Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Known For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Passes Away at the Age of 89.
The award-nominated performer Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran left us aged 89.
The actor, with filmography featured Chinatown, passed away at home in Ojai, California. Her passing was shared via an announcement by her child, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern, her daughter.
Laura Dern, who appeared with her mom in various films such as Rambling Rose, described her as “my incredible hero plus my precious gift as a mother”, stating that she was present as she died.
“She was the greatest grandmother, mother, daughter, performer, creative and caring individual that felt like a dream come true,” she stated. “We were blessed to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”
Initial Roles and Rise to Fame
Her initial acting years saw small roles on television series including Perry Mason while the seventies saw her starring alongside Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
That very year, 1974, she shared the screen alongside Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese praised dramatic comedy the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role landed Ladd an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.
Subsequent Years
Throughout the 1980s, she appeared in the thriller the movie Black Widow and humorous film National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and appeared on Alice, a sitcom inspired by the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
During the next ten years, she earned a further supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic in which she portrayed the mom of her actual daughter the character played by Dern. A year later she obtained another nomination for her acting in Rambling Rose, another movie which also starred Dern.
“This was the picture that Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she brought me and Laura to England for a special screening and a party for us,” Ladd shared about the film Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, holding both our hands, and crying, watching us perform.”
That decade featured performances in humorous films Cemetery Club bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political comedy, with John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she acted as Dern’s mother once more. That period also saw her score Emmy nominations for performances in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Working with Laura Dern
She persisted in performing alongside her daughter in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and White’s satirical show the program Enlightened. She also appeared alongside actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.
Her more recent television parts included Ray Donovan, a drama plus Young Sheldon.
Behind the Camera
Ladd also wrote and directed the comedy film the movie Mrs Munck which starred her and ex-husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a talented star,” she mentioned. “I was honored to direct him in a film. Actually, I’m the only woman in history to direct her ex-husband. I humorously say: ‘I say ladies, if you seek payback, helm a movie with your ex.’ However, I’m joking.”
Family Ties
She was additionally a family member of playwright Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a great influence throughout my life”.
Back in 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with a respiratory illness and advised she only had half a year left but she regained full health when her daughter transferred her to another medical facility.
“If you can take your pain and avoid letting it accumulate similar to a wound, instead apply it to investigate, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are succeeding,” Ladd remarked.
