Born on this day – Alan Ladd:

Alan Ladd

Actor

Producer

September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964

On this day in movie history - Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982):

Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid

directed by Carl Reiner,

written by Carl Reiner, George Gipe and Steve Martin,

was released in the United States on May 4, 1982.
Music by Miklós Rózsa and Steve Goodman.

Cast:

Steve Martin, Rachel Ward, Alan Ladd, Carl Reiner, Barbara Stanwyck, Ray Milland, Ava Gardner, Burt Lancaster, Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Veronica Lake, Bette Davis, Lana Turner, Edward Arnold, Kirk Douglas, Fred MacMurray, James Cagney, Joan Crawford, Reni Santoni, Charles Laughton, Vincent Price, George Gaynes, Francis X. McCarthy, Adrian Ricard, Charlie Picerni, Gene LeBell, George Sawaya, Britt Nilsson, Jean Beaudine, John Easton Stuart, Ronald Spivey, Bob Hevelone, Dieter Curt, Phillip Kearns, Kent Deigaard, Eugene Brezany, Brad Baird, William Conrad, Charles McGraw, Jeff Corey, John Miljan, Brian Donlevy, Norma Varden, Edmond O'Brien, Wally Brown, David LeBell, Cheryl Smith.

On this day in movie history - This Gun for Hire (1942 movie & novel):

This Gun for Hire

directed by Frank Tuttle,

written by Albert Maltz and W.R. Burnett,

based on the novel A Gun for Sale by Graham Greene,

was released in the United States on April 24, 1942.
Music by David Buttolph.

Cast:

Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, Laird Cregar, Alan Ladd, Tully Marshall, Marc Lawrence, Olin Howland, Roger Imhof, Pamela Blake, Frank Ferguson, Victor Kilian, Patricia Farr, Harry Shannon, Charles C. Wilson, Mikhail Rasumny, Bernadene Hayes, Mary Davenport, Chester Clute, Charles Arnt, Earle S. Dewey, Clem Bevans, Lynda Grey, Virita Campbell.

Recommended reading:

A Gun for Sale

By Graham Greene.

Introduction by Samuel Hynes.

Filmed as This Gun for Hire (1942), directed by Frank Tuttle.

Published by Penguin Publishing Group.

First published 1936.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 014303930X

ISBN-13: 978-0143039303

Description:

Raven is an ugly man dedicated to ugly deeds. His cold-blooded killing of a European Minister of War is an act of violence with chilling repercussions, not just for Raven himself but for the nation as a whole. The money he receives in payment for the murder is made up of stolen notes and when the first of these is traced, Raven becomes a man on the run. As he tracks down the agent who has been double-crossing him and attempts to elude the police, he becomes both hunter and hunted: an unwitting weapon of a strange kind of social justice. In doing so, he sets the stage for Greene’s next novel, Brighton Rock. This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction by Samuel Hynes.

On this day in movie history - The Blue Dahlia (1946):

The Blue Dahlia

directed by George Marshall,

written by Raymond Chandler,

was released in the United States on April 18, 1946.
Music by Victor Young.

Cast:

Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, William Bendix, Howard Da Silva, Doris Dowling, Hugh Beaumont, Tom Powers, Howard Freeman, Don Costello, Will Wright, Frank Faylen, Walter Sande, Mae Busch, Anthony Caruso, Noel Neill.