The film was THE GLASS KEY, starring Brian Donlevy, Veronica Lake, William Bendix and Alan Ladd.  I don't want to go into the movie, but let me say this.  I had just seen a movie by a new filmmaker whose intensity and realism seemed new and original.  The film was Quentin Tarantino's RESERVOIR DOGS, a film who's brutal and unsettling violence made it anything but glamorous.  I thought nothing like it had been done before.  But here was this film, and from 1942, which in it's own way was as brutal and intense as RESERVOIR DOGS.  I later found out that THE GLASS KEY (based on a Dashiell Hammett novel) was the basis for the Coen Brothers' MILLERS CROSSING.

The Alan Ladd series continued with the 1946 noir classic THE BLUE DAHLIA ( tightly scripted by Raymond Chandler) and  THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1942) based on Graham Greene's novel A Gun For Sale.  After watching these three movies I was an Alan Ladd Fan.

It's hard to describe his appeal; Raymond Chandler once described him as a boy's idea of a tough guy.  Chandler made this statement before Ladd made the movie he is best know for, the 1953 western  SHANE.  In this film he is just that, the hero of a young boy named Joey. To casual observers, Ladd may have seemed unlikely for stardom. He was only five-foot six and his face held just one expression, and yet he became an overnight success. 

Alan Ladd   1913 - 1964 

Ladd moved to California with his family at an early age and after a few menial jobs, got hired as a grip on the Warner Brothers lot.  He began getting small parts on radio shows and in the theater during the 1930's.  By 1940 he was getting feature rolls in B movies for independent studios, such as Republic and PRC.   He appears briefly as a reporter in Orson Welles' CITIZEN KANE.  It was his debut starring role in THIS GUN FOR HIRE that he was hailed as one of Hollywood's hottest new stars.  Alan Ladd would merry his agent, former actress Sue Carol.  She was instrumental in getting him cast as a cold-blooded killer in This Gun For Hire.  Ladd's cool manner and deep voice made him well suited for the part of the tough guy.  Throughout the 1940's, Ladd maintained his position as a top ranked star, appearing in westerns, war movies and crime films.  Just as his career began to slow down, he was cast in the leading role of the George Stevens' production of  SHANE, a role that would put him back on top.

Regrettably,  Ladd realized that his days as a two-fisted leading man were coming to an end.  Shortly after his fiftieth birthday, Alan Ladd was found dead from an overdose of sedatives and alcohol, an apparent suicide.  Ironically his last role was that of a washed-up actor in THE CARPETBAGGERS.   His children want on to  have careers in show business.  Alan's son David Ladd took up acting and his son Alan Ladd Jr. became a successful movie producer and studio executive.

Visit the Alan Ladd Trivia Page

For more on Alan Ladd in his Film Noir movies check out Eddie Muller's book DARK CITY: The Lost World of film Noir

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