Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Passes Away at 89 Years Old.
This Academy Award-nominated actor Diane Ladd passed away 89 years old.
The star, whose roles spanned National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, left this world in her residence in California’s Ojai. The news was announced via an announcement from her daughter, award-winning actress her daughter Laura Dern.
Dern, who appeared with Diane Ladd in several movies like Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my incredible hero plus my precious gift of a mother”, stating that she was at her bedside during her final moments.
“She was the most wonderful mother, daughter, grandmother, actress, artist as well as compassionate soul that seemed almost dreamlike,” she stated. “We were fortunate to know her. She is now with the angels.”
Beginnings and Rise to Fame
Ladd’s early career saw minor parts on television series such as Perry Mason while that decade had her appearing next to the legendary Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
That very year, 1974, she performed with actress Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese acclaimed comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.
1980s and Beyond
In the 1980s, she was seen in the dramatic film Black Widow, a suspense story and funny follow-up National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and also took part in the show Alice, a comedy program derived from her earlier movie.
In the following decade, she earned an additional best supporting actress nomination for her part in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she acted as the mother of her actual daughter Dern’s character. A year later she was awarded an additional nod for her performance in Rambling Rose which also starred her daughter.
“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she brought me and Laura to London for a premiere and a party in our honor,” Ladd shared of Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, holding both our hands, with tears, watching us perform.”
The nineties featured performances in humorous films Cemetery Club, a film joining her again with Ellen Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, with John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed the mother of Dern again. Those years also brought her Emmy nominations for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.
Partnerships with Her Daughter
She continued to star with her daughter in films blending humor and drama Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and White’s comedy-drama series Enlightened, a TV series. She also appeared alongside Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, a movie, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.
Her more recent television parts consisted of Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon.
Writing and Directing
She also authored and oversaw the humorous movie Mrs Munck featuring her and former husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she mentioned. “I was honored to direct him in a film. Actually, I stand as the only woman in recorded history to direct her ex-husband. I often joke: ‘I advise females, should you desire retribution, direct your ex-husband.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Family Ties
She happened to be the third cousin of the great Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a major inspiration throughout my life”.
During 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a respiratory illness and told she only had half a year left but she regained full health once her daughter shifted her to a new hospital.
“Should you harness your suffering and avoid letting it accumulate like a sore or something, instead apply it to investigate, to illuminate the way for personal and collective growth, then you are succeeding,” Ladd remarked.
