Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at Age 89.
This Academy Award-nominated performer the celebrated Diane Ladd has died at the age of 89.
The actor, whose filmography featured National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, died at her home in Ojai, California. This announcement was revealed through a message from her daughter, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.
Laura Dern, who performed alongside Diane Ladd in several movies like Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, described her as “my incredible hero as well as my profound gift as a mother”, noting that she was present during her final moments.
“She was the greatest mother, daughter, grandmother, star, artist as well as empathetic spirit that felt like a dream come true,” she wrote. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”
Initial Roles and Rise to Fame
Ladd’s early career featured supporting roles on television series including Gunsmoke and the 1970s had her appearing with Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
During that year, the year 1974, she appeared alongside Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s celebrated dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. The performance landed Ladd her initial Oscar nod for best supporting actress.
Later Decades
In the 1980s, she was seen in the thriller the movie Black Widow as well as humorous film National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and also took part in the show Alice, a sitcom inspired by Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
During the next ten years, she earned a further Oscar nomination for supporting actress nomination for her role in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she acted as the parent of her actual daughter Dern’s character. The next year she obtained a further nomination for her acting in Rambling Rose, another movie that also featured her daughter.
“This was the picture which Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she flew me and Laura to London for a royal premiere and an event in our honor,” Ladd recalled of Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, grasping our hands, with tears, watching us perform.”
The 1990s included parts in humorous films The Cemetery Club joining her again with Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a political comedy, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she acted as Dern’s mother again. Those years also earned her TV award nominations for work in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Partnerships with Her Daughter
She persisted in performing with Laura Dern in comedy drama Daddy and Them, a movie, David Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and White’s satirical show the program Enlightened. She was also seen alongside Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.
Subsequent TV appearances featured the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.
Filmmaking Ventures
She additionally penned and helmed the comedy Mrs Munck that included Diane Ladd and former husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a great actor,” she said. “It was a privilege to guide him in a film. In fact, I’m the only woman in recorded history to direct her ex-husband. I make a joke: ‘I advise females, should you desire retribution, guide your former spouse.’ However, I’m joking.”
Family Ties
Ladd was also the third cousin of the great Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a great influence throughout my life”.
In 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with a pulmonary condition and told her life expectancy was six months but made a full recovery after her daughter transferred her to a new hospital.
“If you can take your pain and prevent it from festering like an injury, rather utilize it to discover, to clarify the journey for you and those around, then you are succeeding,” Ladd remarked.
