Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American actor and producer known for his cool, understated screen presence and his defining roles in 1940s and 1950s film noir and Westerns. Standing 5 ft 6 in (168 cm), Ladd became famous for the contrast between his modest height and his commanding on‑screen persona, a combination studios often enhanced through camera techniques and staging. He was frequently paired with Veronica Lake, one of the few major actresses shorter than he was, and together they became one of Hollywood’s iconic noir duos.
Born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, Ladd moved to North Hollywood as a child and worked various jobs before entering the film industry. After years of small roles — including an uncredited appearance in Citizen Kane — he achieved stardom with This Gun for Hire (1942). His quiet intensity and stoic charm resonated strongly with wartime audiences, making him one of the decade’s top box‑office draws.
Ladd went on to star in a series of successful films, including The Glass Key (1942), The Blue Dahlia (1946), Whispering Smith (1948), Shane (1953), and The Proud Rebel (1958). Though his popularity declined somewhat in the late 1950s, he continued to work steadily in both film and television and produced several of his later projects.
Ladd died in 1964 at the age of 50 from cerebral edema caused by acute alcohol and barbiturate intoxication, which was ruled an accidental death. Despite his relatively short life, he remains a defining figure of classic Hollywood — a performer whose quiet strength, distinctive presence, and memorable roles continue to influence the Western and noir genres.
Mystery · Drama
Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.
8.01941
Drama · Western
A weary gunfighter attempts to settle down with a homestead family, but a smouldering settler and rancher conflict forces him to act.
7.31953
Comedy · Mystery
Juliet Forrest is convinced that the reported death of her father in a mountain car crash was no accident. Her father was a prominent cheese scientist working on a secret recipe. To prove it was murder, she enlists the services of private eye Rigby Reardon. He finds a slip of paper containing a list of people who are 'The Friends and Enemies of Carlotta'.
6.61982
Crime · Thriller
Sadistic killer-for-hire Philip Raven becomes enraged when his latest job is paid off in marked bills. Vowing to track down his double-crossing boss, nightclub executive Gates, Raven sits beside Gates' lovely new employee, Ellen, on a train out of town. Although Ellen is engaged to marry the police lieutenant who's hunting down Raven, she decides to try and set the misguided hit man straight as he hides from the cops and plots his revenge.
7.01942
Crime · Mystery
Soon after a veteran returns from war, his cheating wife is found dead. He evades police in an attempt to find the real murderer.
6.71946
Animation · Family
Humorist Robert Benchley attempts to find Walt Disney to ask him to adapt a short story about a gentle dragon who would rather recite poetry than be ferocious. Along the way, he is given a tour of Walt Disney Studios, and learns about the animation process.
6.61941
Comedy · Mystery
Ronnie Jackson is a lowly baby photographer who secretly fantasizes about being a private detective. When a lovely baroness actually mistakes him for one and asks him to help locate her missing husband, Baron Montay, Ronnie finds himself agreeing. Several days later he is on death row whiling away the hours until his execution by recounting to a group of reporters the bizarre tale of how he ended up there.
6.61947
Western · Drama
Searching for a doctor who can help him get his son to speak again--the boy hadn't uttered a word since he saw his mother die in the fire that burned down the family home--a Confederate veteran finds himself facing a 30-day jail sentence when he's unfairly accused of starting a brawl in a small town. A local woman pays his fine, providing that he works it off on her ranch. He soon finds himself involved in the woman's struggle to keep her ranch from a local landowner who wants it--and whose sons were responsible for the man being framed for the fight.
6.01958
Western · Crime
Two men are released from the Arizona Territorial Prison at Yuma in 1898. One, The Dutchman, is out to get both gold and revenge from certain people in a small mining town who had him imprisoned unjustly. The other, McBain, is just trying to go straight, but that is easier said than done once The Dutchman involves him in his gold theft scheme. Based on the 1949 novel The Asphalt Jungle by W. R. Burnett, the story is given an 1898 setting. It is the second film adaptation of the novel following 1950's noir classic The Asphalt Jungle.
6.21958
Mystery · Drama
Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.
8.01941
Drama · Western
A weary gunfighter attempts to settle down with a homestead family, but a smouldering settler and rancher conflict forces him to act.
7.31953
Comedy · Mystery
Juliet Forrest is convinced that the reported death of her father in a mountain car crash was no accident. Her father was a prominent cheese scientist working on a secret recipe. To prove it was murder, she enlists the services of private eye Rigby Reardon. He finds a slip of paper containing a list of people who are 'The Friends and Enemies of Carlotta'.
6.61982
Crime · Thriller
Sadistic killer-for-hire Philip Raven becomes enraged when his latest job is paid off in marked bills. Vowing to track down his double-crossing boss, nightclub executive Gates, Raven sits beside Gates' lovely new employee, Ellen, on a train out of town. Although Ellen is engaged to marry the police lieutenant who's hunting down Raven, she decides to try and set the misguided hit man straight as he hides from the cops and plots his revenge.
7.01942
Crime · Mystery
Soon after a veteran returns from war, his cheating wife is found dead. He evades police in an attempt to find the real murderer.
6.71946
Animation · Family
Humorist Robert Benchley attempts to find Walt Disney to ask him to adapt a short story about a gentle dragon who would rather recite poetry than be ferocious. Along the way, he is given a tour of Walt Disney Studios, and learns about the animation process.
6.61941
Crime · Mystery
A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.
