Alan Ladd Jr., a Hollywood producer and executive who greenlit “Star Wars” at Twentieth Century Fox, stood by the film even as the studio wavered and later won an Oscar for producing “Braveheart,” a late-career triumph that came after he was ousted by MGM, died March 2. He was 84.
Mr. Ladd started in the film business as a stuntman for his father, “Shane” star Alan Ladd, but rose to become one of the industry’s leading — and most liked — executives.
As studio head at Fox and MGM, Mr. Ladd was involved in more than a dozen best-picture nominees and worked on a slew of hits and cultural touchstones, including “Young Frankenstein” (1974), “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1975), “Norma Rae” (1979), “Chariots of Fire” (1981) and “Blade Runner” (1982). As an independent producer, he helped steer films including “The Right Stuff” (1983), “Once Upon a Time in America” (1984) and “Gone Baby Gone” (2007).
All told, Mr. Ladd produced or greenlit movies that received more than 50 Academy Awards and 150 nominations. And he did so with an easygoing, tight-lipped manner — Esquire magazine put Mr. Ladd on the cover in 1978 with the headline, “Triumph of the Laid-Back Style” — that made him widely admired by stars and filmmakers.
“There are snakes in this business,” his friend the director Richard Donner once said, “and then there’s Alan Ladd Jr.”
Alan Walbridge Ladd Jr. was born in Los Angeles on Oct. 22, 1937. His parents divorced when he was 2, and he lived with his mother, who suffered health problems, before returning to his father, who was often away making movies. He later described their relationship as “basically nonexistent.”
Mr. Ladd worked as a talent agent for stars including Robert Redford and Judy Garland, and was an independent producer in London before joining Twentieth Century Fox in 1973, later rising to become president. There, he greenlit a $10 million science fiction film directed by George Lucas — an early draft of the script was titled “The Adventures of Luke Starkiller, as Taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga 1: Star Wars” — when few in Hollywood saw any potential in it.
Lucas once recalled his meeting with Mr. Ladd, whose faith in the filmmaker began with a screening of Lucas’s 1973 coming-of-age movie “American Graffiti” before it was released.
“The only reason it got off the ground was that Alan liked ‘American Graffiti’ and said, ‘I don’t understand this movie, I don’t get it at all, but I think you’re a talented guy and I want you to make this movie,’ ” Lucas said in an interview for Tom Shone’s 2004 book “Blockbuster.”
Even when the studio’s confidence faltered, Mr. Ladd kept his trust in “Star Wars,” which became one of the highest-grossing films ever made. His only false move may have been granting Lucas merchandising rights rather than a raise when “American Graffiti” became a hit.
“My biggest contribution to ‘Star Wars’ was keeping my mouth shut and standing by the picture,” Mr. Ladd told Variety.
“Star Wars” wasn’t the only classic sci-fi film he greenlit at Fox; Mr. Ladd also backed “Alien,” starring Sigourney Weaver. But the same year that 1979 film opened, after clashing with Fox chairman Dennis Stanfill, Mr. Ladd left to form the independent production company Ladd Co., which presented movies including the erotic thriller “Body Heat” (1981) and the hit comedy “Police Academy” (1984).
The company struggled to be profitable, weighed down by some disappointments and hefty budgets for films such as “The Right Stuff,” based on Tom Wolfe’s book about the launch of the U.S. space program. In the mid-1980s, Mr. Ladd moved to MGM, which he would eventually lead. His two stints at the studio were less successful than his time at Fox, but under his direction MGM made critically acclaimed movies including “Moonstruck” (1987), “Rain Man” (1988), “A Fish Called Wanda” (1988) and “Thelma & Louise” (1991).
When a loan default put MGM in the hands of Crédit Lyonnais, the French bank booted Mr. Ladd, who was eventually given $10 million to sever his contract and two projects to take with him to Paramount.
He picked a comedy called “Bounty Hunter,” which landed in turnaround. The other film was “Braveheart” (1995). When the Mel Gibson epic won five Academy Awards, including for best picture, some saw it as Mr. Ladd getting the last laugh.
“I guess it is kind of a sweet justice,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 1996. “If I was more eloquent, I would have thanked Crédit Lyonnais [at the Oscars] for treating me shabbily as studio chief and allowing me to take this project with me. In fairness, MGM couldn’t have afforded to make this film at the time. Paramount could.”
Mr. Ladd was never known for his loquaciousness, though. When he, as one of three producers, accepted the Oscar, his entire speech was: “I’d like to thank my family. Thank you.”
Survivors include his wife, the former Cindra Pincock; three children, Kelliann, Tracy and Amanda, from an earlier marriage to Patricia Ann Beazley; a half brother; a half sister; and a stepsister. Another daughter, Chelsea, died last year at age 34.
