Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Dies at the Age of 89.
The Oscar-nominated actor the celebrated Diane Ladd passed away 89 years old.
This actress, with roles spanned Chinatown, died at her home in Ojai, California. The news was announced in a statement shared by her daughter, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern.
Laura Dern, who starred with Diane Ladd in various films such as Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my incredible hero as well as my precious gift as a mother”, writing that she was at her bedside during her final moments.
“She was the greatest grandmother, mother, daughter, star, artist along with compassionate soul that seemed almost dreamlike,” she stated. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”
Initial Roles and Breakthrough
The start of her career featured small roles on television series including Perry Mason whereas the seventies featured her performing alongside the legendary Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
During that year, 1974, she performed with actress Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role landed Ladd an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.
1980s and Beyond
Throughout the 1980s, she starred in crime thriller Black Widow, a suspense story and humorous film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and appeared on the show Alice, a comedy program based on Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the subsequent decade, she received another Oscar nomination for supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her part in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart where she acted as the mother of her real-life daughter the character played by Dern. The following year she was awarded another nomination for her role in the film Rambling Rose that also featured Laura Dern.
“This was the picture that Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she invited Laura and I to England for a royal premiere and a celebration for us,” Ladd recalled regarding Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, holding both our hands, and weeping, viewing our performance.”
The 1990s also saw roles in the comedy The Cemetery Club joining her again with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, starring John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played Dern’s mother another time. Those years also saw her score nominations for Emmy Awards for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom plus Touched by an Angel.
Collaborations with Daughter
She continued to star with her daughter in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, the David Lynch project Inland Empire, a surreal film and Mike White’s satirical show Enlightened. She additionally starred with Sandra Bullock, a star in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Her more recent television parts consisted of the series Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.
Filmmaking Ventures
She also authored and helmed the comedy Mrs Munck, a film featuring her and former husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “It was a privilege to guide him on a project. In fact, I’m the only woman ever to direct her ex-husband. I humorously say: ‘I say ladies, should you desire retribution, helm a movie with your ex.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Personal Life
Ladd was also a family member of playwright Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a major inspiration in my life”.
During 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a pulmonary condition and advised her life expectancy was six months but made a full recovery after her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.
“Should you harness your suffering and avoid letting it accumulate like a sore or something, instead apply it to discover, to make the path clearer for you and those around, then you are triumphing,” Ladd said.
