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The award-nominated actress Diane Ladd passed away 89 years old.

This actress, with roles featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, passed away at home at her Ojai, California home. The news was shared via an announcement by her daughter, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.

Dern, who performed alongside Diane Ladd in several movies including Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, described her as “my wonderful hero as well as my special gift as 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 caring individual that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she expressed. “We were blessed to have her. She is now with the angels.”

Initial Roles and Rise to Fame

Ladd’s early career featured small roles on television series like Perry Mason whereas that decade featured her performing with actor Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

In the same year, the year 1974, she appeared alongside Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s celebrated dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. The performance brought Ladd her first Oscar nomination in the supporting actress category.

Subsequent Years

During the eighties, she appeared in the dramatic film the movie Black Widow as well as comedy sequel National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and also took part in the sitcom Alice, a sitcom based on Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the subsequent decade, she received a further supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her performance in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the parent of her real-life daughter Laura Dern’s role. A year later she received a further nomination for her performance in Rambling Rose which included Laura Dern.

“This was the film that the late Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she brought me and Laura to the UK for a special screening and a party in our honor,” Ladd said about the film Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, taking our hands, with tears, viewing our performance.”

That decade also saw roles in comedy Cemetery Club, a film joining her again with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, starring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played the mother of Dern once more. That period also earned her nominations for Emmy Awards for work in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.

Collaborations with Daughter

She persisted in performing with Laura Dern in films blending humor and drama Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and the series by Mike White satirical show Enlightened. She also appeared with Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in that movie and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Her later TV roles included Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.

Behind the Camera

Ladd also wrote and oversaw the comedy Mrs Munck that included herself and previous spouse Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she mentioned. “It was a privilege to guide him on a project. In fact, I’m the only woman in history to helm a film with her ex. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, should you desire retribution, helm a movie with your ex.’ However, I’m joking.”

Personal Connections

She happened to be a family member of playwright Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a great influence in my life”.

Back in 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with a respiratory illness and advised her life expectancy was six months but made a full recovery when her daughter moved her to another medical facility.

“If you can take your pain and not let it back up like a sore or something, rather utilize it to discover, to make the path clearer for yourself and others, then you are winning,” Ladd expressed.