Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Known For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Passes Away at the Age of 89.
The award-nominated performer the celebrated Diane Ladd has died at the age of 89.
This actor, with filmography spanned Chinatown, left this world in her residence in Ojai, California. The news was shared through a message from her child, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern, her daughter.
Laura Dern, who appeared with her mom in a number of films such as Rambling Rose, called her “my wonderful hero plus my precious gift as a mother”, writing that she was at her bedside when she passed.
“She was an exceptional mother, daughter, grandmother, performer, creative as well as empathetic spirit that seemed almost dreamlike,” she wrote. “We were lucky to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”
Beginnings and Breakthrough
The start of her career saw small roles in television programs like Perry Mason whereas the seventies featured her performing with Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
During that year, 1974, she shared the screen with Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese acclaimed dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actress.
Later Decades
In the 1980s, she was seen in crime thriller the movie Black Widow and humorous film National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and also took part in the show Alice, a sitcom based on Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the subsequent decade, she earned a further supporting actress Oscar nomination for her performance in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she acted as the mom of her actual daughter Dern’s character. A year later she obtained another nomination for her role in Rambling Rose, another movie which also starred her daughter.
“This was the picture which Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she brought Laura and I to the UK for a premiere and a celebration for us,” Ladd shared about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, taking our hands, and weeping, seeing us act.”
The nineties included parts in the comedy Cemetery Club reuniting her with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a political comedy, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth where she acted as Dern’s mother again. The decade also saw her score Emmy nominations for work in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.
Partnerships with Her Daughter
She kept appearing with Laura Dern in comedy drama the film Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and the series by Mike White satirical show the program Enlightened. She also appeared with Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian plus Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.
Subsequent TV appearances included the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.
Filmmaking Ventures
She also authored and directed the humorous movie Mrs Munck, a film that included her and previous spouse Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a great actor,” she noted. “I was honored to direct him in a movie. Actually, I’m the only woman in history who directed her former husband. I make a joke: ‘I say ladies, if you seek payback, direct your ex-husband.’ But I’m only kidding.”
Family Ties
Ladd was also a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a significant impact on my life”.
In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a pulmonary condition and informed she only had half a year left but made a full recovery when her daughter moved her to a different hospital.
“When you use your pain and prevent it from festering similar to a wound, instead apply it to discover, to make the path clearer for personal and collective growth, then you are triumphing,” Ladd expressed.
