Star Wars ‘Savior’ And Famous Hollywood Producer Alan Ladd Jr. Dies at 84

Alan Ladd Jr. – the Hollywood producer and studio executive known as being the “Savior of Star Wars” has died at the age of 84. Ladd earned the moniker “Savior of Star Wars” when appealed to 20th Century Fox president Gordon Stulberg to make George Lucas’ Star Wars – and then intervened in 20th Century Fox’s attempt to shut down production of A New Hope. Ladd’s faith was rewarded with the massive breakout success of Star Wars, which helped cement him forever as a Hollywood legend. 

News of Ladd’s death was confirmed by the social media page for Laddie: The Man Behind The Movies, a documentary about Ladd’s work behind the scenes of Hollywood: 

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.

Alan Ladd, Jr. 10/22/37-03/02/22

However, Star Wars wasn’t the only achievement of Alan Ladd Jr.’s long career in Hollywood: the films he had a direct hand in producing for both MGM and Fox include Police Academy, Braveheart (which he received an Oscar for after splitting with MGM to form his own production company), The Brady Bunch Movie and its sequel, and even Ben Affleck’s directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone. Even his misses (The Phantom, The Man in the Iron Mask) have endured as cult-hit films. 

As a studio executive, Ladd wracked up a string of hits – including 14 Best Picture Nominations at the Oscars over the years. He had a hand in getting now-beloved films onto the screen, inlcuding Young Frankenstein (1974), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), The Omen (1976), Body Heat (1981) and, Blade Runner (1982). He was a pioneer in helping female-led films make it to the screen, including Robert Altman’s Women, Ridley Scott’s Alien, and Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis’ feminist classic, Thelma & Louise. He was generally regarded as the antithesis of the usual caricature of a studio executive (loud, boorish, bullish), and was noted for his sensitive and soft-spoken nature. 

Alan Ladd Jr. was born in Los Angeles in 1937, as the son of actor Alan Ladd. He spent time on major studio lots like Paramount and Fox, though his relationship with his father (who overdosed when Ladd was 26) was somewhat estranged, and his mother was in poor health after his parents divorced. Ladd Jr. developed a love of movies working as a theater usher, which allowed him to see pictures over and over again and develop his own sets of rules for how movies entertain. 

After high school, Ladd studied abroad in Europe briefly when his father was doing a shoot, before enrolling at USC as an athlete (football, basketball). He broke into the movie business as a stuntman on his father’s films but joined Creative Management Associates in the early 60s as a talent agent for the likes of Judgy Garland, Warren Beatty, and Robert Redford. Ladd produced film independently in Europe during the early 1970s, and became Fox’s head of creative affairs in 1973. From there, the rest (as they say) is history, as Ladd left a firm stamp on movies thereafter.