Forgotten Hollywood

Manny P. here…

“`Alan Ladd Jr. was a veteran film industry executive and producer. He received an Oscar for Braveheart, commissioned George Lucas to write Star Wars and was an influential studio head for Twentieth Century Fox and MGM / United Artists. He was also the son of iconic actor Alan Ladd.

“`Growing up in Hollywood, Ladd Jr. got his start in the business as a motion picture talent agent at Creative Management Associates. His client list included such heavyweights as Judy Garland, Warren Beatty and Robert Redford. He was in his mid-thirties when he began serving as Head of Creative Affairs at Fox. In 1976, he was promoted to president of Fox’s film division. During his tenure, the studio’s stock rocketed by 1,600%.

“`In 1979, Ladd became the head of his own production company. He later joined MGM / UA, eventually becoming Chairman and CEO of MGM-Pathé Communications. He quit executive life in 1993, resurrecting The Ladd Company at Paramount Pictures.

“`Ladd’s associated body of work is astounding by any standards. Besides the aforementioned blockbusters, he pushed to green-light the productions of   Young Frankenstein, Scent of a Woman,  The Towering Inferno,The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Silent Movie, Police Academy, Silver Streak, The Omen, Julia, The Turning Point, High Anxiety, The Boys from Brazil, Norma Rae, All That Jazz, 9 to 5, Brubaker, Chariots of Fire, Body Heat, Blade Runner, The Right Stuff, Night Shift, A View to a Kill, Moonstruck, Spaceballs, A Fish Called Wanda, Thelma and Louise, among others.

“`Ladd named Ashley Boone as Fox’s President of Marketing — making him the initial African American to be president of a studio division. His sister Cheryl Boone-Isaacs later became the first Black leader of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Laddie’s decisions made a difference and we are still feeling his positive reverberations, today.

“`Alan Ladd Jr. was eighty-four.

Until next time>                               “never forget”