🔗 Share this article

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

This actor, with roles spanned Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home in California’s Ojai. This announcement was revealed through a message from her daughter, Oscar-winning actor her daughter Laura Dern.

Dern, who performed alongside her mother in a number of films such as Wild at Heart, referred to her as “my wonderful hero as well as my profound gift of a mother”, writing that she was at her bedside when she passed.

“She was an exceptional daughter, mother, grandmother, star, artist along with caring individual that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she expressed. “We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”

Initial Roles and Rise to Fame

Her initial acting years included supporting roles in TV shows such as Perry Mason whereas the 1970s featured her performing next to the legendary Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

In the same year, 1974, she shared the screen alongside Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s praised film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her acting earned Ladd her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

Subsequent Years

Throughout the 1980s, she was seen in crime thriller the movie Black Widow as well as comedy sequel National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while also joining Alice, a comedy program derived from the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the following decade, she was given a further supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her role in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she played the mom of her real-life daughter the character played by Dern. A year later she obtained another nomination for her performance in Rambling Rose, another movie which included Laura Dern.

“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she flew me and Laura to London for a royal premiere and a celebration for us,” Ladd shared about the film Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, grasping our hands, and weeping, seeing us act.”

That decade included parts in comedy Cemetery Club, a film reuniting her with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a comedy about politics, starring John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy in which she portrayed the mother of Dern again. The decade also saw her score Emmy nominations for performances in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel.

Collaborations with Daughter

She kept appearing with her daughter in films blending humor and drama the film Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project the movie Inland Empire and Mike White’s dark comedy series Enlightened, a TV series. She additionally starred next to Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film and with Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

Her more recent television parts consisted of the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.

Behind the Camera

She additionally penned and oversaw the comedy Mrs Munck featuring her and previous spouse Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a great actor,” she noted. “I was honored to direct him in a movie. Actually, I’m the only woman in recorded history to direct her ex-husband. I make a joke: ‘I say ladies, if you want revenge, direct your ex-husband.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Personal Connections

She happened to be the third cousin of Tennessee Williams, who she called “a significant impact throughout my life”.

During 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a pulmonary condition and advised she had just six months to live 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 like an injury, instead use it to explore, to make the path clearer for yourself and others, then you are triumphing,” Ladd remarked.