Diane Ladd, Celebrated For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at 89 Years Old.
This Oscar-nominated actress the celebrated Diane Ladd has died 89 years old.
This actor, whose filmography featured Chinatown, died at her home at her Ojai, California home. The news was shared via an announcement shared by her offspring, Academy Award-winning star her daughter Laura Dern.
Laura Dern, who starred with Diane Ladd in various films like 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 as she died.
“She was the most wonderful mother, daughter, grandmother, actress, artist along with empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she expressed. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”
Initial Roles and Major Success
The start of her career included small roles on television series including Perry Mason and the 1970s featured her performing next to actor Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
That very year, the year 1974, she performed with actress Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese acclaimed film the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance brought Ladd her first Oscar nomination in the supporting actress category.
Later Decades
In the 1980s, she appeared in crime thriller Black Widow, a suspense story as well as humorous film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and also took part in Alice, a comedy program derived from Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the subsequent decade, she was given an additional best supporting actress nomination for her performance in David Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the mom of her real-life daughter the character played by Dern. The following year she received another nomination for her performance in the film Rambling Rose which also starred Dern.
“This was the picture which Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she brought me and Laura to the UK for a special screening and a party dedicated to us,” Ladd shared regarding Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, taking our hands, with tears, seeing us act.”
That decade included parts in comedy The Cemetery Club bringing her back with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political comedy, featuring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne the movie Citizen Ruth where she acted as the mother of Dern once more. Those years also saw her score TV award nominations for performances in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.
Partnerships with Her Daughter
She continued to star with her daughter in films blending humor and drama Daddy and Them, a movie, the David Lynch project the movie Inland Empire and White’s satirical show Enlightened. She additionally starred next to Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in that movie plus Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.
Her later TV roles consisted of the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.
Filmmaking Ventures
She additionally penned and helmed the comedy film Mrs Munck, a film featuring Diane Ladd and former husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she noted. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a film. Indeed, I’m the only woman in recorded history to direct her ex-husband. I often joke: ‘I tell women, should you desire retribution, direct your ex-husband.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Personal Connections
She was additionally the third cousin of playwright Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a major inspiration throughout my life”.
In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a pulmonary condition and informed her life expectancy was six months but made a full recovery once her daughter moved her to a new hospital.
“Should you harness your suffering and prevent it from festering like a sore or something, instead use it to discover, to make the path clearer for personal and collective growth, then you are succeeding,” Ladd expressed.
