Film History: Alan Ladd

Director Frank Tuttle, “Alan Ladd as Philip Raven”, 1942, “This Gun for Hire”, Cinematography John Seitz, Paramount Pictures

Born at Hot Springs, Arkansas in September of 1913, Alan Walbridge Ladd was an American actor and film producer who found success with portrayals in film noir, war movies and Westerns in the 1940s and early 1950s.

The only child born to freelance accountant Alan Ladd and English-born Ina Raleigh, Alan Walbridge Ladd was four years old at his father’s death of a heart attack. He and his mother moved to Oklahoma City where she married house painter Jim Beavers. The family relocated to California and eventually settled in the San Fernando Valley where Beavers was given a position at the silent film studio FBO Pictures (Film Booking Offices of America).

Ladd enrolled at North Hollywood High School where, despite his small stature, he became a swimming and diving champion in his teen years. In his senior year, he also participated in the high-school’s theatrical productions, one of which included his role as the comic Ko-Ko in “The Mikado”. After graduating in February of 1934, Ladd worked in various jobs including gas station attendant, lifeguard and hot dog vendor. His first employment in the film industry was a two-year position as a grip at the Warner Brothers studios.

After appearing in several stage productions for the Ben Bard Theater in Hollywood, Alan Ladd appeared in an uncredited role in director David Butler’s 1936 musical football-comedy “Pigskin Parade”. Although able to get short-term work at MGM and RKO, he was signed later that year by radio station KFWB as its sole radio actor, a position he held for three years. Ladd’s work as multiple characters was noticed by actress and talent agent Sue Carol who began to promote him for films and radio. Ladd’s first role through Carol was a credited role in director Frank Lloyd’s 1939 historical drama “Rulers of the Sea” with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Margaret Lockwood.

Over the next few years, Ladd had several small roles in films, among these were the 1940 “Green Hornet” serial, the 1941 comedy horror “The Black Cat”, and an uncredited role as a newspaper reporter in “Citizen Kane”. He gained some recognition for his featured role as a Royal Air Force pilot in the 1942 RKO Radio Pictures war film “Joan of Paris”, a critical success that featured the U.S. screen debuts of Paul Henried and Michèle Morgan. Ladd was given a contract with Paramount Pictures and, after a successful audition, the role of Raven, a paid killer with a conscience in director Frank Tuttle’s 1942 crime film “This Gun for Hire”. Although he had only received fourth billing, Ladd was made a star due to critical praise and fan reaction.

Paramount recognized that Alan Ladd was a potential star and immediately signed him for the adaptation of detective-novel writer Dashiell Hammett’s “The Glass Key” released in October of 1942. This was Ladd’s second pairing with Veronica Lake, who had co-starred with him in “This Gun for Hire”. He followed “The Glass Key” with the 1942 all-star musical “Star Spangled Rhythm” and two films released in 1943, “Lucky Jordan” with Helen Walker and “China” with Loretta Young.

Although classified as unfit for military service due to stomach issues, Ladd enlisted in January of 1943, briefly serving in the U.S. Army Air Forces’ First Motion Picture Unit. He attained the rank of corporal but was given a honorable medical discharge at the end of October due to a stomach disorder complicated by influenza. When Ladd returned to Paramount, he was given the 1944 drama film “And Now Tomorrow”, a melodrama that co-starred Loretta Young. He next acted in the leading role for John Farrow’s historical adventure film “Two Years before the Mast”, which became one of the most popular films in the United States after its belated release in 1946.

In 1945, Paramount Pictures bought American-British detective fiction writer Raymond Chandler’s first original film screenplay “The Blue Dahlia” as a vehicle for Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake and William Bendix. Shot quickly by director George Marshall, the film ranked among the most popular films at the British box office in 1946. Chandler was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay; Ladd was noted for his role as a tough guy in what became known as the film noir genre.

Ladd appeared in several films of mixed critical and commercial reception in 1949 and 1950. These include the 1949 “The Great Gatsby”, “Chicago Deadline”, “Appointment with Danger”, and two Westerns, the 1950 “Branded” and the 1951 “Red Mountain”. These dynamic action-packed roles were followed by Ladd’s most memorable performance as the drifter Shane, an honest character troubled by conflicting emotions. The role of Shane became the highpoint of Ladd’s film career. Directed by George Steven, the 1953 Western “Shane” won an Academy Award for its Technicolor cinematography and became a critical as well as commercial success for Paramount Pictures.

