Alan Ladd
Alan Walbridge Ladd (1913 – 1964) was an American actor and film and television producer. Ladd found success in film the 1940s and early 1950s, particularly in Westerns and film noirs where he was often paired with Veronica Lake. After a string of bit parts in "B" pictures--and an unbilled part in Orson Welles' classic Citizen Kane (1941) Ladd tested for This Gun for Hire (1942) his fourth-billed role as psychotic killer Raven made him a star. Throughout the 1940s tough-guy roles in films like The Glass Key and The Blue Dahlia packed audiences into theaters and Ladd was one of the very few males whose cover photos sold movie magazines. In the 1950s he was performing in lucrative but unrewarding films an exception being what many regard as his greatest role, Shane (1953) the western was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It was listed at No. 45 on the American Film Institute's 2007 ranking of 100 Greatest American Films. By the end of the 1950s...