Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Known For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Dies at 89 Years Old.
The Academy Award-nominated actress the celebrated Diane Ladd has died aged 89.
This actress, with filmography spanned Chinatown, left this world in her residence in California’s Ojai. The news was announced in a statement shared by her child, award-winning actress her daughter Laura Dern.
Dern, who starred with her mother in a number of films including Wild at Heart, described her as “my amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother”, stating that she was at her bedside when she passed.
“She was the greatest mother, daughter, grandmother, star, artist along with caring individual that seemed almost dreamlike,” she stated. “We were fortunate to know her. She is now with the angels.”
Initial Roles and Breakthrough
Her initial acting years saw supporting roles in TV shows including Perry Mason while the seventies had her appearing with the legendary Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
That very year, 1974, she shared the screen alongside Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her acting earned Ladd her initial Oscar nod as best supporting actress.
Subsequent Years
During the eighties, she starred in the thriller Black Widow plus funny follow-up Christmas Vacation and appeared on Alice, a sitcom based on the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the subsequent decade, she received another Oscar nomination for supporting actress nomination for her performance in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she played the mother of her actual daughter Laura Dern’s role. The next year she was awarded a further nomination for her acting in Rambling Rose, another movie which included her daughter.
“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she invited us to London for a special screening and a party in our honor,” Ladd shared about the film Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, holding both our hands, and weeping, viewing our performance.”
The nineties featured performances in comedy The Cemetery Club joining her again with her co-star Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a satirical film, starring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played Dern’s mother once more. Those years also saw her score Emmy nominations for work in the series 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 Daddy and Them, a movie, Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and White’s comedy-drama series the program Enlightened. She was also seen with Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, a movie, Anthony Hopkins in that movie and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Her more recent television parts featured the series Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.
Behind the Camera
Ladd also wrote and oversaw the comedy film Mrs Munck, a film which starred Diane Ladd and ex-husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a great actor,” she mentioned. “I was honored to direct him in a movie. Indeed, I stand as the only woman in history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, should you desire retribution, direct your ex-husband.’ However, I’m joking.”
Family Ties
She happened to be a family member of Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a significant impact on my life”.
Back in 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a pulmonary condition and advised she had just six months to live yet she recovered completely after her daughter shifted her to a new hospital.
“If you can take your pain and not let it back up like an injury, instead use it to discover, to illuminate the way for personal and collective growth, then you are winning,” Ladd said.