Alan Ladd entered independent film making in 1954 through the founding of Jaguar Productions, a Hollywood production company that released films through Warner Brothers. His first film, the 1954 Western “Drum Beat” was successful and was followed by the 1955 “Hell on Frisco Bay” with Edward G. Robinson, and the 1957 Western “The Big Land” in which he acted opposite Virginia Mayo. In the following year, Ladd acted with his eleven-year old son David and co-star Olivia de Havilland in the 1958 Technicolor Western “The Proud Rebel”, a Michael Curtiz film produced by Samuel Goldwyn Jr.

Ladd continued his acting with films for United Artist, Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox Studios. He also starred in directors Ferdinando Baldi and Terence Young’s 1961 “Duel of Champions”, an epic Roman adventure film shot in Italy. In 1963, Ladd accepted his last film role, the former gunslinger turned actor Nevada Smith, for director Edward Dmytryk’s drama “The Carpetbaggers”. This film adaptation of Harold Robbins’s novel was released to financial success in April of 1964, three months after Ladd’s death.

Alan Ladd was recuperating after knee injuries at his Palm Springs house in January of 1964. He had been suffering badly from insomnia and found solace in sedatives and an increasing dependence on alcohol. The butler saw Ladd on his bed in the morning of the twenty-ninth of January; upon his return in the afternoon, the butler found Ladd dead on the bed. The death was officially ruled accidental. Alan Ladd died at the age of fifty due to cerebral edema caused by acute overdose of alcohol and a mixture of tranquilizers. Ladd was interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale California.

Notes: The CMG Worldwide website has a page on Alan Ladd which includes a biography and a complete filmography: http://www.cmgww.com/stars/ladd/

The Hollywood’s Golden Age website has an extensive biography on Alan Ladd at: http://www.hollywoodsgoldenage.com/actors/alan_ladd.html

Writer, critic and performer Trav S.D. has an excellent 2020 article on his WordPress site “Travalanche” entitled “The Short Life of Alan Ladd” at: https://travsd.wordpress.com/2020/09/03/the-short-life-of-alan-ladd/

An extensive article entitled “The Dynamic Duos Blogathon: Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake” can be found on the “ShadowsandSatin” WordPress site: https://shadowsandsatin.wordpress.com/2013/07/12/the-dynamic-duos-blogathon-alan-ladd-and-veronica-lake/

Top Insert Image: Photographer Unknown, “Alan Ladd as Philip Raven”, 1942, “This Gun for Hire”, Publicity Photo, Paramount Pictures

Second Insert Image: Film Poster, “Captain Carey, U.S.A>”, 1950, Director Mitchell Leisen, Cinematography John F. Seitz, Paramount Pictures

Third Insert Image: Photographer Unknown, “Alan Ladd”, Paramount Publicity Photo, Gelatin Silver Print

Fourth Insert Image: Film Poster, “the Blue Dahlia”, 1946, Director George Marshall, Cinematography Lionel Lindon, Paramount Pictures, 76 x 102 cm, Private Collection

Fifth Insert Image: Eugene R Richee, “Alan Ladd”, 1941, Gelatin Silver Print, Private Collection

Bottom Insert Image: Film Poster, “Calcutta”, 1947, Director John Farrow, Cinematography John F. Seitz, Paramount Pictures

Richard Cromwell: Film History Series

Photographer Unknown, “Richard Cromwell”, circa 1930s, Publicity Photo Shoot, Columbia Pictures

Born in Long Beach, California in January of 1910, Richard Cromwell was an American film, stage and television actor. Hardly recognized today for his film work, he enjoyed a rapid rise to stardom that, accompanied with radio and personal appearances, culminated in a White House invitation from President Herbert Hoover.

Born LeRoy Melvin Radabaugh, the second of five children to inventor Roy Ralph Radabaugh and Euphame Belle Stocking, Richard Cromwell received his initial education at the Long Beach public schools. In 1918, his father died suddenly, one of the many who perished from the Spanish Flu pandemic. As an artistically creative teenager, Cromwell enrolled through a scholarship at Los Angeles’s Chouinard Art Institute. His oil painting and mask-making were impressive and led to commissions from such film legends as Colleen Moore, Joan Crawford, Tallulah Bankhead, Beatrice Lillie, and Greta Garbo.

