Alan Ladd Jr, the veteran film producer who won a Best Picture Oscar for Braveheart, commissioned George Lucas to write Star Wars and was a longtime executive for Fox and MGM, died today, his family said. He was 84.
His daughter Amanda Ladd-Jones, who directed the documentary Laddie: The Man Behind The Movies wrote on social media: “With the heaviest of hearts, we announce that on March 2, 2022, Alan Ladd, Jr. died peacefully at home surrounded by his family. Words cannot express how deeply he will be missed. His impact on films and filmmaking will live on in his absence.”
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His brother David Ladd posted on Facebook: “My brother, my friend, my hero, who always stood by my side. We will stand together again on the other side! I love you Laddie.”
Along with Braveheart, his producing credits include Gone Baby Gone, The Phantom, The Man in the Iron Mask and An Unfinished Life.
Ladd Jr. began producing films in the early 1970s after getting his start in the business as as a motion picture talent agent at Creative Management Associates. His client list included Judy Garland, Warren Beatty and Robert Redford. He relocated to London, where he produced nine features in four years.
Lucasfilm
He returned to Los Angeles in 1973 to serve as Head of Creative Affairs at Twentieth Century Fox, where he rose through the ranks quickly and was named studio president in 1976. Soon after joining Fox, he was intrigued by a then-unreleased American Graffiti and sought a meeting with its young director, George Lucas, to see if he has any ideas for another film. Lucas outlined a character-driven outer-space story.
Despite little precedent for such a movie, Ladd loved the idea and commissioned Lucas to write what would become Star Wars.
Ladd later would greenlight and/or shepherd such smash Fox films as Return of the Jedi, Alien, The Omen, The Towering Inferno, Young Frankenstein, Norma Rae, All That Jazz, Silver Streak, The Rose and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
During his tenure at Twentieth Century Fox, the studio’s profits went to another galaxy, and its stock rocketed by 1,600%. During the mid-’70s, Ladd would name Ashley Boone as Fox’s President of Marketing — making her the first Black person to be president of a studio division.
He left Fox in 1979 to returning to producing and formed The Ladd Company. It was a quick success, scoring a Bests Picture Oscar nom for Chariots of Fire (1981) and following with such popular and acclaimed films as Blade Runner (1982) — starring Star Wars and American Graffiti‘s Harrison Ford — and The Right Stuff (1983) and Once Upon a Time in America (1984).
Everett Collection.
Ladd also hired an up-and-coming child actor-turned-action star-turned aspiring director to helm the 1982 morgue-set comedy Night Shift. Ron Howard would go on to win a pair of Oscars and become one of Hollywood’s biggest players. Night Shift featured Howard’s Happy Days co-star alongside a young TV actor named Michael Keaton — launching the latter’s feature career. A pre-Cheers Shelley Long also starred.
Fast-forward to 1985, when Ladd took over MGM/United Artists.
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