Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American film actor.^[1]

Early life[link]

Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was the only child of Ina Raleigh Ladd and Alan Ladd, Sr. He was of English ancestry. His father died when he was four, and his mother relocated to Oklahoma City where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter. The family then moved again to North Hollywood, California where Ladd became a high-school swimming and diving champion and participated in high school dramatics at North Hollywood High School, graduating on February 1, 1934. He opened his own hamburger and malt shop, which he called Tiny's Patio. He worked briefly as a studio carpenter (as did his stepfather) and for a short time was part of the Universal Pictures studio school for actors. But Universal decided he was too blond and too short and dropped him.^[2] Intent on acting, he found work in radio.

Career[link]

Ladd began by appearing in dozens of films in small roles, including Citizen Kane in which he played one of the "faceless" reporters who are always shown in silhouette. He first gained some recognition with a featured role in the wartime thriller Joan of Paris, 1942.^[3] For his next role, his manager, Sue Carol, found a vehicle which made Ladd's career, Graham Greene's This Gun for Hire in which he played "Raven," a hitman with a conscience. "Once Ladd had acquired an unsmiling hardness, he was transformed from an extra to a phenomenon. Ladd's calm slender ferocity make it clear that he was the first American actor to show the killer as a cold angel." - David Thomson (A Biographical Dictionary of Film, 1975) ^[4]

Both the film and Ladd's performance played an important role in the development of the "gangster" genre: "That the old fashioned motion picture gangster with his ugly face, gaudy cars, and flashy clothes was replaced by a smoother, better looking, and better dressed bad man was largely the work of Mr. Ladd." - New York Times obituary (January 30, 1964).^[4] Ladd was teamed with actress Veronica Lake in this film, and despite the fact that it was Robert Preston who played the romantic lead, the Ladd-Lake pairing captured the public's imagination, and would continue in another three films. (They appeared in a total of seven films together, but three were only guest shots in all-star musical revues.)

Ladd went on to star in many Paramount Pictures' films,^[5] with a brief timeout for military service in the United States Army Air Force's First Motion Picture Unit. He appeared in Dashiell Hammett's story The Glass Key, his second pairing with Lake, and Lucky Jordan with Helen Walker. His cool, unsmiling persona proved popular with wartime audiences, and he was quickly established as one of the top box office stars of the decade.^[6]

In 1946, he starred in a trio of silver screen classics: the big screen adaptation of Richard Henry Dana's maritime classic, Two Years Before the Mast (for which he also received critical acclaim), the Raymond Chandler original mystery The Blue Dahlia (his third pairing with Lake), and the World War II espionage thriller O.S.S..

He formed his own production companies for film and radio and then starred in his own syndicated series Box 13, which ran from 1948-49. Ladd and Robert Preston starred in the 1948 western film, Whispering Smith, which in 1961 would become a short-lived NBC television series, starring Audie Murphy.

In the 1949 version of The Great Gatsby, Ladd had the featured role of Jay Gatsby.

Jean Arthur and Alan Ladd in Shane (1953)

Ladd played the title role in the 1953 western Shane. The film 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 Years ... 100 Movies."

Ladd made the Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll three times: in 1947, 1953, and 1954.^[2] In 1954 exhibitors voted him the most popular star among British film-goers.^[7]

When former agent Albert R. Broccoli formed Warwick Films with his partner Irving Allen, they heard Ladd was unhappy with Paramount and was leaving the studio. With his wife and agent Sue Carol, they negotiated for Ladd to appear in the first three of their films made in England and released through Columbia Pictures: The Red Beret/Paratrooper (1953); Hell Below Zero (1954), based on Hammond Innes's book The White South; and The Black Knight (1954). All three were co-written by Ladd's regular screenwriter Richard Maibaum.^[8] In 1954 Ladd formed a new production company, Jaguar Productions, originally releasing his films through Warner Bros. and then with All the Young Men through Columbia.

