Alan Ladd Movies

Want to know the best Alan Ladd movies?  How about the worst Alan Ladd movies?  Curious about Alan Ladd box office grosses or which Alan Ladd movie picked up the most Oscar nominations? Need to know which Alan Ladd movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well, you have come to the right place…. because we have all of that information.

In the hierarchy of movie-tough guys, Alan Ladd (1913-1964), is an honored name.  Ladd was an American actor who found success in film during the 1940s and early 1950s.  We think the best current comparison to Ladd is Bruce Willis.  Each specialized in box office hit action movies and each got very little respect for their acting abilities.  Ladd’s IMDb page shows 98 acting credits from 1932-1964. This page will take a statistical look at 50 Alan Ladd movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information.  His uncredited roles, his cameo roles and his television appearances were not included in the table.

Drivel part:  So after getting sidetracked on some other UMR movie page projects….we felt it was time to start knocking out some of the performers from our Request Hotline page.  So Søren, Flora & Dan…here is finally your requested Alan Ladd UMR movie page.

Alan Ladd in 1942’s This Gun For Hire

Alan Ladd Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

1942’s The Glass Key

Alan Ladd Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort Alan Ladd movies by his co-stars
  • Sort Alan Ladd movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Alan Ladd movies by yearly domestic box office rank
  • Sort Alan Ladd movies by how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Alan Ladd movie received.
  • Sort Alan Ladd movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Alan Ladd in 1964's The Carpetbaggers...his last movie was the biggest box office hit of his career
Alan Ladd in 1964’s The Carpetbaggers…his last movie was the biggest box office hit of his career

Possibly Interesting Facts About Alan Ladd

  1. Alan Walbridge Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas on September 3rd, 1913.

2. Alan Ladd was a swimming and diving champion in high school.

3. Alan Ladd has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1601 Vine Street.  He received his star in 1960.

4.  Alan Ladd He and Veronica Lake made seven movies together: 1942’s This Gun For Hire, 1942’s The Glass Key, 1942’s Star Spangled Rhythm,  1945’s Duffy’s Tavern, 1946’s The Blue Dahlia (1946), 1947’s Variety Girl and 1948’s Saigon (1948). In Variety Girl (1947), Star Spangled Rhythm (1942) and Duffy’s Tavern (1945), they appear as themselves.

5.  Alan Ladd was the visual inspiration for the original illustrations of superhero Green Lantern/Alan Scott (created in 1940). Ladd was 27 years old at the point. The Green Lantern’s full name is Alan Ladd Wellington Scott.

6.  Alan Ladd was ranked in the annual Top 10 Box Office Stars 3 times:  His was ranked 10th in 1947, 4th in 1953 and 6th in 1954.

7.  Alan Ladd was married two times in his life. He had 3 children.  His son, Alan Ladd, Jr. won an Oscar® for producing 1995’s Braveheart.  His son, David Ladd, earned a Golden Globe® nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 1958’s The Proud Rebel.  His daughter, Alana Ladd, appeared in four of her father’s movies….including a part in Shane.  His granddaughter, Jordan Ladd, has over 50 IMDb acting credits.

8.  Alan Ladd was strongly considered for or actually attached to these roles:  Kirk Douglas role in Detective Story, Gregory Peck role in Roman Holiday, James Dean role in Giant, John Wayne role in The Sons of Katie Elder, Spencer Tracy role in Bad Day At Black Rock and William Holden role in Submarine Command.

9.  Check out Alan Ladd’s movie career compared to current and classic stars on our Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time page.

10.  Many people might have first discovered Alan Ladd in 1982’s Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid.  Check out You Tube view to see his brief but impressive appearance in that movie ..

Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.

Figured it might be interesting to see the process of what it takes to put these pages together.  How we put together our Alan Ladd page.

