Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Celebrated For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at the Age of 89.
This Oscar-nominated actor Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran passed away 89 years old.
The star, with filmography spanned Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, left this world in her residence at her Ojai, California home. Her passing was revealed through a message shared by her offspring, award-winning actress her daughter Laura Dern.
Dern, who performed alongside her mom in a number of films like Rambling Rose, described her as “my amazing hero and my precious gift of a mother”, noting that she was at her bedside when she passed.
“She was an exceptional grandmother, mother, daughter, actress, artist and caring individual that felt like a dream come true,” she wrote. “We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”
Initial Roles and Major Success
Ladd’s early career featured supporting roles in television programs including Perry Mason and that decade had her appearing with the legendary Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
In the same year, the year 1974, she shared the screen with actress Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese praised dramatic comedy the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.
Subsequent Years
During the eighties, she starred in the dramatic film Black Widow, a suspense story and funny follow-up National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and appeared on the show Alice, a comedy program based on the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the following decade, she was given a further Oscar nomination for supporting actress Oscar nomination for her performance in Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart where she played the mom of her actual daughter the character played by Dern. A year later she was awarded a further nomination for her role in Rambling Rose, another movie which included her daughter.
“This movie that Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she brought me and Laura to London for a royal premiere and a celebration in our honor,” Ladd shared of Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, holding both our hands, and weeping, viewing our performance.”
That decade also saw roles in comedy Cemetery Club, a film reuniting her with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a satirical film, with John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed Laura Dern’s mom another time. The decade also earned her Emmy nominations for performances in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom plus Touched by an Angel.
Working with Laura Dern
She continued to star with her daughter in comedy drama the film Daddy and Them, Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and Mike White’s comedy-drama series Enlightened. She also appeared with actress Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film and with Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.
Her more recent television parts included Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.
Behind the Camera
Ladd also wrote and directed the comedy Mrs Munck, a film that included herself and previous spouse Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a great actor,” she noted. “I was honored to direct him on a project. In fact, I’m the only woman ever who directed her former husband. I often joke: ‘I advise females, if you seek payback, direct your ex-husband.’ But I’m only kidding.”
Family Ties
She was additionally a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a major inspiration on my life”.
Back in 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with a respiratory illness and told her life expectancy was six months but made a full recovery after her daughter transferred her to a new hospital.
“If you can take your pain and avoid letting it accumulate similar to a wound, rather utilize it to investigate, to clarify the journey for you and those around, then you are winning,” Ladd said.