Diane Ladd, Known For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at the Age of 89.
The Academy Award-nominated actor Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran passed away at the age of 89.
The actor, whose roles featured Chinatown, passed away at home at her Ojai, California home. The news was revealed in a statement by her child, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.
Dern, who performed alongside her mom in a number of films like Wild at Heart, called her “my amazing hero as well as my special gift being my mom”, stating that she was by her side when she passed.
“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, 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.”
Beginnings and Major Success
Ladd’s early career saw supporting roles on television series like Perry Mason whereas the seventies saw her starring with the legendary Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.
During that year, the year 1974, she appeared with Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s celebrated comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her acting landed Ladd her initial Oscar nod as best supporting actress.
Subsequent Years
In the 1980s, she appeared in the dramatic film Black Widow plus humorous film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and also took part in the sitcom Alice, a sitcom inspired by the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the following decade, she received another supporting actress Oscar nomination for her performance in Lynch’s Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the mother of her actual daughter Dern’s character. The following year she obtained another nomination for her role in Rambling Rose, another movie which included Dern.
“This was the film that Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she flew me and Laura to the UK for a royal premiere and a party for us,” Ladd recalled of Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, holding both our hands, and crying, watching us perform.”
That decade also saw roles in humorous films Cemetery Club reuniting her with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a satirical film, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth where she played Laura Dern’s mom again. That period also saw her score TV award nominations for work in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Collaborations with Daughter
She kept appearing with her daughter in films blending humor and drama the film Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and White’s dark comedy series the program Enlightened. She was also seen with Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in that movie plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Her more recent television parts consisted of Ray Donovan, a drama plus Young Sheldon.
Writing and Directing
She additionally penned and helmed the comedy Mrs Munck, a film which starred her and former husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a talented star,” she mentioned. “I’m privileged to have directed him on a project. Indeed, I am the sole female in history who directed her former husband. I often joke: ‘I tell women, if you want revenge, direct your ex-husband.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Personal Connections
Ladd was also a family member of Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a major inspiration throughout my life”.
In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with lung disease and told her life expectancy was six months but made a full recovery once her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.
“If you can take your pain and avoid letting it accumulate similar to a wound, instead apply it to explore, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are triumphing,” Ladd expressed.
