I just want to make pictures that are entertaining. I'll leave the scenery chewing to someone else.

All three were co-written by Ladd's regular screenwriter Richard Maibaum. He appeared in Dashiell Hammett's story The Glass Key his second pairing with Lake and Lucky Jordan with Helen Walker. The family then moved again to North Hollywood California where Ladd became a high-school swimming and diving champion and participated in high school dramatics at North Hollywood High School graduating on February 1 1934.

His visibility decreased between the mid-1950s and his death.