Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Celebrated For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Dies at Age 89.
This Academy Award-nominated actor Diane Ladd has died 89 years old.
This star, whose credits included Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home at her Ojai, California home. Her passing was shared via an announcement shared by her daughter, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern.
Laura Dern, who starred with her mother in various films such as Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, called her “my amazing hero plus my precious gift of a mother”, noting that she was present as she died.
“She was the most wonderful mother, daughter, grandmother, performer, creative along with empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she wrote. “We were fortunate to know her. She is flying with her angels now.”
Early Career and Breakthrough
Her initial acting years included small roles on television series including Perry Mason and the 1970s featured her performing with the legendary Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
During that year, 1974, she performed with actress Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed film the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role earned Ladd her initial Oscar nod for best supporting actress.
1980s and Beyond
Throughout the 1980s, she was seen in the thriller Black Widow, a suspense story and humorous film Christmas Vacation while also joining the show Alice, a sitcom based on Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the following decade, she was given another supporting actress nomination for her performance in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she played the parent of her real-life daughter Laura Dern’s role. A year later she obtained a further nomination for her role in the film Rambling Rose that also featured her daughter.
“This movie that Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she brought me and Laura to England for a special screening and a party dedicated to us,” Ladd recalled regarding Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, taking our hands, and weeping, watching us perform.”
The 1990s included parts in the comedy The Cemetery Club joining her again with Ellen Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a satirical film, with John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed Dern’s mother again. The decade also earned her nominations for Emmy Awards for roles on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel.
Partnerships with Her Daughter
She continued to star with Laura Dern in dramatic comedies the film Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project the movie Inland Empire and White’s dark comedy series Enlightened. She additionally starred next to Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Subsequent TV appearances featured Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.
Behind the Camera
She additionally penned and helmed the comedy Mrs Munck, a film that included herself and previous spouse Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she mentioned. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a film. Actually, I’m the only woman in history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”
Family Ties
Ladd was also a relative of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she called “a significant impact in my life”.
In 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with lung disease and told she only had half a year left yet she recovered completely after her daughter transferred her to a new hospital.
“When you use your pain and not let it back up like an injury, rather utilize it to explore, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are succeeding,” Ladd expressed.