Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Known For Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Dies at the Age of 89.
The award-nominated performer Diane Ladd has died at the age of 89.
The actor, with filmography included Chinatown, left this world in her residence at her Ojai, California home. The news was announced via an announcement shared by her daughter, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern.
Laura Dern, who appeared with Diane Ladd in several movies such as Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, called her “my wonderful hero and my precious gift being my mom”, writing that she was present during her final moments.
“She was the most wonderful grandmother, mother, daughter, actress, artist along with empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she wrote. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”
Initial Roles and Major Success
The start of her career saw supporting roles on television series such as Perry Mason and that decade featured her performing alongside Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
During that year, 1974, she appeared with Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese acclaimed film the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role landed Ladd her first Oscar nomination in the supporting actress category.
1980s and Beyond
In the 1980s, she appeared in crime thriller Black Widow, a suspense story and humorous film Christmas Vacation while also joining the show Alice, a television series inspired by Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the subsequent decade, she earned an additional best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she played the mother of her actual daughter Dern’s character. The next year she was awarded an additional nod for her role in Rambling Rose, another movie that also featured Laura Dern.
“This movie that Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she brought Laura and I to the UK for a premiere and a celebration in our honor,” Ladd said regarding Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, taking our hands, and crying, watching us perform.”
The nineties included parts in humorous films Cemetery Club bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she acted as Dern’s mother once more. The decade also earned her nominations for Emmy Awards for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Collaborations with Daughter
She kept appearing alongside her daughter in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, the David Lynch project Inland Empire, a surreal film and White’s dark comedy series Enlightened, a TV series. She additionally starred with Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian and Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.
Her more recent television parts consisted of Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.
Behind the Camera
Ladd also wrote and helmed the comedy Mrs Munck featuring herself and former husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “I’m privileged to have directed him on a project. Indeed, I am the sole female in recorded history to direct her ex-husband. I make a joke: ‘I advise females, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ However, I’m joking.”
Personal Life
Ladd was also a relative of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she called “a significant impact on my life”.
In 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with a respiratory illness and told her life expectancy was six months yet she recovered completely once her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.
“If you can take your pain and prevent it from festering like a sore or something, instead use it to explore, to make the path clearer for you and those around, then you are succeeding,” Ladd remarked.
