Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Dies at 89 Years Old.
This Academy Award-nominated actress Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran left us aged 89.
This actor, with roles spanned Chinatown, died at her home in California’s Ojai. Her passing was shared through a message from her daughter, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern, her daughter.
Dern, who starred with Diane Ladd in several movies including Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my wonderful hero and my profound gift of a mother”, noting that she was at her bedside during her final moments.
“She was an exceptional daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that felt like a dream come true,” she wrote. “We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”
Early Career and Rise to Fame
Ladd’s early career included minor parts on television series including Perry Mason and the 1970s saw her starring with Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.
In the same year, 1974, she shared the screen with Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese praised comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her role earned Ladd her initial Oscar nod as best supporting actress.
Later Decades
In the 1980s, she appeared in the thriller Black Widow and funny follow-up Christmas Vacation and also took part in the sitcom Alice, a sitcom based on her earlier movie.
In the following decade, she was given a further supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her part in the David Lynch film the movie Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the parent of her real-life daughter the character played by Dern. The following year she obtained another nomination for her performance in Rambling Rose which also starred Laura Dern.
“This movie that the late Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she flew Laura and I to England for a royal premiere and a celebration dedicated to us,” Ladd said about the film Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, grasping our hands, and weeping, watching us perform.”
That decade featured performances in comedy Cemetery Club, a film reuniting her with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a comedy about politics, starring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth where she played the mother of Dern once more. The decade also earned her Emmy nominations for roles in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Collaborations with Daughter
She continued to star with her daughter in films blending humor and drama the film Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and the series by Mike White comedy-drama series Enlightened. She also appeared next to Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, a movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Her later TV roles included the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.
Writing and Directing
Ladd also wrote and directed the comedy film Mrs Munck, a film that included herself and previous spouse actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “It was a privilege to guide him in a movie. Actually, I am the sole female in history to direct her ex-husband. I often joke: ‘I advise females, should you desire retribution, helm a movie with your ex.’ But I’m only kidding.”
Family Ties
She was additionally a family member of the great Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a major inspiration throughout my life”.
During 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with lung disease and advised she only had half a year left but she regained full health once her daughter shifted her to a new hospital.
“When you use your pain and avoid letting it accumulate like a sore or something, instead use it to investigate, to clarify the journey for you and those around, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.