Cromwell opened his own art studio in Hollywood; however, his interest in the theater eventually led him into an acting career. He initially worked as a scenery set designer for community theater productions and quickly acquired acting roles. Cromwell’s first film role was a walk-on cowboy in the “Song of the Dawn” number of directors John Murray Anderson and Walter Lantz’s 1930 “King of Jazz” for Universal Pictures. Encouraged by friends, he auditioned for lead role in Columbia Studio’s 1930 remake of Henry King’s 1921 classic silent film “Tol’able David”. Despite the lack of a resume, Cromwell won the role and, given the screen name Richard Cromwell by Columbia’s Harry Cohn, was heavily supported by the studio’s publicity department.

Richard Cromwell’s successful role as David, played alongside actors Noah Beery Sr. and John Carradine, led to a multi-year contract with Columbia Studio. Between 1931 and 1932, he had roles in three films for Columbia and one film “The Age of Consent” for RKO Radio Pictures. With the assistance of award-winning actress Marie Dressler, Cromwell was given the lead role opposite Dressler in Metro Goldwyn Mayers’ 1932 comedy-drama “Emma”. Now an actor in demand, he began a series of roles as the sensitive hero in predominately melodramatic films such as Cecil B. DeMille’s 1933 “This Day and Age” and Albert S. Rogell’s 1934 “Among the Missing”.

In 1935, Cromwell appeared in seven films, two of which were particularly noteworthy. In director George Marshall’s 1935 drama, “Life Begins at 40”, he played ex-convict Lee Austin opposite bank manager Kenesaw H. Clark, played by actor and social commentator Will Rogers in his final film role. For director Henry Hathaway’s 1935 adventure film “The Lives of a Bengal Lancer”, Cromwell played the role of the young Lieutenant Donald Stone alongside actors Gary Cooper and Franchot Tone. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning the Assistant Director Award with nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture.

Departing from films for a period, Richard Cromwell made his Broadway stage debut in the 1936 “So Proudly We Hail”. As his popularity in films began to fade, he acted in supporting roles in William Wyler’s 1938 “Jezebel”, playing opposite Henry Fonda and Bette Davis, and John Ford’s 1939 biographical drama “Young Mr. Lincoln”, playing the defendant Matt Clay who is represented by lawyer Abe Lincoln, played by Henry Fonda. In the early 1940s, Cromwell acted in several enemy agent and crime films including the 1942 “Baby Face Morgan” until his service with the United States Coast Guard during the last two years of World War II.

After his return to California at the war’s end, Cromwell found roles to be sparse and retired from film work. His last acting role was in Edward L. Cahn’s 1948 crime drama “Bungalow 13” for 20th Century Fox which starred British detective-actor Tom Conway. By chance, Cromwell met promising actress Angela Lansbury, sixteen years his junior, with whom he eloped and married in September of 1945. The marriage was short, however; they separated within a few months and were divorced by the end of the year. The main cause was Cromwell’s latent homosexuality, verified years later by Lansbury. After the divorce, Lansbury and Cromwell maintained a sincere friendship until his death.

Richard Cromwell settled comfortably into his artwork. Retuning to his birth name of Roy Radabaugh, he built a studio on his property and became an established potter and ceramicist, especially admired for his creative tile designs. Cromwell signed in July of 1960 with producer Maury Dexter for 20th Century Fox’s production “The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come” which starred singer Jimmie Rodgers. Diagnosed with liver cancer a few months later, Cromwell withdrew from production and was replaced by character actor Chill Wells.

After a career that spanned thirty-nine films, Richard Cromwell died from liver cancer in Hollywood on the eleventh of October in 1960 at the age of fifty. His body is interred at Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana, California. Cromwell has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame within walking distance of Angela Lansbury’s star. Materials relating to his radio performances are housed at the Thousand Oaks Library. Cromwell’s memorabilia and ceramic work are housed at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills.

Notes: Roy Ralph Radabaugh, Richard Cromwell’s father, was an inventor whose claim to fame was his patented invention, the “Amusement Park Swing” ride, also known as the “Monoflyer”. Variations of the amusement park ride can still be seen in use at most carnivals today.

Top Insert Image: George Hoyningen-Huene, “Richard Cromwell”, 1934, Gelatin Silver Print, Private Collection

Second Insert Image: Roy William Neill, “That’s My Boy”, 1932, Cinematographer Joseph H, August, Columbia Pictures

Third Insert Image: Photographer Unknown, “Franchot Tone, Richard Cromwell, and Gary Cooper”, Film Location of “The Lives of a Bengal Lancer”, 1934, Director Henry Hathaway, Cinematography Charles Lang, Paramount Pictures

Fourth Insert Image: Henry Hathaway, “The Lives of a Bengal Lancer”, 1935, Cinematography Charles Lang, Paramount Pictures

Bottom Insert Image: Photographer Unknown, “Richard Cromwell”, circa 1935-1950, Publicity Photo

Calendar: February 20

Year: Day to Day Men: February 20

This Old House

The twentieth of February in 1906 marks the birth date of American character actor Gale Gordon. He had a long and prolific career in both radio and television series. Gordon’s portrayal of grumpy and arrogant characters made him the comic foil on “Our Miss Brooks” and three Lucille Ball series.

