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Oscar-winning film producer Alan Ladd Jr. has died at age 84.
His daughter Amanda Ladd-Jones announced his passing 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,” she said.
His brother, David Ladd, shared the news on his 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,” he wrote.
Ladd scored an Academy Award for Best Picture in 1996 for producing Mel Gibson’s Scottish epic “Braveheart.”
The former Fox executive has been credited as the one who asked George Lucas to pen his “Star Wars” series in the 1970s. Ladd produced several other blockbuster projects, including “Gone Baby Gone,” “The Man in the Iron Mask,” “An Unfinished Life,” both “Brady Bunch” films and “Police Academy.”
Ladd grew up surrounded by Hollywood royalty. He was born in Los Angeles and was the son of film noir legend Alan Ladd Sr.
He began his career as a talent agent at Creative Management Associates in 1963, advancing the careers of such screen legends as Judy Garland, Warren Beatty and Robert Redford.
By 1969, he moved to London, where he forayed into film producing, and soon found himself working on nine movies in a span of just four years. In 1976, he was named studio president of 20th Century Fox — and at the same time became a fan of Lucas’ teen hit “American Graffiti.”
Ladd then pursued a meeting with the Indiana Jones creator to ask him if he had other ideas for a new film. That’s when Lucas divulged the outline for his history-making space opera franchise.
Ladd joined MGM Studios in 1985, where he produced “A Fish Called Wanda,” “Moonstruck” and “Thelma & Louise,” among others.
Ladd is survived by his three children: Ladd-Jones and her sisters, Kelliann and Tracy Ladd. His daughter Chelsea died in March 2021 at the age of 34.
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