6.71942
Comedy · Mystery
Ronnie Jackson is a lowly baby photographer who secretly fantasizes about being a private detective. When a lovely baroness actually mistakes him for one and asks him to help locate her missing husband, Baron Montay, Ronnie finds himself agreeing. Several days later he is on death row whiling away the hours until his execution by recounting to a group of reporters the bizarre tale of how he ended up there.
6.61947
Western · Drama
Searching for a doctor who can help him get his son to speak again--the boy hadn't uttered a word since he saw his mother die in the fire that burned down the family home--a Confederate veteran finds himself facing a 30-day jail sentence when he's unfairly accused of starting a brawl in a small town. A local woman pays his fine, providing that he works it off on her ranch. He soon finds himself involved in the woman's struggle to keep her ranch from a local landowner who wants it--and whose sons were responsible for the man being framed for the fight.
6.01958
Western · Crime
Two men are released from the Arizona Territorial Prison at Yuma in 1898. One, The Dutchman, is out to get both gold and revenge from certain people in a small mining town who had him imprisoned unjustly. The other, McBain, is just trying to go straight, but that is easier said than done once The Dutchman involves him in his gold theft scheme. Based on the 1949 novel The Asphalt Jungle by W. R. Burnett, the story is given an 1898 setting. It is the second film adaptation of the novel following 1950's noir classic The Asphalt Jungle.
6.21958
Comedy · Horror
Greedy heirs wait in a mansion for a rich cat lover to die, only to learn her cats come first.
6.41941
Comedy
Laurel and Hardy join the army. They are hardly soldiers, but they believe their employer, (Dick Nelson) will need them now he's drafted.
6.01941
Drama
Jonas Cord is a disagreeable young tycoon who's building planes, directing films, and catting around on the corporate make in 1930s Hollywood.
6.01964
Adventure · Romance
Phaedra is a poor sponge diver on the lovely Greek isle of Hydra. While diving, she discovers an ancient brass and gold statue of a boy riding a dolphin, which is said to have the magical power to grant wishes. Her shiftless boyfriend wants to sell it to an unscrupulous art collector, but Phaedra wants to give it to anthropologist Jim Calder, who would return it to the Greek government.
5.81957
Western
President Grant orders Indian fighter MacKay to negotiate with the Modocs of northern California and southern Oregon. On the way he must escort Nancy Meek to the home of her aunt and uncle. After Modoc renegade Captain Jack engages in ambush and other atrocities, MacKay must fight him one-on-one with guns, knives and fists.
6.11954
Crime · Drama
Al Goddard, a detective who works for the United States Postal Inspection Service, is assigned to arrest two criminals who've allegedly murdered a U.S. postal detective.
5.71950
Western
A gunfighter takes part in a scheme to bilk a wealthy cattle family out of half a million dollars by pretending to be their son, who was kidnapped as child.
6.21950
Western · Drama
Story of blood brothers whose bonds are tested when marauding Sioux Indians cross the border to enlist the peaceful Cree in a battle against the Great White Father.
5.91954
Western
Smith is an iron-willed railroad detective. When his friend Murray is fired from the railroad and begins helping Rebstock wreck trains, Smith must go after him. He also seems to have an interest in Murray's wife (and vice versa).
6.71948
Drama · Mystery
Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifetyle of his landlord, the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.
5.41949
Adventure · Romance
Based on the story of the start of Australia's colonisation. An American medical student is falsely convicted of robbery, with his sentence involving the torturous voyage with other prisoners to the new penal colony at Botany Bay. Because of his attempt to escape, evil Captain Gilbert decides to return him to England on charges of mutiny.
6.61952
Western
Towards the end of the American Civil War, a rebel captain flees to Colorado to join a band of Southern mercenaries. He drags an innocent gold prospecting couple into trouble when the husband is accused of a murder he committed.
6.71951
Western
Mitch Barrett becomes embittered because his wife is allowed to die when he can't pay for the medicine she needs. The remorseful townspeople hire Mitch to be a deputy sheriff, thereby enabling him to plot an elaborate bank robbery with the help of an artist, a pickpocket, a gunslinger and a bar-girl.
5.31960
Crime · Drama
Neale and Pedro fly cargo between Chungking and Calcutta. When their buddy Bill is murdered they investigate. Neale meets Bill's fiancée Virginia and becomes suspicious of a deeper plot while also falling for her charms.
6.41946
Drama · Thriller
An artist living in a quiet Connecticut town is the main suspect in the disappearance of his shrew wife. Things turn ugly when the townsfolk attempt to take the law into their own hands.
5.21959
Comedy · Documentary
Clips from assorted television programs, B-movies, commercials, music performances, newsreels, bloopers, satirical short films and promotional and government films of the 1950s and 1960s are intercut together to tell a single story of various creatures and societal ills attacking American cities.
6.81968
Crime · Thriller
A cop framed for a murder he did not commit hunts the San Francisco waterfront for the Mob racketeers who are responsible.
5.31955
Thriller · Crime
A police captain's emotions get in the way when his daughter is kidnapped.
5.41956
Comedy
The Bob Cummings Show is an American sitcom starring Robert "Bob" Cummings which was produced from January 2, 1955 to September 15, 1959. The Bob Cummings Show was the first series ever to debut as a midseason replacement. The program began with a half-season run on NBC, then ran for two full seasons on CBS, and returned to NBC for its final two seasons. The program was later rerun in the daytime hours on ABC and then syndicated under the title Love That Bob. A similar, but less successful, follow-up series, The New Bob Cummings Show, was broadcast on CBS during the 1961-62 television season.
6.21955
Comedy · Drama
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.
6.81953