In November 1962, he was found lying unconscious in a pool of blood with a bullet wound near his heart, an unsuccessful suicide attempt.^[2] In 1963 Ladd filmed a supporting role in The Carpetbaggers. He would not live to see its release. On January 29, 1964 he was found dead in Palm Springs, California, of an acute overdose of "alcohol and three other drugs", at the age of 50; his death was ruled accidental.^[9] He was entombed in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Not until June 28, 1964 did Carpetbaggers producer Joseph E. Levine hold an elaborate premiere screening in New York City with an afterparty staged by his wife at The Four Seasons Restaurant.^[10]

Alan Ladd has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1601 Vine Street.^[11] His handprint appears in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theater, in Hollywood.

Personal life[link]

Alan Ladd's mother was Selina Rowley, born Chester-le-Street County Durham, in late 1888. She used the stage name Ina Raleigh and emigrated to the USA in 1907, aged 19.

He had married a high-school acquaintance, Midge Harrold. Their only child, a son named Alan Ladd, Jr., was born in 1937. Ladd's stepfather died suddenly. Then his mother, who suffered from depression, committed suicide by poison.

In 1942, Ladd married his agent/manager, former movie actress Sue Carol.

Ladd owned properties in Beverly Hills and, in Palm Springs, Alan Ladd Hardware. His son by his first wife Midge Harrold, Alan Ladd, Jr., is a motion picture executive and producer and founder of The Ladd Company. His daughter actress Alana, who co-starred with her father in Guns of the Timberland and Duel of Champions, is married to the veteran talk radio broadcaster Michael Jackson. Another son, actor David Ladd, who co-starred with Ladd as a child in The Proud Rebel, married Charlie's Angels star Cheryl Ladd, 1973-1980. Actress Jordan Ladd is his granddaughter.^[12]

As with many Hollywood stars, Ladd is sometimes described as either a social adherent to, or member of, the gay subculture.^[13] No reliable evidence has been published to substantiate such claims, but they do exist. At least one gay historian has gone so far with speculation as to suggest that Ladd's suicide attempt(s) may have been related to unsubstantiated sexual questioning.^[14]

Reports of his height vary from 5'5" to 5'9" (from his military records) (1.65 to 1.75 m), with 5'6" (1.68 m) being the most generally accepted today.^[2][15]

Filmography[link]

Features[link]

Short subjects[link]

• Unfinished Rainbows (1940)
• Meat and Romance (1940)
• Blame It on Love (1940)
• American Portrait (1940)
• I Look at You (1941)
• Training Film No. A-3: Military Training (1941)
• Letter from a Friend (1943)
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood in Uniform (1943)
• Skirmish on the Home Front (1944)
• Hollywood Victory Caravan (1945)
• Screen Snapshots: The Skolsky Party (1946)
• Eyes of Hollywood (1949)
• Grantland Rice Sportlight No. R11-10: A Sporting Oasis (1952)

Box Office Ranking[link]

For a number of years, film exhibitors voted him among the top stars at the box office.

• 1946 - 8th (Britain)^[16]
• 1947 - 7th (Britain)^[17]
• 1949 - 7th (Britain)^[18]
• 1951 - 17th (USA),^[19] 8th (Britain)^[20]
• 1952 - 16th (USA)^[21]
• 1953 - 4th (USA)^[22]
• 1954 - 6th (USA)^[23], 1st (Britain)^[24]
• 1955 - 17th (USA)^[25]
• 1956 - 25th (USA)^[26]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Alan Ladd at the Internet Movie Database
• Alan Ladd at the TCM Movie Database
• Official website
• Alan Ladd at Virtual History

Rod Steiger
From the film trailer for The Unholy Wife (1957)
Born	Rodney Stephen Steiger (1925-04-14)April 14, 1925 Westhampton, New York, U.S.
Died	July 9, 2002(2002-07-09) (aged 77) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1950–2002
Spouse	Sally Gracie (1952–58) Claire Bloom (1959–69) Sherry Nelson (1973–79) Paula Ellis (1986–97) Joan Benedict (2000–02)
Children	Anna Steiger Michael Steiger

Rodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger (April 14, 1925 – July 9, 2002) was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the television programs Marty and Jesus of Nazareth.

