🔗 Share this article

This Oscar-nominated actor the celebrated Diane Ladd left us aged 89.

This actress, with credits spanned Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, left this world in her residence in Ojai, California. Her passing was announced through a message from her offspring, Academy Award-winning star her daughter Laura Dern.

Laura Dern, who performed alongside her mom in a number of films such as Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my amazing hero as well as my precious gift being my mom”, noting that she was present during her final moments.

“She was an exceptional daughter, mother, grandmother, star, artist as well as compassionate soul that felt like a dream come true,” she expressed. “We were blessed to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”

Beginnings and Breakthrough

Her initial acting years included minor parts in TV shows such as The Fugitive while the 1970s featured her performing next to actor Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.

In the same year, 1974, she appeared with actress Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s praised film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her acting brought Ladd an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.

Later Decades

Throughout the 1980s, she starred in the dramatic film Black Widow plus funny follow-up National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while also joining Alice, a television series derived from her earlier movie.

In the following decade, she was given an additional Oscar nomination for supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role in Lynch’s Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the mom of her real-life daughter Laura Dern’s role. The next year she received an additional nod for her acting in Rambling Rose which included Laura Dern.

“This was the film which Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she brought me and Laura to England for a royal premiere and a party in our honor,” Ladd shared of Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, taking our hands, and weeping, viewing our performance.”

That decade also saw roles in the comedy Cemetery Club reuniting her with Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a political comedy, featuring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy in which she portrayed Dern’s mother again. Those years also brought her Emmy nominations for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.

Partnerships with Her Daughter

She persisted in performing alongside her daughter in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, David Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and the series by Mike White satirical show Enlightened, a TV series. She additionally starred with Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian plus Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

Her later TV roles included Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.

Writing and Directing

Ladd also wrote and oversaw the humorous movie Mrs Munck which starred Diane Ladd and former husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she said. “I’m privileged to have directed him on a project. Actually, I’m the only woman in history to helm a film with her ex. I humorously say: ‘I say ladies, should you desire retribution, guide your former spouse.’ Though I’m just teasing.”

Personal Life

She was additionally a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, who she called “a major inspiration throughout my life”.

In 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a respiratory illness and told she only had half a year left but made a full recovery after her daughter shifted her to a new hospital.

“Should you harness your suffering and not let it back up like a sore or something, instead apply it to discover, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are winning,” Ladd said.