Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Known For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at Age 89.

This Academy Award-nominated actor Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran has died 89 years old.

This star, with filmography spanned Chinatown, passed away at home at her Ojai, California home. The news was shared in a statement by her daughter, Academy Award-winning star her daughter Laura Dern.

Dern, who starred with her mother in several movies including Wild at Heart, called her “my incredible hero as well as my profound gift of a mother”, noting that she was at her bedside during her final moments.

“She was an exceptional mother, daughter, grandmother, actress, artist and compassionate soul that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she wrote. “We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”

Early Career and Major Success

The start of her career included small roles in television programs including Perry Mason and the seventies had her appearing next to Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

During that year, 1974, she performed with actress Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s celebrated dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her role brought Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.

1980s and Beyond

During the eighties, she starred in the dramatic film Black Widow and humorous film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while also joining the show Alice, a comedy program derived from Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

During the next ten years, she was given an additional best supporting actress nomination for her performance in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she acted as the parent of her biological child Dern’s character. The next year she was awarded another nomination for her performance in Rambling Rose, another movie that also featured Dern.

“This was the picture which Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she invited us to the UK for a royal premiere and a celebration in our honor,” Ladd shared of Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, holding both our hands, and weeping, viewing our performance.”

That decade also saw roles in humorous films The Cemetery Club reuniting her with Ellen Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a comedy about politics, with John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy in which she portrayed the mother of Dern once more. Those years also earned her TV award nominations for performances in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.

Collaborations with Daughter

She continued to star with Laura Dern in films blending humor and drama Daddy and Them, a movie, David Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and the series by Mike White satirical show the program Enlightened. She was also seen next to Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in that movie and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.

Her later TV roles consisted of Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon, a comedy.

Filmmaking Ventures

She also authored and directed the comedy film Mrs Munck, a film featuring Diane Ladd and ex-husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she mentioned. “I was honored to direct him in a film. Actually, I am the sole female ever to direct her ex-husband. I make a joke: ‘I tell women, if you want revenge, direct your ex-husband.’ However, I’m joking.”

Personal Life

Ladd was also the third cousin of Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a significant impact throughout my life”.

In 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with lung disease and told she only had half a year left but made a full recovery when her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.

“Should you harness your suffering and avoid letting it accumulate like a sore or something, instead use it to discover, to make the path clearer for personal and collective growth, then you are triumphing,” Ladd remarked.