Steve’s Alan Ladd You Tube Video

 

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114 thoughts on “Alan Ladd Movies”

  1. Moreover in an interview one of William’s children [I can’t remember which one] said that his father’s party piece on the set of Ladd films was to make up little humorous rhymes and songs about Bill’s idol Laddie to the great amusement of cast and crew – Ladd sitting in a corner with a quiet smile at the fun. It is difficult to imagine George J having the confidence or ‘clout’ to invoke even friendly merriment at the expense of the star of the films concerned.

    ALMOST UNRELATED TRIVIA

    1/The young later Lord Dickie too was said to be a great humourist on set often cracking friendly jokes at the expense of cast and crew members alike. It is difficult to imagine that the fledgling Teaboy of the August Moon would have had the nerve – or have even been allowed to – crack jokes about adults on the Morning Departure set assuming for the moment that he was actually there is some guise or other. If he had made fun of for example Lord Dickie or Sir Johnnie he would probably have been quietly taken aside and told “Keep that up and this movie will turn out to be operation disaster for you my boy!”

    2/QUIZ QUESTION IN UNITED KINGDOM FILM MAGAZINE. “If you found yourself in trouble which screen tough guy would you like to come to your rescue?” 12 answers involving the likes of The Duke and Bogie -and from one male reader “If I thought a bunch of bad guys were about to beat me up it would be comforting to look over my shoulder and see Alan Ladd standing there.”

    Verbal private contribution from S o BOB: “Yes but he would have to look down first to catch sight of Ladd.”

    Reply

    1. Hey Bob….Good trivia..the power of Shane in the UK magazine poll. Interesting about him and the rhymes and songs. Good stuff as always.

      Reply

  2. George J. Lewis appeared in 15 films with Alan.

    Anthony Caruso appeared in 13 with him.

    William Meader and William Bendix each were in 10 with him.

    Reply

    1. Hey Dan. I wonder if Bob Knows George Lewis appeared with Alan Ladd in 15 movies. I bet he knew about the 10 Bendix/Ladd movies. Good information.

      Reply

      1. HI BIG BOY: Setting me tests eh! I’m not in Dan’s league for the kind of exercise concerned but –

        1/I had the Ladd/Bendix duo down for 9 films together and I’ll have to check where I’ve forgotten/didn’t know about the missing one.

        2/I couldn’t have put an overall total on the Ladd/George J Lewis pairings but I have seen them together in the following 12 Ladd films:

        Branded
        Red Mountain
        O’Rourke of the Royal Mounted [aka Saskatchewan]
        Thunder in the East
        The Iron Mistress – that referred to the Bowie knife with Laddie as Jim Bowie
        Desert Legion
        Drumbeat
        Hell on Frisco Bay
        Santiago
        The Big Land
        Guns of the Timberland
        Shane-George J was one of the villainous Ryker’s henchmen.

        I was aware of Laddie and George J in also Captain Carey USA. I never saw it and today its main claim to fame is that it introduced the world to the now-classic song Mona Lisa sung definitively by Nat King Cole.

        George J also appeared with idols of mine in 6 other films of which I am aware: with (1) Deanna Durbin in It Started with Eve/Because of Him/Can’t Help singing (2) Brando in Viva Zapata (3) Victor Mature in Veils of Bagdad (4) The Duke in The Comancheros.

        Caruso and Meader escape me for I never took much interest in either.

        Reply

        1. Hey Bob….thanks for the information on George J and Ladd movies….not to mention George J’s other movies with favorites. I actually just rented a William Bendix movie from the library…it is not a Ladd movie though. There are actually not many Ladd movies at my library. Good stuff as always.

          Reply

          1. HI OH FENCING MASTER: Glad that you are learning just how prolific Laddie was in his heyday.

            Whilst Dan is undoubtedly right that George J supported Laddie in 15 outings against ‘only’ 10 Bill Bendix appearances in Ladd Movies if my memories of the 20 or so Ladd/Bendix/George J movies that I have seen are correct George would not have had nearly as much screen time overall in the films concerned as William did in his Ladd projects

            William enjoyed strong supporting and usually respectably-billed roles in the Ladd movies [in Calcutta for example being billed above title with Ladd and Gail Russell] whereas George’s parts were virtually ‘walk-on’ ones that would by contrast at times have almost made Mr Gimme More’s Split contribution look like the lead! Also George was uncredited in many of the Ladd flicks.

