Diane Ladd, Celebrated For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at the Age of 89.
The award-nominated actor the celebrated Diane Ladd left us at the age of 89.
The actor, with roles spanned Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, left this world in her residence at her Ojai, California home. This announcement was announced in a statement from her daughter, award-winning actress her daughter Laura Dern.
Her daughter, who appeared with Diane Ladd in various films such as Wild at Heart, called her “my amazing hero as well as my profound gift of a mother”, stating that she was by her side during her final moments.
“She was an exceptional daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist as well as empathetic spirit that felt like a dream come true,” she wrote. “We were lucky to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”
Initial Roles and Breakthrough
Ladd’s early career featured minor parts on television series such as The Fugitive while the seventies saw her starring next to the legendary Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
During that year, 1974, she performed with Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese celebrated comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role landed Ladd her first Oscar nomination in the supporting actress category.
Later Decades
During the eighties, she starred in the thriller Black Widow, a suspense story and comedy sequel Christmas Vacation and appeared on the sitcom Alice, a television series derived from Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the following decade, she earned an additional Oscar nomination for supporting actress nomination for her part in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart where she acted as the parent of her real-life daughter Laura Dern’s role. The next year she was awarded a further nomination for her acting in Rambling Rose, another movie which also starred her daughter.
“This was the film that the late Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she brought Laura and I to England for a special screening and a party dedicated to us,” Ladd recalled about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, taking our hands, with tears, viewing our performance.”
The 1990s featured performances in humorous films The Cemetery Club bringing her back with Ellen Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a political comedy, featuring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed Laura Dern’s mom again. Those years also brought her Emmy nominations for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom plus Touched by an Angel.
Partnerships with Her Daughter
She kept appearing with Laura Dern in comedy drama Daddy and Them, a movie, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and Mike White’s satirical show Enlightened. She also appeared alongside actress Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.
Subsequent TV appearances consisted of Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon, a comedy.
Filmmaking Ventures
She additionally penned and helmed the comedy film Mrs Munck featuring Diane Ladd and former husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she said. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a movie. Indeed, I’m the only woman in recorded history to direct her ex-husband. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, should you desire retribution, helm a movie with your ex.’ But I’m only kidding.”
Family Ties
She happened to be the third cousin of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a major inspiration in my life”.
During 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a respiratory illness and informed she only had half a year left yet she recovered completely once her daughter moved her to a different hospital.
“Should you harness your suffering and prevent it from festering like a sore or something, instead use it to discover, to make the path clearer for yourself and others, then you are winning,” Ladd remarked.
