Was there a sadder film star than Alan Ladd? Was it the fact his father died of a heart attack when he was very young? Or that he burnt down his apartment with matches? Or that his mother killed herself with poison in front of him? Or that he left his wife and young son in order to marry his agent, the imposing Sue Carol? Or after having become a star he rarely bothered to challenge himself?
Actually that last bit isn't quite true - Paramount let Ladd make The Great Gatsby and Shane and you see that often his roles had meat on them - former bad boys, pacifists in war time, etc - its just that Ladd rarely worked with top directors and/or pushed himself. For instance, he turned down the Jett Rink role in Giant because it was a support part. (I think even had he'd played it he still would have ended up killing himself - he just didn't get any joy out of life). He had a long run as a box office champ, mostly because he kept to a specific, profitable genre: action adventure films.
I always loved Alan Ladd movies - expressionless tough guy in a world of double crossing dames. His blonde hair made him a bit more human than say Bogie. My particular fave was the junky Calcutta, which I haven't seen in ages, though I also liked Thunder in the East.
Linet was a fan magazine writer and her book perhaps goes on about the importance of fan magazines too much (people like Richard Egan got a lot of space in fan magazines). Nonetheless this is a thoughtful and well written bio on the actor, which while never getting to the mystery of the man (something probably impossible, although maybe it hurt in that this was written when Ladd's wife was still alive), makes a strong attempt. It's sad, moving, gripping.
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