            In Shane for example an uncredited George was “just another guy” who hung around that central Grafton’s bar and store as one of Rufus Ryker’s paid henchmen. You will no doubt recall the key set-piece scene in which Shane and Heflin’s Joe Starrett got back-to-back and whipped the a***s of the whole tribe of them including Ben Johnson’s Chris Calloway all at once. [Laddie could do -and help others to do – that type of thing].

            NOTE: George J was uncredited also in Brando’s Viva Zapata; Mature’s Veils of Bagdad; and Wayne’s The Comancheros in which George payed Chief Iron Shirt. [The Duke sure did ensure that the Indian community had dignified names in his movies!]

          2. Hey Bob…thanks for the information on George J. I think the people Dan wrote about a few days ago were members of the “old” Oracle list. The new list seems to avoid people like George J. I think I actually like the new list more…as I like knowing most of the people on the list. Good stuff.

          3. HI WH: Thanks for the feedback. Laddie’s always great to chat about isn’t he? Even when on the road you can’t stop justifying that WH tag! You have always reminded me of a next-door neighbor of ours called Joe when I was growing up. He worked in the Belfast shipyard by day; was deputy steward in a drinking man’s club in the evenings; and crossed Belfast at midnight -usually with a big bag of cash for his float -to manage a nightclub.

            One night as my brother and I were returning home from a movie Joe jumped into his car with that huge bag of cash and sped off up the street in the darkness with a screeching of tyres. My brother exclaimed “Did you see THAT!”

            His nightclub ran out of oil on one occasion and he borrowed an emergency supply from his shipyard day job. Unfortunately an ‘upright citizen’ [sounds like a Joel type of those days] reported Joe to the police as a potential thief and they stopped Joe and a sidekick transporting the barrel through town in the middle of the night. Luckily he had left a record of having purchased the oil and had left cash for it.

            When he went on holiday he always worked his passage there and back by tending bar on the ship. He once told my father when they were chatting over the hedge “Harry I must get on with my side of the cutting. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day for me!” He got me a part time-job for a while in his mid-evening drinking club. I served just alcohol: not tea! Working with him I found out he was actually quite an aggressive character who took no nonsense from his junior staff or the customers.

            I think I’ve told that story before on your site; but you Work Horses will always stay in one’s memory. Anyway give my regards to Harry Lillis/Leslie Townes/ and Mary Leta if you catch them out there filming The Road to Virginia. Ignore everyone [but me!] for a while and as I’ve said enjoy yourself – but above all please keep safe.

  3. this is my first comment on alan ladd page as i found UMR in 2017. i saw 7 including 3 of top 10. no 10s. 9 not a favorite shane. hidden gem 8 and favorite all the young men. a box office star with nearly 6,000,000,000 in adj dom BO. only 4 movies crossed my preferred 80% review but 27 crossed the 60% line. i appreciate the fondness that The Bob has for this true tough guy underdog(pun intended LOL)

    Reply

    1. HI BOB COX: I am glad that you have gotten round to commenting on Ladd.

      He died prematurely at the age of 50 of course but I don’t think that he had a very happy life at times when he was of this world. For example his wife was his press agent/manager [and some say that she had ‘discovered’ him as an actor] and apparently she kept him “under the thumb” as the saying goes.

      I notice that you have seen Bruce’s hot-off-the-press new page on William Bendix who was Ladd’s close friend and who made 9 films with Alan. According to Bendix in an interview that I saw Sue didn’t like Alan to keep too close to Bendix and his other friends and when the Ladd pals gang were in each other’s company Laddie was virtually the life and soul of the party – until Sue entered the room. Then Alan fell silent; began to look uncomfortable; and remained very quiet as if intimidated for the remainder of his friends’visit.

