Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Known For Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at 89 Years Old.
This Academy Award-nominated performer Diane Ladd passed away aged 89.
The star, whose credits featured Chinatown, left this world in her residence in Ojai, California. Her passing was shared via an announcement by her child, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern, her daughter.
Dern, who performed alongside her mother in several movies like Wild at Heart, referred to her as “my amazing hero plus my profound gift of a mother”, noting that she was by her side during her final moments.
“She was the most wonderful mother, daughter, grandmother, actress, artist as well as compassionate soul that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she wrote. “We were lucky to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”
Initial Roles and Rise to Fame
The start of her career saw small roles in TV shows including Perry Mason whereas that decade featured her performing alongside Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
That very year, the year 1974, she performed alongside Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s praised dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance landed Ladd her initial Oscar nod for best supporting actress.
Later Decades
During the eighties, she appeared in the thriller Black Widow and comedy sequel National Lampoon’s holiday comedy while also joining the sitcom Alice, a sitcom derived from Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the following decade, she was given another supporting actress nomination for her role in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic in which she portrayed the mom of her biological child Laura Dern’s role. The next year she obtained a further nomination for her performance in the film Rambling Rose that also featured Dern.
“This was the film that Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she invited Laura and I to London for a premiere and a party for us,” Ladd shared of Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, taking our hands, and weeping, viewing our performance.”
The nineties featured performances in comedy Cemetery Club, a film reuniting her with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political comedy, featuring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth where she played the mother of Dern another time. Those years also brought her nominations for Emmy Awards for work on Dr Quinn, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.
Collaborations with Daughter
She persisted in performing alongside her daughter in films blending humor and drama Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s Inland Empire and Mike White’s dark comedy series the program Enlightened. She was also seen next to Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Her later TV roles included the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.
Writing and Directing
She also authored and directed the comedy the movie Mrs Munck which starred her and former husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she noted. “I was honored to direct him in a movie. In fact, I’m the only woman in recorded history to direct her ex-husband. I make a joke: ‘I advise females, if you want revenge, helm a movie with your ex.’ But I’m only kidding.”
Personal Connections
Ladd was also a relative of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a significant impact in my life”.
During 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a respiratory illness and informed she had just six months to live 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 an injury, instead apply it to investigate, to clarify the journey for yourself and others, then you are winning,” Ladd said.
