🔗 Share this article

The award-nominated actress the celebrated Diane Ladd passed away aged 89.

The actor, with filmography included Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home at her Ojai, California home. This announcement was revealed through a message by her offspring, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern, her daughter.

Dern, who starred with her mom in a number of films including Wild at Heart, referred to her as “my incredible hero as well as my profound gift being my mom”, stating that she was at her bedside as she died.

“She was the most wonderful grandmother, mother, daughter, performer, creative along with empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she wrote. “We were fortunate to know her. She is now with the angels.”

Beginnings and Major Success

The start of her career included supporting roles in television programs including The Fugitive while that decade saw her starring with Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

That very year, 1974, she shared the screen with actress Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese celebrated comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her acting earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.

Subsequent Years

Throughout the 1980s, she appeared in the thriller Black Widow, a suspense story and comedy sequel National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and appeared on Alice, a television series inspired by her earlier movie.

In the following decade, she received another supporting actress nomination for her part in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic in which she portrayed the mother of her biological child Laura Dern’s role. A year later she obtained an additional nod for her role in Rambling Rose, another movie that also featured her daughter.

“This movie that Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she flew us to the UK for a special screening and a celebration for us,” Ladd said about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, grasping our hands, and crying, seeing us act.”

The nineties also saw roles in comedy The Cemetery Club bringing her back with Ellen Burstyn, Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, with John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played Laura Dern’s mom another time. Those years also earned her Emmy nominations for performances in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.

Collaborations with Daughter

She persisted in performing alongside her daughter in dramatic comedies the film Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s Inland Empire and the series by Mike White comedy-drama series the program Enlightened. She additionally starred with actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in that movie plus Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

Subsequent TV appearances included Ray Donovan, a drama plus Young Sheldon.

Writing and Directing

Ladd also wrote and directed the comedy the movie Mrs Munck which starred her and ex-husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she mentioned. “It was a privilege to guide him in a film. Actually, I stand as the only woman in history to helm a film with her ex. I often joke: ‘I say ladies, should you desire retribution, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Family Ties

She was additionally a family member of the great Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a major inspiration throughout my life”.

In 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with a respiratory illness and advised her life expectancy was six months but she regained full health once her daughter shifted her to another medical facility.

“If you can take your pain and prevent it from festering similar to a wound, instead apply it to discover, to clarify the journey for yourself and others, then you are winning,” Ladd expressed.