      If all that’s true Laddie certainly wasn’t a tough guy in his own home. I hope you are keeping safe and well Robert Cox.

      “Sue Carol (born Evelyn Jean Lederer, October 30, 1906 – February 4, 1982) was an American actress and talent agent. Carol’s film career lasted from the late 1920s into the 1930s; when it ended, she became a talent agent. The last of her three marriages was to one of her clients, Alan Ladd, from 1942 until his death in 1964” – Wikipedia

      Reply

      1. Bob Roy, wow, She was over 7 years older than her handsome Hollywood leading man. difficult arrangement.

        alan ladd had a rough childhood. his father died when Alan was 4 yo and Alan burned down his home when he was 5 and playing with matches. his mother remarried and they moved to california and lived in an emigrant camp that sounds like the grapes of wrath. his step dad got work as a painter at FBO studios. Alan became a swimming and diving champion for north hollywood high school.

        i am still working as a doctor but staying safe. you and yours are in my thoughts and prayers.

        Reply

    2. Hey bob cox. Thanks for checking out our Alan Ladd Page. If you found UMR in 2017…then you missed seeing the best and current actors get their “new” page. Back in 2011, each new page was a legend. Glad you found us.

      Reply

  4. HI BRUCE

    Good job. Looking over Laddie’s Cogerson tables again I am reminded that compared with other major populr stars of the classic era -The Duke/Stewart/Leach – Alan didn’t make a vertiginous number of movies – 52 according to your stats.

    But then again he died relatively young at 50 though he was a spent force a few years before that. Historianns cite his top star days as being from This Gun for hire in 1942 until The Deep Six in 1958. Not even a complete CALENDAR decade whenyou think about it.

    I have long felt that the beaury of your site for the movie buff is that not only does it clearly sparate in statistical terms the greatest stars from the much lesser ones; but it also compares the achievements of one great star with those of the other Greats.

    We are in my view both lucky and privileged to have the fruits of your hards labours and all that I can says is “keep up the good work.”

    Reply

  5. FELLAS

    In recent e-mali exchanges with my son I included a copy of The Work Horse trivia paragraph about Laddie being the inspiration for Green Lantern. Here’s what Son o Bob replied:

    “That is a genuinely obscure piece of trivia indeed!”

    S o B [doesn’t sound as flattering as W o C!]was a great superhero fan when he was young. I think that Green Lantern has just retrospectively lost him! I was tempted to reply it’s not trivia but earthbreaking news; but I think I’ll leave it as it is as I get enough argument from you guys!

    Reply

    1. Bob, S o B has a nice ring to it but I agree it could be misinterpreted. 😉

      Yep, I thought I was good on comic book lore but never knew Ladd inspired the look of the Green Lantern. By look of course I mean the facial features, not the costume or the tall majestic stature of the Green Lantern. [Stop it Steve!]

      🙂

      Reply

      1. HI STEVE LENSMOON [Ideal candidate for the Brando/James Caan Mooning Club]

        Ladd didn’t need great stature: that icy Ladd stare was enough to terrify the most ‘un-American’ Red or Capone-type gangster! No wonder the two “ie’s” Laddie and Bogie competed for the accolade “The screen’s toughest tough guy.”

        “Behave yoursel in Ladd’s town because Ladd’s guns and Ladd’s fists say you gottana get outa town otherwise!” Example of an iconic 1940s poster tagline when the Ladd craze was at its height.

        In 1954’s Hell Below Zero wimp Brit Stanley Baker, pinned over a desk top cowered away as Ladd stood over him him with brandished fists. They don’t make tough guys like Laddie any more [“And he was an awfully good actor as well.” – Bill Bendix]

        Reply

      2. Hey Bob….I like the SoB acronym…..lol. So I was visiting this page…and saw something wrong with the table….so while fixing it….gave this one an quick re-model. New pictures, the yearly table…heck I even updated the “ready reckoner” for you. That is one of the features that got left behind when we went to a dynamic webpage…but just for you…instead of deleting it…I updated it for you.

        Reply

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