A GENTLEMAN DIES -- ALAN LADD, JR. (1937-2022)

 I was sad this morning to hear that film executive Alan Ladd, Jr. had died. I had several dealings with Ladd, or “Laddie” as he was called, and found him to be that rare commodity in Hollywood – a gentle man and a gentleman. I first met him when Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz and I met with him to pitch a film. This is how I remembered the meeting in a blog I wrote about Gary when he died:

“Later, when we were in partnership, we had a pitch meeting with Alan Ladd, Jr., then the head of MGM. Laddie, as he was known, had, of course, been at 20th when the first two Star Wars films were made, so he and Gary knew each other very well. Ladd was also a quiet-spoken, laconic man, although more cowboy than Quaker, much like his dad, film star Alan Ladd. We sat down in his office, and Gary and Ladd faced off each other.

'Gary,' Ladd said in a simple greeting.

A beat.

'Laddie,' Gary greeted back.

A beat.

'How are you?' Ladd asked.

A beat.

'Good. And you…'

It was like watching a ping-pong game in slow motion. But the meeting was successful; Laddie bought the pitch.”

Later I was producing an animated feature based on the Betty Boop character for Ladd and MGM. When, with my fellow producers, including Richard Zanuck and his wife and producing partner, Lili Fini Zanuck, I had a meeting with Ladd to discuss the screenplay. Ladd admitted that he didn’t really understand the script because he didn’t know much about animation. “What do you want me to do?” he asked us. I immediately said, “Greenlight it..” Apparently, this was a bold ask as Richard looked shocked that I would be so blunt. But Lili agreed and jumped in and said, “Yes, Laddie, greenlight it, greenlight it!” Ladd didn’t quite greenlight it, but he did approve money to storyboard the screenplay, hire the voice cast, and create a filmed story reel. I called it a chartreuse light. Sadly, three months into this process, Ladd lost his job at the head of MGM, and the “new guy” scuttled the film.

Not making this film was a disappointment for me. But possibly a worse disappointment was not being able to continue an association with “Laddie.”