Born Charles Thomas Aldrich Jr. in New York City, Gale Gordon was the son of vaudevillian Charles Thomas Aldrich and English actress Gloria Gordon. His first appearance on radio broadcast was the roles of Mayor La Trivia and Foggy Williams on the 1935 “Fibber McGee and Molly”. Gordon was the first actor to play the role of Flash Gordon on the 1935 radio serial “The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon”.

From 1937 to 1939, Gordon starred as The Octopus in the “Speed Gibson” radio series. During the years of World War II, he enlisted in the United States Coast Guard where he served for four years. At the end of the war, Gordon returned to radio and played the role of Rumson Bullard on “The Great Gildersleeve”, one of the earliest spin-offs in the entertainment industry. In 1946, he had one of his most dramatic roles on radio, the bachelor amateur detective Gregory Hood on the popular 1946-1947 “The Casebook of Gregory Hood”. The series was originally just a summer replacement for the canceled “The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”; the network had failed to reach a contractual agreement with the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle estate.

In 1950, Gale Gordon played John Granby, a former city dweller turned farmer, in the radio series “Granby’s Green Acres”, which was the model for the 1960s television series “Green Acres”. He created the role of principle Osgood Conklin on the 1948 radio series “Our Miss Brooks” and later carried the role to the 1952 television series. Gordon also worked at this time on the radio show “My Favorite Husband” in which he played Rudolph Atterbury opposite Lucille Ball as Liz Cugat. He and Ball had previously worked together from 1938 to 1939 on “The Wonder Show” with actor and singer Jack Haley, later known as the Tin-Man in “The Wizard of Oz”

Gordon was the first choice for the role of Fred Mertz on the 1951 television situation comedy “I Love Lucy”. However, he had made a commitment to his role in “Our Miss Brooks”, in addition to his other concurrent radio shows. Gordon did appear in two guest roles on “I Love Lucy” as Ricky Ricardo’s boss, Alvin Littlefield, the owner of the Tropicana Club. In the late 1950s, he was a regular on the 1957 NBC sitcom “Sally” and also appeared on ABC’s “The Real McCoys” with Walter Brennan and Richard Crenna. Other appearances included a guest role on the 1960 ABC “Harrigan and Son” and roles in two episodes of “The Donna Reed Show” and seven episodes of “The Danny Thomas Show”.

Lucille Ball created “The Lucy Show” in 1952 and planned to hire Gale Gordon for the role of the banker Theodore J. Mooney. However, after the death of actor Joseph Kearns who played George Wilson on “Dennis the Menace”, Gordon had signed a contract to play John Wilson on the show. When “Dennis the Menace” ended its run in the spring of 1963, Gordon joined “The Lucy Show” for the 1963-1964 season. After the sale of Desilu Studios in 1968, Lucille Ball discontinued the show and remade it into “Here’s Lucy” with herself as producer and distributor. Gordon took on the role of her boss, Harrison Otis.

When “Here’s Lucy” ended in 1974, Gordon basically retired from acting. His friend and acting cohort, Lucille Ball persuaded him to take a role in her new series “Life with Lucy”, which ran for three months. Gordon’s final acting appearance was a 1991 reprise of Mr. Mooney for the first episode of”Hi Honey, I’m Home”, a thirteen episode television comedy.

Gale Gordon and his wife Virginia Curley lived on a 150 acre ranch he had helped construct in Borrego Springs, California. Gordon wrote two books in the 1940s: “Leaves from the Story Trees” and “Nursery Rhymes for Hollywood Babies” and two one-act plays. He was also one of the few carob growers in the United States. Gordon’s wife of nearly sixty years died in May of 1995; he died of lung cancer one month later on the thirtieth of June. Gordon was inducted posthumously into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1999 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Second Insert Image: Publicity Photo, Gale Gordon and Eve Arden, “Our Miss Brooks”, September 1955

Third Insert Image: Publicity Photo, Gale Gordon and Jay North, “Dennis the Menace”, circa 1962-1963