A producer has to know all about everything from set-building to costumes to acting.
All his life, David's wanted to be an actor. He used to put on puppet shows for us all the time.
As long as my pictures go into theaters and we ask people to pay to see what I do on the screen, I should not object if customers want to know what kind of man I am.
Being a good host offsets the deprivation and loneliness of my youth.
Each slap made me struggle more.
Every time I went to make a dive I was worrying more about whether I would hit my head again than I was about my form. I knew I'd never be any good again-so I quit.
Figures bore me. I couldn't balance a bank statement if a gun was held at my head.
Here I am, making my living with a gun. Then I go plug myself. How dumb can you get? I guess my time just wasn't up.
I believe discipline is good for children. It gives them character and security.
I can't really act, and if I had to leave the film world, I couldn't even go back to swimming instruction anymore.
I didn't come over to conquer anything or anybody. All I'm going to do is play the part of a guy who comes to England to learn to fight. Got that?
I don't care how small the parts are, as long as they're good.
I guess I was a brat. I had a lousy temper and the first day of school some kid pushed my head into the fountain.
I had only that one picture, Hitler, the Beast of Berlin, in which I had a part big enough to impress anyone. I tried for better roles over and over again.
I hear about stars being torn to pieces by fans. It never happened to me and I never saw it happen to anyone else.
I just want to make pictures that are entertaining. I'll leave the scenery chewing to someone else.
I know what's good for me. I can't play black or gray. I can't be a villain or anything close to one. I have to play white.
I learned more about acting from George Stevens in a few months than I had in my entire life up until then.
I never fail to feel let down when I see myself on the screen.
I think any movie star who refuses autographs has a hell of a nerve.
I used to hike 6 miles to school. We got potato soup and mutton week after week at home. I still turn green when lamb is served.
I was a dummy in school.
I was never trained for anything.
I wish I were the type who could walk into a place and have everybody love me. But I'm not, and there's no use wishing.
I'd rather be David Ladd's father than Alan Ladd any day.
I'm a helluva hero in this picture. Wounded in action. I kill nine guys and duel and talk and talk and talk and make love all over the place.
I'm going to make it. Nothing is going to stop me. Nothing. I want it too much.
I'm no good with words but I'll find ways from time to time to show you how grateful I am.
I'm shy and can't for the life of me barge around and slap people on the back. I sit in a corner by myself and am tickled to death when someone comes over to talk to me.
I'm the most insecure guy in Hollywood. If you had it good all your life, you figure it can't ever get bad, but when you had it bad, you wonder how long a thing like this will last.
I'm working myself to death.
I've always had a great respect for the picture business. It's been good to me.
If I get on this plane, it will go down.
If I had my way, I'd do all my entertaining on the front steps.
If only Mother could have lived to enjoy a real Christmas.
If you can figure out my success on the screen, you're a better man than I.
It seems only reasonable that the people have a right to know virtually everything about the personality they are buying each time they put their money through the box office.
It's a funny thing about me. I don't have any interest in food most of the time now, although when I was a kid I was always hungry.
It's natural to want your kids to have all the things you didn't have.
Just as Jimmy Stewart and Tyrone Power get 50 percent of the profits, so do I.
Like every other guy I am going into the Army because there's a job to be done. When the job is finished-in the right way-I'll be back.
Ma always found a way to keep going.
Maybe I can't act, but I know the gimmicks. I studied acting all my life and know what's good for me.
Maybe I thought too much about picking up the money and not enough about the really good parts.
My parents were so poor when I was a kid, I never went anywhere. I take our youngsters with us because I don't know anything that teaches them so much.
Nobody's strong enough to stand up under a flood of weak material.
Not every father gets a chance to start his son off in his own footsteps.
Our children were trained to look after each other.
Producers kept saying I was too young or too old, too slight or too blond.
Strangers still leave me self-conscious.
Time scoots along pretty fast when you grow up.
What good will a tax break do me if I'm crippled for life?
When I was on the air a lot my throat and vocal chords got tired. If you don't vary your tones you can't get pretty tired of your own voice.
When Sue became my wife I realized that at last I had everything in life that I wanted.
Alan appeared in magazine ads for Chesterfield Cigarettes in 1948.
Alan wanted to try for the 1932 Olympics, but an injury prevented him from participating in the Olympic trials.
Alan turned down Spencer Tracy's role in Bad Day At Black Rock (1955).
Alan appeared in a 1948 magazine advertisement for Stetson Hats.
Alan was married twice, to Marjorie Jane Harrold from 1936 to 1941, and to Sue Carol, from 1942 until his death.
Alan's name was initially chosen for the original Green Lantern of All-American Comics in 1940, as a play on the name of Aladdin, (Green Lantern's power battery in the shape of a train lantern granting the power to accomplish anything the bearer of it wished, channeled through a ring being the inspiration for this) but was changed to Alan Scott when Ladd became popular at the same time to avoid confusion.
Alan made 7 films with Veronica Lake, including: This Gun For Hire (1942) Star-Spangled Rhythm (1942) The Glass Key (1942) Duffy's Tavern (1945) The Blue Dahlia (1946) Variety Girl (1947) Saigon (1948)
Alan won the Golden Apple award for Most Cooperative Actor twice, in 1944 and 1950.
Alan was 5 feet 5 inches tall.
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