🔗 Share this article

The Academy Award-nominated actor Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran has died aged 89.

The actress, with roles spanned Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, left this world in her residence in Ojai, California. Her passing was shared in a statement by her daughter, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern, her daughter.

Laura Dern, who appeared with Diane Ladd in a number of films like Wild at Heart, described her as “my amazing hero and my precious gift of a mother”, writing that she was present when she passed.

“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, star, artist and compassionate soul that seemed almost dreamlike,” she stated. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”

Early Career and Breakthrough

Her initial acting years featured supporting roles in television programs including The Fugitive and the 1970s featured her performing alongside Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.

That very year, the year 1974, she shared the screen alongside Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed dramatic comedy the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance brought Ladd her first Oscar nomination in the supporting actress category.

1980s and Beyond

During the eighties, she was seen in the dramatic film Black Widow as well as humorous film National Lampoon’s holiday comedy while also joining the sitcom Alice, a television series derived from her earlier movie.

In the subsequent decade, she earned a further Oscar nomination for supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her part in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she played the mom of her real-life daughter Dern’s character. The next year she obtained a further nomination for her performance in Rambling Rose, another movie that also featured her daughter.

“This was the film that the late Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she flew us to London for a premiere and an event for us,” Ladd recalled about the film Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, taking our hands, with tears, watching us perform.”

That decade featured performances in humorous films The Cemetery Club joining her again with Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she acted as the mother of Dern once more. That period also saw her score Emmy nominations for performances on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.

Collaborations with Daughter

She persisted in performing with her daughter in films blending humor and drama Daddy and Them, a movie, David Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and White’s dark comedy series the program Enlightened. She additionally starred next to Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Subsequent TV appearances included the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.

Filmmaking Ventures

Ladd also wrote and directed the humorous movie the movie Mrs Munck that included her and ex-husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she noted. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a film. In fact, I’m the only woman ever to direct her ex-husband. I humorously say: ‘I say ladies, if you want revenge, helm a movie with your ex.’ However, I’m joking.”

Family Ties

She was additionally the third cousin of the great Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a major inspiration throughout my life”.

Back in 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with lung disease and informed her life expectancy was six months yet she recovered completely after her daughter moved her to a new hospital.

“If you can take your pain and not let it back up similar to a wound, instead apply it to explore, to make the path clearer for personal and collective growth, then you are triumphing,” Ladd expressed.