Ladd's professional career in Hollywood began in 1957 with a supporting role in a film starring his father titled The Big Land. As a result of that film's success, Samuel Goldwyn Jr offered him a role as a mute in the 1958 movie The Proud Rebel, once again playing opposite his father and co-starring Olivia de Havilland. For this role, Ladd won a Golden Globe award as the "Best Newcomer of 1958" as well as a special award for "Best Juvenile Actor", and received a Best Supporting Actor nomination. He was also included in Film Daily's Filmdom's Famous Five critic's award. Ladd followed this success with a series of films including The Sad Horse, A Dog of Flanders, Raymie and Misty, as well as appearing in numerous television shows including Bonanza, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, and Shirley Temple's Storybook. Ladd was again included in Film Daily's Filmdom's Famous Five in 1961 for A Dog of Flanders. Ladd's other feature film credits include RPM, The Day of the Locust, The Treasure of Jamaica Reef, Jonathan Livingston Seagull and The Wild Geese. Ladd's first solo producing credit came in the motion picture The Serpent and the Rainbow, based on Wade Davis' book of the same name. The film was quite successful, and he was subsequently asked to join his half-brother Alan Ladd Jr in forming Pathe Films in 1988. The duo produced several films before acquiring the venerable Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ladd became a senior production executive at MGM and was part of the key team responsible for the resurgence of the studio. He was responsible for a variety of films, including the hit Get Shorty. Ladd left MGM as an executive in 1998, and signed a deal to produce movies for them. His first production was a re-imagining of the hit TV seriesThe Mod Squad, in which he shared an Executive Producer credit with Aaron Spelling, with whom he had first collaborated on The Zane Grey Theatre in 1961. During this period, MGM changed hands twice, but Ladd was able to continue his productions. He found a manuscript written by John Katzenbach and developed it as a screenplay for the 2002 film, Hart's War, directed by Gregory Hoblit and starring Bruce Willis, Colin Farrell and Terrence Howard. Ladd followed this up with the 2003 comedy A Guy Thing.
Later years
Shortly thereafter, MGM was sold and Ladd left the company as an independent. He is currently developing projects for Fox, Universal and Paramount, as well as projects for the independent film market-place. In 2008, he helped shepherd Kevin Sheridan's Leaving Barstow, which won several awards on the film festival circuit. Ladd spent a portion of 2007 teaching film production at the Savannah College of Art and Design. He is a member of the Producers Guild of America, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and an emeritus member of the Screen Actors Guild.
