles, to describe what he was seeing in the war. Unfortunately however, there are only a few episodes in existence and none with Ladd.

Shane, starring Alan Ladd, Van Heflin and Ruth Hussey was one of the most important and memorable dramas presented on the popular Lux Radio Theater, a radio show that aired popular film dramas in radio format.

Request Performance was a variety show based on listener request. Alan Ladd was one of the most requested stars during the mid-1940s as was Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Van Johnson. The show was vaudevillian and didn’t have the popularity that Command Performance had because the war was over and other shows were filling newer wants.

Ladd was particularly successful in radio, television and film that had to do with the war. During the late 1940s, Ladd appeared in original stories for a dramatic anthology called So Proudly We Hail. Clark Gable, Ronald Reagan and Robert Mitchum also starred in some of these radio dramas.

Stars Over Hollywood was another dramatic anthology radio show that began broadcasting in 1941 and continued until 1954. Ladd and other stars such as Anita Louise, Phil Harris and Mary Astor appeared on many daytime shows, breaking the myth that daytime soap operas couldn’t be surpassed in popularity.

Other radio shows featuring Alan Ladd include, Suspense, Screen Director's Playhouse, Burns and Allen and Screen Guild Players.

Ladd’s film credits included the title role in Shane, a western film released in 1953 and that made Ladd one of the top ten money making stars for four years. He played a bit part in Citizen Kane and a hit man called Raven in Gun for Hire, which was also performed by Lux Radio Theater in January 1943.

Alan married Marjorie Jane Harrold in 1936 and after divorcing, married Sue Carol in 1942. His children include Alan (to Marjorie), Alana, David and Carol Lee. 

Alan Ladd possibly attempted suicide in November of 1962. In January 1964 he was found lying in a pool of blood and unconscious in Palm Springs, California.  He had died of an overdose of drugs and alcohol at age 50. His death was ruled accidental because he suffered from insomnia and regularly consumed alcohol and pills for relief.

Happy listening my friends,