🔗 Share this article

This Oscar-nominated actor Diane Ladd passed away 89 years old.

The star, whose roles featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, passed away at home in Ojai, California. This announcement was shared via an announcement shared by her offspring, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern.

Dern, who performed alongside her mother in a number of films like Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my wonderful hero and my profound gift being my mom”, stating that she was by her side during her final moments.

“She was the greatest mother, daughter, grandmother, star, artist and caring individual that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she stated. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”

Early Career and Rise to Fame

Ladd’s early career saw supporting roles in television programs like Perry Mason and that decade saw her starring alongside the legendary Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

That very year, the year 1974, she appeared with actress Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s celebrated film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.

Later Decades

Throughout the 1980s, she was seen in crime thriller Black Widow, a suspense story plus comedy sequel National Lampoon’s holiday comedy while also joining Alice, a sitcom inspired by Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

During the next ten years, she was given a further supporting actress nomination for her role in David Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart where she acted as the mother of her real-life daughter Dern’s character. The next year she was awarded another nomination for her role in the film Rambling Rose which included Laura Dern.

“This was the film which Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she invited me and Laura to England for a premiere and a celebration dedicated to us,” Ladd recalled of Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, grasping our hands, with tears, watching us perform.”

That decade featured performances in comedy The Cemetery Club bringing her back with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political comedy, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she acted as Laura Dern’s mom another time. That period also earned her Emmy nominations for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.

Partnerships with Her Daughter

She kept appearing alongside her daughter in films blending humor and drama Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and the series by Mike White dark comedy series the program Enlightened. She also appeared with actress Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film plus Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

Her more recent television parts featured Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.

Writing and Directing

She additionally penned and helmed the comedy Mrs Munck that included her and former husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a talented star,” she said. “It was a privilege to guide him in a film. Actually, I am the sole female ever to helm a film with her ex. I make a joke: ‘I tell women, should you desire retribution, guide your former spouse.’ However, I’m joking.”

Personal Life

She happened to be a family member of playwright Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a significant impact throughout my life”.

Back in 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a pulmonary condition and told her life expectancy was six months but she regained full health after her daughter moved her to a new hospital.

“Should you harness your suffering and prevent it from festering similar to a wound, instead apply it to discover, to make the path clearer for you and those around, then you are triumphing,” Ladd said.