Early life[link]

Steiger was born in Westhampton, New York, the son of Lorraine (née Driver) and Frederick Steiger,^[1][2] of French, Scottish, and German descent.^[3][4] Steiger was raised as a Lutheran.^[3][5] He never knew his father, a vaudevillian who had been part of a traveling song-and-dance team with Steiger's mother (who subsequently left show business).^[4] Steiger grew up with his alcoholic mother before running away from home at age sixteen to join the United States Navy during World War II, where he saw action on destroyers in the Pacific.^[6]

Career[link]

Steiger appeared in over 100 motion pictures. He began his acting career in theatre and on live television in the early 1950s. On May 24, 1953, an episode of Goodyear Television Playhouse jump-started his career. The episode was the story of Marty written by Paddy Chayefsky. Marty is the story of a lonely homely butcher from the Bronx in search of love. Refusing to sign a seven-year studio contract, Steiger later turned down the role in the film version in 1955. Signing a studio contract at that time would "pigeon-hole" Steiger as to the roles he would later play and image portrayed on screen; those were two things Steiger objected to throughout his career. The role of Marty was turned over to Ernest Borgnine. Borgnine would receive the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Rod Steiger never regretted his decision to turn down the film role of Marty.

He won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Chief of Police Bill Gillespie in In the Heat of the Night (1967) opposite Sidney Poitier. He was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for On the Waterfront (1954), in which he played Marlon Brando's character's brother. He was nominated again, this time for Best Actor, for the gritty The Pawnbroker (1965), a Sidney Lumet film in which Steiger portrays an emotionally withdrawn Holocaust survivor living in New York City.

He played Jud Fry in the film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma!, in which he did his own singing. One of his favorite roles was as Komarovsky in Doctor Zhivago (1965). Steiger, the only American in the cast of that film, was initially apprehensive about working with such great British actors as Ralph Richardson and Alec Guinness and was afraid that he would stick out, but he won acclaim for his performance. He also befriended fellow actor Tom Courtenay on this film;^[7] the two remained friends until Steiger's death.

He also appeared in The Big Knife as an overly aggressive film studio boss who berates film star Jack Palance; as Al Capone in Al Capone (1959); as Mr. Joyboy in The Loved One; as the serial killer in No Way to Treat a Lady; and as a repressed gay NCO in The Sergeant (1968); as Rabbi Saunders in The Chosen (1981).

Steiger in 1978

He also played well-known figures such as Napoleon Bonaparte in Waterloo (1970); Benito Mussolini in The Last Four Days (1974) and again in Lion of the Desert (1981); W. C. Fields in W. C. Fields and Me (1976); Pontius Pilate in Franco Zeffirelli's TV miniseries Jesus of Nazareth (1977); and mob boss Sam Giancana in the TV miniseries, Sinatra (1992). He appeared in several Italian films, including Hands Over the City (1963) and Lucky Luciano (1974) (both Francesco Rosi's), and also Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dynamite (1971). In France, he starred in Claude Chabrol's Innocents with Dirty Hands opposite Romy Schneider.

In his later years he appeared in The Amityville Horror (1979); The Specialist (1994), and Mars Attacks!. On television, he appeared in the miniseries Jackie Collins' Hollywood Wives (1985), Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City (1993), and a 1995 Columbo television film. Among his final roles was the judge in the prison drama, The Hurricane (1999). The film reunited him with director Norman Jewison, who had directed him in In the Heat of the Night. His last film was A Month of Sundays.

Steiger also starred in the film version of Kurt Vonnegut's play Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1971). In 1969, he appeared in the film adaptation of Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man with his then-wife, Claire Bloom. He was offered the title role in Patton, but turned it down because he did not want to glorify war.^[8] The role was then given to George C. Scott, who won a Best Actor Oscar. Steiger called this refusal his "dumbest career move".

Steiger has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard which was unveiled 1 April 1997.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[link]

Steiger was married five times: actress Sally Gracie (1952–1958),^[9] actress Claire Bloom (1959–1969),^[9] Sherry Nelson (1973–1979),^[9] Paula Ellis (1986–1997) ^[9] and actress Joan Benedict Steiger (married 2000 until his death).^[9]

He had a daughter, opera singer Anna Steiger (born in 1960) by Bloom, and a son, Michael Steiger (born in 1993), from his marriage to Ellis.^[9]

Death[link]

Steiger died in Los Angeles on July 9, 2002, aged 77, from pneumonia and complications from surgery for a gall bladder tumor.^[9] He is buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery.

