Trivia and Quotes
Quotes
 "Alan is a big star to everyone in the world except Alan. He thinks he`s in the business on a raincheck." -- Sue Carol, his wife/manager "I have the face of an ageing choirboy and the build of an undernourished featherweight. If you can figure out my success on the screen you`re a better man than I."
"Once Ladd had acquired an unsmiling hardness, he was transformed from an extra to a phenomenon. Ladd`s calm slender ferocity make it clear that he was the first American actor to show the killer as a cold angel." - David Thomson ("A Biographical Dictionary of Film, " 1975)
"That the old fashioned motion picture gangster with his ugly face, gaudy cars, and flashy clothes was replaced by a smoother, better looking, and better dressed bad man was largely the work of Mr. Ladd." - "New York Times" obituary (January 30, 1964)
Trivia
According to his biography, the end of his love affair with June Allyson, his co-star in The McConnell Story (1955), led to his late-life depression.
At the time of his death he had expressed an interest in playing Steve McQueen`s role in Nevada Smith (1966).
Discovered Rory Calhoun while riding in Griffith Park, a notorious cruising area.
His former home in Palm Springs, California, is still on the bus tour of movie stars` homes. An office building also bears his name.
In 1956, Ladd proposed a television series based on his radio series "Box 13". The idea didn`t sell. Ladd himself had played his "Box 13" character Dan Holiday in the "Committed" episode of "General Electric Theater" (1953) on television. In 1963, Ladd said he hoped to reunite several of his 1940s era co-stars, including William Bendix and Veronica Lake, for a big screen version of "Box 13".
Turned down James Dean`s role in Giant (1956) and Spencer Tracy`s role in Bad Day at Black Rock (1955).
A photograph of his flogging in Two Years Before the Mast (1946) appears on the cover of the 2004 book: "Lash! The Hundred Great Scenes of Men Being Whipped in the Movies".
Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1601 Vine Street.
He and Veronica Lake made seven movies together: The Blue Dahlia (1946), Duffy`s Tavern (1945), The Glass Key (1942), Saigon (1948), Star Spangled Rhythm (1942), This Gun for Hire (1942) and Variety Girl (1947). In Variety Girl (1947), Star Spangled Rhythm (1942) and Duffy`s Tavern (1945), they appear as themselves.
He so badly wanted the title role in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) that he personally pressed his case with director David Lean, but Lean cast Peter O`Toole in the part.
In a 1961 interview Ladd was asked, "What would you change about yourself if you could?" He replied tersely: "Everything."
In his movies, suffers two cat-o-nine-tails floggings aboard sailing ships: (1) in Two Years Before the Mast (1946), he receives 10 lashes for striking an officer; (2) in Botany Bay (1953), he receives 50 lashes for attempting to escape from a prison transport ship.
Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, California, USA, in the Freedom Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Heritage.
Ladd portrayed Dan Holiday on Mutual Radio`s "Box 13" (1948-1949). This show was also syndicated.
Owing to a clerical error, Ladd was inaccurately included in the cast credits for Born to the West (1937) in studio publicity material. In fact, he was never in the film, despite the fact that it often shows up in his credits and even on the video box!.
The prisoner he plays in 1953`s Botany Bay (1953) is keelhauled, marking what may be the only time a Hollywood leading man suffers this particular form of punishment.
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