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No 84 Alan Ladd 1913-64

He had a hard early life and a long apprenticeship. Born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, he was four when his accountant father died and, still a child, he moved to North Hollywood, California with his mother (who would become an alcoholic and commit suicide) and stepfather, a painter and decorator.

He was a high-school athletic star, principally as a swimmer, and developed the fine physique he was often to expose on screen, including two scenes of public flogging. Living so close to the movie business, he had certain acting aspirations but was constantly told he was too short (5ft 6in) and unfashionably fair-haired for stardom.

But after leaving school in the Depression, briefly running his own burger joint (disarmingly called Tiny's Patio) and working as a studio carpenter, he spent nearly a decade freelancing in radio and taking minor movie parts. Many of the latter were without dialogue,...

Michael Wincott and Swedish filmmaker Rafael Edholm have joined forces to write the script for a dark-edged drama set in the north of Sweden. Wincott will play one of the leads and Edholm will direct. Wincott describes the film as also having dark comedic elements. It’s about three people meeting and something may have happened in their teenage years, which results in a death. The project is still casting another U.S. or U.K. actor, and a Swedish actress. Wincott’s credits include The Three Musketeers, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Along Came a Spider, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and most recently What Just Happened? Ingemar Johansson will produce for his production company Elfvik Film, with Filmpool Nord and the Swedish Film Institute as backers. A Finnish co-producer is expected to board shortly and Elfvik is negotiating with two U.S.