The film Saving Shiloh, released in 2006, was dedicated to his memory.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rod Steiger

• Rod Steiger at the Internet Movie Database
• Rod Steiger at the Internet Broadway Database
• He Blowed Up Real Good (TCM Movie Morlocks on Rod Steiger in Hennessy)
• Rod Steiger on BBC Radio Desert Island Discs

Joan Woodbury
in The Rogues Tavern (1936)
Born	Joanne Woodbury (1915-12-17)December 17, 1915 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	February 22, 1989(1989-02-22) (aged 73) Desert Hot Springs, California, U.S.
Other names	Nana Martínez
Years active	1934–1964
Spouse	Henry Wilcoxon (1939-?) (divorced) 3 children Ray Mitchell (?-1989) (her death)

Joan Woodbury (December 17, 1915 – February 22, 1989) was an American actress beginning in the 1930s and continuing well into the 1960s.

Early life, entrance into acting[link]

Born Joanne Woodbury in Los Angeles, California, she first studied for seven years in a convent, later trained in dance, and eventually graduated from Hollywood High School. Woodbury began dancing for the Agua Caliente dance company, and at 19 decided to attempt a career in acting. She moved to Hollywood and that same year received her first acting role in the 1934 film Eight Girls in a Boat, which was uncredited. Another uncredited role followed, with her first credited role being in the 1934 film One Exciting Adventure, which starred Binnie Barnes. Woodbury appeared in fifteen films from 1934 through 1935, of which ten were uncredited.

Career rise[link]

In 1936 her career began to become more successful, with her appearing in eight films that year, of which five were uncredited. However, of the three roles that were credited, Woodbury made an impact, and caught the attention of studio's. Her mixture of Danish, British and Native American heritage gave her an exotic appearance, and allowed her to be cast in many different ethnicities, from Hispanic to French and Asian. By 1937 her career had taken off, mostly in B-movies such as Bulldog Courage, but also with her receiving many credited roles.

In 1937 Woodbury starred in her first of several credited Charlie Chan films, titled Chan on Broadway. She also began appearing in numerous westerns, portraying the heroine opposite some of the 1930s biggest cowboy actors, to include William Boyd of Hopalong Cassidy fame, Roy Rogers, and Johnny Mack Brown. Woodbury would appear in fifty films from 1937 to 1945, almost all of which were credited. Her most memorable of that period was her lead role in the serial Brenda Starr, Reporter, in 1945.

On December 17, 1938, Woodbury married actor and producer Henry Wilcoxon, with whom she would have three daughters: Wendy Joan, Heather Ann and Cecilia Dawn.^[1]

[edit] Founding of Valley Players Guild and retirement

From 1946 her career declined, more due to her desire to spend more time with her family than her not having acting offers. After her marriage to Wilcoxon ended in divorce, she married actor Ray Mitchell, with whom she founded the company Valley Players Guild in Palm Springs. The Valley Players Guild staged plays featuring other veteran actors and actresses. In addition to managing their company, she continued to act on occasion, with her biggest role after 1946 being a minor credited part in the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner and Anne Baxter. Her last film appearance was a supporting role in the movie The Time Travelers (1964). When Woodbury retired, she had appeared in 81 films. Woodbury eventually settled in Desert Hot Springs, California, where she was residing at the time of her death at the age of 73.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Joan Woodbury at the Internet Movie Database
• Joan Woodbury at AllRovi
• Joan Woodbury at Find a Grave
• Boston Blackie, Joan Woodbury

Virginia Mayo
in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Born	Virginia Clara Jones (1920-11-30)November 30, 1920 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Died	January 17, 2005(2005-01-17) (aged 84) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Years active	1939–1997
Spouse	Michael O'Shea (1947–1973) (his death) 1 child
Website
http://www.virginiamayo.com/

Virginia Mayo (November 30, 1920 – January 17, 2005) was an American film actress.

After a short career in vaudeville, Mayo progressed to films and during the 1940s established herself as a supporting player in such films as The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and White Heat (1949).

