David Ladd

David Ladd
Born David Alan Ladd[1]
(1947-02-05) February 5, 1947
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Years active 1953-1981
Spouse(s)
Louise Hendricks
(m. 1971; div. 1972)

Cheryl Ladd
(m. 1973; div. 1980)

Dey Young
(m. 1982; div. 2012)
Children 2,; including Jordan Ladd
Parent(s) Alan Ladd
Sue Carol
Relatives Alan Ladd Jr. (half-brother)

David Alan Ladd (born February 5, 1947) is an American producer and former actor.

Biography

Ladd was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Alan Ladd, an actor, and Sue Carol, an actress and talent agent. His siblings are Alana Ladd Jackson, Carol Lee Ladd, and Alan Ladd Jr. He attended Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles and, following the death of his father in 1964, graduated from the University of Southern California where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree while also fulfilling his military obligations in the Air Force Reserves.

Marriages

In 1972, Ladd met actress Cheryl Stoppelmoor, with whom he later had a daughter, Jordan. In 1977, Cheryl Ladd replaced Farrah Fawcett on Charlie's Angels. David began to turn his attention toward producing. His first productions were for ABC and included specials and movies of the week, most notably When She Was Bad (1979) starring Cheryl and Robert Urich. David and Cheryl Ladd divorced in 1980. In 1982, Ladd married actress Dey Young (the younger sister of actress Leigh Taylor-Young), with whom he has another daughter, Shane Ladd.

Career

Ladd's professional career in Hollywood began in 1957 with a supporting role in a film starring his father titled The Big Land. As a result of that film's success, Samuel Goldwyn Jr offered him a role as a mute in the 1958 movie The Proud Rebel, once again playing opposite his father and co-starring Olivia de Havilland. For this role, Ladd won a Golden Globe award as the "Best Newcomer of 1958" as well as a special award for "Best Juvenile Actor", and received a Best Supporting Actor nomination. He was also included in Film Daily's Filmdom's Famous Five critic's award.

Ladd followed this success with a series of films including The Sad Horse (1959), A Dog of Flanders (1960), Raymie (also 1960) and Misty (1961), as well as appearing in numerous television shows including Bonanza, Zane Grey Theatre, and Shirley Temple's Story Book Theatre (as Tom Sawyer). Ladd was again included in Film Daily's Filmdom's Famous Five in 1961 for A Dog of Flanders. Ladd's other feature film credits include RPM (1970), The Day of the Locust (1975), The Treasure of Jamaica Reef (1975), Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1977) and The Wild Geese (1978).

In 1982, Ladd began working at Columbia Pictures as a creative executive. Shortly thereafter, his brother-in–law, John Veitch, stepped down as president of Columbia and asked Ladd to join him in establishing a new production company based at Columbia.

Ladd's first solo producing credit came in the motion picture The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988), based on Wade Davis' book of the same name. The film was quite successful, and he was subsequently asked to join his half-brother Alan Ladd Jr in forming Pathe Films in 1988. The duo produced several films before acquiring the venerable Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).

Ladd became a senior production executive at MGM and was part of the key team responsible for the resurgence of the studio (1989–1997). He was responsible for a variety of films, including the smash hit Get Shorty (1995).

Ladd left MGM as an executive in 1998, and signed a deal to produce movies for them. His first production was a re-imagining of the hit TV series The Mod Squad, in which he shared an Executive Producer credit with Aaron Spelling, with whom he had first collaborated on The Zane Grey Theatre in 1961.

During this period, MGM changed hands twice, but Ladd was able to continue his productions. He found a manuscript written by John Katzenbach and developed it as a screenplay for the 2002 film, Hart's War, directed by Gregory Hoblit and starring Bruce Willis, Colin Farrell and Terrence Howard. Ladd followed this up with the 2003 comedy A Guy Thing.

Later years

Shortly thereafter, MGM was sold and Ladd left the company as an independent. He is currently developing projects for Fox, Universal and Paramount, as well as projects for the independent film market-place. In 2008, he helped shepherd Kevin Sheridan's Leaving Barstow, which won several awards on the film festival circuit.

Ladd spent a portion of 2007 teaching film production at the Savannah College of Art and Design. He is a member of the Producers Guild of America, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and an emeritus member of the Screen Actors Guild.

Selected filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1953 ShaneLittle BoyUncredited
1957 The Big LandDavid Johnson / Echo
1958 The Proud RebelDavid Chandler
1959 A Dog of FlandersNello Daas
1959 The Sad HorseJackie Connors
1960 BonanzaBilly AllenSeason 1, Episode 30: "Feet of Clay"
1960 RaymieRaymie Boston
1960 Shirley Temple's StorybookTom SawyerSeason 2, Episode 4: "Tom and Huck"
1961 Zane Grey TheaterThalian KihlgrenSeason 5, Episode 18: "The Broken Wing"
1961 MistyPaul Beebe
1962 Wagon TrainTerry MorrellSeason 5, Episode 30: "The Terry Morrell Story"
1965 GunsmokeBrian ForbesSeason 11, Episode 8: "The Reward"
1966 Ben CaseySeason 5, Episode 21: "Weave Nets to Catch the Wind"
1969 Love, American StyleDennisSeason 1, Episode 1: "Love and a Couple of Couples/Love and the Hustler/Love and the Pill" (segment "Love and the Pill")
1971 Family AffairRuss BrooksSeason 5, Episode 19: "Put Your Dreams Away"
1971 CatlowCaxton
1972 The Sixth SensePaulSeason 2, Episode 2: "Dear Joan: We're Going to Scare You to Death"
1973 Death LineAlex Campbell
1973 Jonathan Livingston SeagullFletcher Lynd SeagullVoice
1975 The Treasure of Jamaica ReefJoshua Owens
1975 The Day of the LocustApprentice
1976 The QuestSeason 1, Episode 13: "Dynasty of Evil"
1977 Police StoryMcRyanSeason 5, Episode 2: "Stigma"
1977 KojakEverett CoughlinSeason 5, Episode 12: "I Could Kill My Wife's Lawyer"
1978 Emergency!Paramedic Pete, Squad *51, LACoFDSeason 7, Episode 3: "Survival on Charter #220"
1978 The Wild GeeseSonny
1979 Fantasy IslandDavid HanksSeason 3, Episode 6: "The Red Baron/Young at Heart"

References

  1. ↑ "David Alan Ladd Biography". Filmreference.com. 1947-02-05. Retrieved 2015-09-04.

Bibliography

  • Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995, Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, pp. 263–264.
  • Best, Marc. Those Endearing Young Charms: Child Performers of the Screen, South Brunswick and New York: Barnes & Co., 1971, pp. 139–143.
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