Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at 89 Years Old.
The Academy Award-nominated actor Diane Ladd left us 89 years old.
This actress, with roles featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, left this world in her residence in California’s Ojai. The news was shared via an announcement shared by her child, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.
Dern, who performed alongside Diane Ladd in several movies like Wild at Heart, called her “my amazing hero as well as my special gift being my mom”, writing that she was present during her final moments.
“She was an exceptional mother, daughter, grandmother, performer, creative and compassionate soul that felt like a dream come true,” she stated. “We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”
Initial Roles and Breakthrough
Her initial acting years featured minor parts in TV shows such as Gunsmoke and the 1970s featured her performing next to Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
During that year, 1974, she shared the screen alongside Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese praised dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance brought Ladd an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.
Subsequent Years
In the 1980s, she appeared in crime thriller the movie Black Widow plus humorous film Christmas Vacation and appeared on Alice, a sitcom inspired by Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
During the next ten years, she earned a further Oscar nomination for supporting actress Oscar nomination for her performance in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she acted as the mom of her actual daughter Dern’s character. The following year she was awarded an additional nod for her performance in Rambling Rose, another movie which included her daughter.
“This movie which Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she brought Laura and I to the UK for a special screening and an event dedicated to us,” Ladd said regarding Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, taking our hands, and crying, viewing our performance.”
The 1990s included parts in comedy Cemetery Club bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a satirical film, starring John Travolta and Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth where she acted as Laura Dern’s mom once more. Those years also brought her TV award nominations for roles in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.
Collaborations with Daughter
She persisted in performing alongside her daughter in films blending humor and drama the film Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project the movie Inland Empire and the series by Mike White satirical show Enlightened. She also appeared next to Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Her later TV roles featured Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.
Behind the Camera
Ladd also wrote and helmed the comedy Mrs Munck, a film which starred her and former husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she said. “It was a privilege to guide him on a project. Actually, I am the sole female in recorded history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, if you seek payback, direct your ex-husband.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Family Ties
She was additionally a family member of the great Tennessee Williams, who she called “a major inspiration in my life”.
Back in 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a pulmonary condition and told she had just six months to live but made a full recovery after her daughter moved her to a different hospital.
“When you use your pain and avoid letting it accumulate similar to a wound, instead apply it to investigate, to make the path clearer for yourself and others, then you are winning,” Ladd said.