Early life[link]

Born Virginia Clara Jones in St. Louis, Missouri. Tutored by a series of dancing instructors engaged by her aunt, she appeared in the St. Louis Municipal Opera chorus and then appeared with six other girls at an act at the Jefferson Hotel. There she was recruited by vaudeville performer Andy Mayo to appear in his act (as ringmaster for two men in a horse suit), taking his surname as her stage name. She appeared in vaudeville for three years in the act, appearing with Eddie Cantor on Broadway in 1941's Banjo Eyes.

Hollywood[link]

Mayo continued her career as a dancer, then signed a contract with Samuel Goldwyn and appeared in several of Goldwyn's movies. With Danny Kaye she played the dream-girl heroine in comedies including Wonder Man (1945), The Kid from Brooklyn (1946) and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947).

At the zenith of her career, Mayo was seen as the quintessential voluptuous Hollywood beauty. It was said that she "looked like a pinup painting come to life," and she played just such a role in the 1949 film comedy, The Girl from Jones Beach. According to widely published reports from the late 1940s, the Sultan of Morocco declared her beauty to be proof of the existence of God.

In 1949's White Heat she took on the unsympathetic role of the cold and treacherous "Verna Jarrett", opposite James Cagney. She was also cast against type as a shallow golddigger in The Best Years of Our Lives. Her career continued strong through the 50s, frequently in B-movie westerns and adventure films. By the start of the 60s, the pace of her work slowed, but she continued occasional film appearances in the following decades, her last role being in The Man Next Door (1997). While she also appeared in musicals, Mayo's singing voice was always dubbed.

Mayo and her husband, actor Michael O'Shea (of Jack London film fame) co-starred in such stage productions as Tunnel of Love, Fiorello, and George Washington Slept Here. She also starred in stage productions of Cactus Flower, How the Other Half Loves, and the musical comedy, Good News.

Mayo has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1751 Vine. In 1996 she received a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.^[1]

Personal life[link]

In 1947 she married actor Michael O'Shea, who died in 1973. They had one child, Mary Catherine O'Shea (born 1953). The O'Shea family lived for several decades in Thousand Oaks, California.

A lifelong Republican, she endorsed Richard Nixon in 1968 and 1972 and longtime friend Ronald Reagan in 1981.^[2]

She died of congestive heart failure on January 17, 2005, at the age of 84.

Filmography[link]

Features[link]

• Follies Girl (1943)
• Jack London (1943)
• Up in Arms (1944)
• Seven Days Ashore (1944)
• The Princess and the Pirate (1944)
• Wonder Man (1945)
• The Kid from Brooklyn (1946)
• The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
• Out of the Blue (1947)
• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)
• Smart Girls Don't Talk (1948)
• A Song Is Born (1948)
• Flaxy Martin (1949)
• Colorado Territory (1949)
• The Girl from Jones Beach (1949)
• White Heat (1949)
• Red Light (1949)
• Always Leave Them Laughing (1949)
• Backfire (1950)
• The Flame and the Arrow (1950)
• The West Point Story (1950)
• Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951)
• Along the Great Divide (1951)
• Painting the Clouds with Sunshine (1951)
• Starlift (1951)
• She's Working Her Way Through College (1952)
• The Iron Mistress (1952)
• She's Back on Broadway (1953)
• South Sea Woman (1953)
• Devil's Canyon (1953)
• King Richard and the Crusaders (1954)
• The Silver Chalice (1954)
• Pearl of the South Pacific (1955)
• Great Day in the Morning (1956)
• The Proud Ones (1956)
• Congo Crossing (1956)
• The Big Land (1957)
• The Story of Mankind (1957)
• The Tall Stranger (1957)
• Fort Dobbs (1958)
• Westbound (1959)
• Jet Over the Atlantic (1959)
• Revolt of the Mercenaries (1961)
• Young Fury (1965)
• Castle of Evil (1966)
• Fort Utah (1967)
• Fugitive Lovers (1975)
• Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976)
• French Quarter (1977)
• The Haunted (1979)
• Evil Spirits (1990)
• Midnight Witness (1993)
• The Man Next Door (1997)

Short subjects[link]

• Gals and Gallons (1939)
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Night Life (1952)
• Screen Snapshots: Salute to Hollywood (1958)

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Virginia Mayo

• Virginia Mayo at the Internet Movie Database
• Virginia Mayo at AllRovi
• Virginia Mayo at the TCM Movie Database
• Virginia Mayo at the Internet Broadway Database