Ladd: The Life, the Legend, the Legacy of Alan Ladd: A Biography

by Beverly Linet

TRAGEDY OF A MAN WHO GOT WHAT HE WANTED***A BIOGRAPHY

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

294 pages, Hardcover

First published May 5, 1955

Reviews

[Denis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Today, Alan Ladd is probably only remembered by a handful of hardcore cinephiles, and that is too bad. The golden-haired actor, whose physique in his prime was compared to that of a Greek deity, reached instant superstar status in 1941 with a great film noir, This Gun For Hire (in which he was paired with Veronica Lake, with whom he formed a mythical movie couple), and he remained one of cinema’s most popular figures for many years and all over the world, his crowning achievement being the legendary western Shane. A beautiful man empowered with quiet charisma and a penetrating voice, Ladd remains to this day an elusive, vaguely mysterious figure, whose rise to fame and slow fall from grace are emblematic of the Hollywood illusory dream machine – that in so many cases turned out to be a nightmare machine. Ladd’s difficult childhood and experience with poverty, his deeply rooted insecurities that he could never get rid of, the lack of critical recognition that undermined him even when he was on top of the world, his complex relationship with a devoted and powerful wife who literally made him a star and tried to protect his idealized image till the very end, are some of the elements that explain the tragic arc of his life and that this bio explores. Ladd, whose melancholy transpires through many of his performances, seems to have gained immense and exceptional popularity only to experience a harder and irreversible fall. As he got older and the movies changed, he slipped into a personal and professional decline that bad choices and the abuse of alcohol accelerated. He died at 50, prematurely aged, his chiseled body and graceful face sadly damaged. As is the case with so many people who achieved incredible (but burdensome) fame in Hollywood thanks to shrewd movie people and the fascinatingly efficient but soulless studio system, Ladd could not cope with success: it slowly but surely led him to a path of self-destruction. Linet is an adept biographer, who’s done lots of research about her subject and who's met with many people in his life (the book was published decades ago, when people such as Ladd’s wife were still alive). Her writing isn’t especially brilliant or stylish, and her constant use of suspension points turns into an annoying gimmick, but she does intelligently capture the contradictions of Ladd’s personality, the aura of sadness that always seemed to accompany him, and the heartbreak of his last years. She’s also quite good at showing how the studio (in this case Paramount) worked hand in hand with the press to create stars who had to conform to certain ideals and whose lives were recreated by publicists and journalists to fit the expectations of the audience. In the case of Ladd, a first marriage and a first child were completely erased to not disappoint the fans, who were legions. Linet adroitly pinpoints the major influence fan magazines (which then sold in the millions) had in Hollywood and all over the country, something that is often overlooked by film historians. Her compassion for Ladd, both as a tragic human being and as an accomplished actor who never got his dues, is tangible, but her book isn’t a hagiography, and she underlines Ladd’s own failings and mistakes. Her portrait of Ladd the man is aptly intimate and touching. Her analysis of his movies is shallower, and she doesn’t get much into the details of the making of his films, which is a bit frustrating: Ladd, for instance, felt very much at home at Paramount, which nurtured (but also limited) his career, yet one never really feels, when reading the book, what the world on the Paramount lot was for its stars. The impact of Ladd’s films and their qualities (or lack thereof) are barely touched upon. And Linet doesn't quite analyze his very special screen presence, which helped tremendously in making him a beloved icon (the way Ladd's body was visually used in his films, for example, through images that today feel very homoerotic, deserves to be studied). This book may not be the most accomplished nor the ultimate bio of this intriguing star, but it’s very efficiently conceived and written, In any case, it is the only volume, as far as I know, that offers an in-depth portrait of one of the saddest heroes of a bygone era, a time when a man could become a god - or at least give the impression that he was one... and die of it.

[Weathergrrrl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sad but interesting life story. A little too much commentary from the author about certain people's supposed motivations for my taste.

[Judith McGee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Beverly Linet biography of Alan Ladd is a very good one as it features interviews with people that knew or worked with him. It was written with the cooperation of family members including his second wife Sue Carol Ladd. The book was published in hardcover and paperback (1980) and should be available at a local library or via Amazon.com. It's a very good read and is well worth tracking down if readers would like to learn more about the actor presented in an even-handed fashion. It was written in 1979 and to my knowledge no further biographies have been written about Alan Ladd.

The cable television era has been very kind to actors like Alan Ladd as they have featured many films not necessarily broadcast in the past. (Note: to date "The Great Gatsby" has not been shown on cable TV but one wishes it would be.)

[Nocturnal Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alan Ladd is one of my favorite Classic Hollywood actors, I find him intriguing and I wish there were more biographies of him. He pioneered a different kind of gangster in films, one that's stoic and cool, and it's too bad he isn't credited much for his cinematic contribution these days, in fact, I feel like he's barely talked about, especially considering how extremely popular he was in his heyday.
Anyway, this book is very well-written and I enjoyed learning more about this enigmatic actor.

[Howard Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

All and all, a good read and interesting life.