Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Known For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at 89 Years Old.
The Oscar-nominated actor Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran left us 89 years old.
This actress, with credits featured Chinatown, died at her home in California’s Ojai. Her passing was shared through a message shared by her offspring, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern.
Dern, who starred with Diane Ladd in various films like Wild at Heart, described her as “my incredible hero as well as my profound gift being my mom”, writing that she was present as she died.
“She was an exceptional daughter, mother, grandmother, performer, creative and compassionate soul that felt like a dream come true,” she wrote. “We were fortunate to know her. Her spirit soars with angels.”
Early Career and Breakthrough
The start of her career included minor parts on television series such as Gunsmoke while the 1970s featured her performing with Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
That very year, the year 1974, she appeared with actress Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s acclaimed dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role landed Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.
Subsequent Years
In the 1980s, she starred in crime thriller the movie Black Widow as well as humorous film Christmas Vacation while also joining the show Alice, a television series inspired by the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the subsequent decade, she was given an additional Oscar nomination for supporting actress nomination for her role in David Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart where she acted as the mom of her real-life daughter Dern’s character. The next year she obtained another nomination for her role in Rambling Rose which also starred Dern.
“This was the picture that Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she invited us to London for a premiere and an event dedicated to us,” Ladd said about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, taking our hands, and weeping, seeing us act.”
The nineties featured performances in comedy Cemetery Club, a film joining her again with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a satirical film, featuring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne the movie Citizen Ruth where she acted as Laura Dern’s mom once more. That period also earned her nominations for Emmy Awards for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel.
Partnerships with Her Daughter
She kept appearing with Laura Dern in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, David Lynch’s Inland Empire and Mike White’s dark comedy series Enlightened. She additionally starred alongside Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Subsequent TV appearances consisted of the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.
Writing and Directing
She also authored and helmed the comedy film the movie Mrs Munck featuring her and previous spouse Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a great actor,” she said. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a movie. Indeed, I stand as the only woman in history to direct her ex-husband. I humorously say: ‘I say ladies, should you desire retribution, direct your ex-husband.’ But I’m only kidding.”
Family Ties
She happened to be the third cousin of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a great influence on my life”.
In 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a respiratory illness and told she had just six months to live but made a full recovery after her daughter transferred her to another medical facility.
“Should you harness your suffering and prevent it from festering similar to a wound, instead apply it to investigate, to make the path clearer for yourself and others, then you are triumphing,” Ladd said.
