Diane Ladd, Known For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at Age 89.
This award-nominated actor Diane Ladd left us 89 years old.
This actor, whose credits featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, passed away at home at her Ojai, California home. The news was shared through a message shared by her offspring, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern, her daughter.
Her daughter, who starred with Diane Ladd in various films such as Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my incredible hero as well as my precious gift being my mom”, stating that she was by her side as she died.
“She was the most wonderful mother, daughter, grandmother, star, artist and compassionate soul that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she stated. “We were lucky to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”
Early Career and Rise to Fame
Ladd’s early career saw supporting roles on television series including Perry Mason while the 1970s featured her performing next to actor Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
That very year, 1974, she shared the screen alongside Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s praised comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her acting landed Ladd her initial Oscar nod as best supporting actress.
Later Decades
During the eighties, she appeared in the thriller the movie Black Widow as well as funny follow-up Christmas Vacation and also took part in the show Alice, a comedy program derived from her earlier movie.
In the following decade, she received another best supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her role in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she played the mom of her actual daughter Dern’s character. A year later she obtained a further nomination for her acting in Rambling Rose that also featured Dern.
“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she flew me and Laura to London for a special screening and a party dedicated to us,” Ladd recalled regarding Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, taking our hands, and crying, seeing us act.”
That decade included parts in the comedy The Cemetery Club joining her again with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, with John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she acted as Dern’s mother once more. That period also saw her score Emmy nominations for performances in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Working with Laura Dern
She continued to star alongside her daughter in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and the series by Mike White comedy-drama series Enlightened. She was also seen with Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, a movie, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Her more recent television parts consisted of Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon.
Behind the Camera
Ladd also wrote and helmed the comedy Mrs Munck, a film featuring herself and former husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she mentioned. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a film. Actually, I am the sole female ever to direct her ex-husband. I often joke: ‘I tell women, should you desire retribution, direct your ex-husband.’ However, I’m joking.”
Personal Life
Ladd was also the third cousin of Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a significant impact on my life”.
Back in 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a pulmonary condition and advised she had just six months to live yet she recovered completely once her daughter shifted her to a new hospital.
“Should you harness your suffering and avoid letting it accumulate similar to a wound, rather utilize it to discover, to make the path clearer for personal and collective growth, then you are winning,” Ladd said.
