Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Known For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Dies at the Age of 89.
The Oscar-nominated performer Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran left us 89 years old.
The star, with filmography featured National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, passed away at home in California’s Ojai. The news was shared in a statement from her offspring, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern, her daughter.
Dern, who performed alongside her mom in a number of films including Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, described her as “my incredible hero and my precious gift as a mother”, stating that she was at her bedside as she died.
“She was the most wonderful mother, daughter, grandmother, star, artist along with empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she stated. “We were lucky to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”
Initial Roles and Major Success
Ladd’s early career included supporting roles in television programs like Perry Mason whereas the 1970s saw her starring next to actor Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
In the same year, the year 1974, she appeared with Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese acclaimed film the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.
Subsequent Years
In the 1980s, she was seen in crime thriller Black Widow, a suspense story plus funny follow-up Christmas Vacation and also took part in the sitcom Alice, a television series based on Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the subsequent decade, she earned another supporting actress nomination for her role in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she played the parent of her actual daughter the character played by Dern. The next year she received a further nomination for her role in Rambling Rose, another movie which also starred Dern.
“This was the film that the late Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she flew Laura and I to the UK for a special screening and an event dedicated to us,” Ladd shared about the film Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, grasping our hands, with tears, viewing our performance.”
The 1990s also saw roles in the comedy Cemetery Club bringing her back with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political comedy, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth where she acted as Laura Dern’s mom once more. The decade also saw her score nominations for Emmy Awards for work in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Working with Laura Dern
She kept appearing alongside her daughter in dramatic comedies the film Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and White’s satirical show Enlightened. She also appeared next to Sandra Bullock, a star in the film 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film plus Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.
Subsequent TV appearances included Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.
Writing and Directing
She also authored and directed the comedy the movie Mrs Munck that included Diane Ladd and former husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a talented star,” she said. “I was honored to direct him in a movie. Indeed, I am the sole female ever who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I advise females, if you want revenge, direct your ex-husband.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Personal Connections
She happened to be the third cousin of the great Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a significant impact in my life”.
In 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a pulmonary condition and informed she had just six months to live yet she recovered completely when her daughter transferred her to a new hospital.
“Should you harness your suffering and avoid letting it accumulate similar to a wound, instead apply it to explore, to clarify the journey for yourself and others, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.
