🔗 Share this article

This Oscar-nominated actress Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran passed away at the age of 89.

The actor, whose filmography featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, passed away at home in Ojai, California. The news was announced via an announcement shared by her daughter, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern, her daughter.

Dern, who starred with Diane Ladd in various films like Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my incredible hero plus my special gift being my mom”, writing that she was by her side during her final moments.

“She was an exceptional mother, daughter, grandmother, star, artist along with empathetic spirit that felt like a dream come true,” she stated. “We were blessed to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”

Initial Roles and Breakthrough

The start of her career included supporting roles in TV shows such as Gunsmoke whereas the seventies had her appearing alongside the legendary Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

That very year, 1974, she performed with actress Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s praised film the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance earned Ladd her initial Oscar nod in the supporting actress category.

Later Decades

Throughout the 1980s, she starred in the thriller Black Widow, a suspense story plus humorous film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and also took part in the show Alice, a television series inspired by the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the following decade, she received a further supporting actress nomination for her role in the David Lynch film the movie Wild at Heart where she played the parent of her real-life daughter Dern’s character. The following year she was awarded a further nomination for her role in Rambling Rose, another movie that also featured Laura Dern.

“This movie that Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she flew Laura and I to the UK for a special screening and a celebration dedicated to us,” Ladd said about the film Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, taking our hands, and crying, seeing us act.”

The 1990s featured performances in comedy Cemetery Club, a film bringing her back with Ellen Burstyn, Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, with John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she played Dern’s mother another time. That period also earned her nominations for Emmy Awards for performances in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.

Collaborations with Daughter

She persisted in performing with her daughter in films blending humor and drama the film Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and Mike White’s satirical show the program Enlightened. She also appeared with actress Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in that movie and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.

Her later TV roles included the series Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.

Writing and Directing

Ladd also wrote and helmed the humorous movie the movie Mrs Munck that included Diane Ladd and former husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she mentioned. “It was a privilege to guide him on a project. Indeed, I’m the only woman in history to direct her ex-husband. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, if you seek payback, direct your ex-husband.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Family Ties

Ladd was also the third cousin of the great Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a major inspiration on my life”.

Back in 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with lung disease and told she only had half a year left yet she recovered completely after her daughter moved her to another medical facility.

“If you can take your pain and not let it back up like an injury, instead use it to investigate, to illuminate the way for you and those around, then you are succeeding,” Ladd remarked.