Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at Age 89.
The award-nominated actress the celebrated Diane Ladd left us at the age of 89.
This star, whose roles included Chinatown, died at her home in California’s Ojai. This announcement was announced in a statement from her daughter, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern.
Her daughter, who performed alongside her mother in various films like Rambling Rose, called her “my wonderful hero as well as my special gift being my mom”, writing that she was present as she died.
“She was the most wonderful grandmother, mother, daughter, actress, artist along with caring individual that seemed almost dreamlike,” she wrote. “We were lucky to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”
Early Career and Breakthrough
Her initial acting years included supporting roles in television programs including The Fugitive while that decade saw her starring alongside the legendary Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
In the same year, the year 1974, she appeared alongside Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese praised dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her acting landed Ladd an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.
1980s and Beyond
In the 1980s, she was seen in crime thriller Black Widow and funny follow-up National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while also joining the show Alice, a comedy program derived from her earlier movie.
In the following decade, she earned an additional Oscar nomination for supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her part in David Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the mother of her biological child Dern’s character. The next year she obtained a further nomination for her performance in Rambling Rose, another movie which also starred Dern.
“This movie that the late Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she invited Laura and I to London for a special screening and a party for us,” Ladd shared about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, grasping our hands, with tears, viewing our performance.”
That decade also saw roles in the comedy Cemetery Club joining her again with Ellen Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a political comedy, starring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she acted as the mother of Dern again. Those years also earned her Emmy nominations for work in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.
Partnerships with Her Daughter
She continued to star alongside her daughter in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, David Lynch’s Inland Empire and the series by Mike White dark comedy series the program Enlightened. She was also seen alongside Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian and with Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.
Subsequent TV appearances included the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.
Behind the Camera
She additionally penned and helmed the comedy Mrs Munck, a film featuring herself and previous spouse Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she mentioned. “I was honored to direct him in a film. Actually, I’m the only woman in history to helm a film with her ex. I make a joke: ‘I tell women, if you want revenge, helm a movie with your ex.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Family Ties
She was additionally the third cousin of playwright Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a significant impact on my life”.
Back in 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with lung disease and advised she had just six months to live yet she recovered completely after her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.
“If you can take your pain and avoid letting it accumulate similar to a wound, instead use it to discover, to make the path clearer for yourself and others, then you are triumphing,” Ladd remarked.
