The Oscar-nominated actor Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran passed away 89 years old.
This actor, whose roles featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home at her Ojai, California home. The news was announced in a statement by her daughter, award-winning actress Laura Dern.
Dern, who starred with her mother in several movies including Rambling Rose, called her “my wonderful hero as well as my profound gift being my mom”, noting that she was by her side when she passed.
“She was the greatest mother, daughter, grandmother, actress, artist along with compassionate soul that felt like a dream come true,” she wrote. “We were fortunate to know her. She is now with the angels.”
Her initial acting years included supporting roles in TV shows like Perry Mason while the seventies had her appearing alongside Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.
In the same year, 1974, she shared the screen with actress Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s celebrated comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance landed Ladd her initial Oscar nod in the supporting actress category.
During the eighties, she was seen in the thriller Black Widow, a suspense story and funny follow-up National Lampoon’s holiday comedy while also joining Alice, a television series inspired by her earlier movie.
In the following decade, she received another best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic in which she portrayed the parent of her actual daughter Laura Dern’s role. The next year she obtained another nomination for her performance in Rambling Rose which included Dern.
“This was the film that the late Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she flew Laura and I to England for a premiere and a celebration dedicated to us,” Ladd recalled about the film Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, holding both our hands, and crying, watching us perform.”
The 1990s included parts in humorous films The Cemetery Club reuniting her with her co-star Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a political comedy, featuring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth where she acted as Dern’s mother another time. The decade also earned her Emmy nominations for performances on Dr Quinn, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
She kept appearing with her daughter in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project the movie Inland Empire and Mike White’s satirical show Enlightened. She also appeared next to Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Her more recent television parts consisted of Ray Donovan, a drama plus Young Sheldon.
She also authored and oversaw the humorous movie the movie Mrs Munck that included Diane Ladd and previous spouse actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she mentioned. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a movie. Actually, I stand as the only woman in recorded history who directed her former husband. I often joke: ‘I say ladies, if you seek payback, helm a movie with your ex.’ However, I’m joking.”
She was additionally a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, who she called “a great influence throughout my life”.
During 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with a respiratory illness and told she only had half a year left but made a full recovery when her daughter shifted her to a new hospital.
“If you can take your pain and avoid letting it accumulate like a sore or something, instead apply it to explore, to illuminate the way for personal and collective growth, then you are triumphing,” Ladd said.
