Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at the Age of 89.
This award-nominated actress Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran passed away 89 years old.
The actor, whose roles spanned Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home in Ojai, California. The news was shared through a message from her daughter, Oscar-winning actor her daughter Laura Dern.
Dern, who performed alongside her mom in several movies including Rambling Rose, called her “my wonderful hero as well as my special gift being my mom”, stating that she was by her side during her final moments.
“She was the most wonderful daughter, mother, grandmother, performer, creative as well as empathetic spirit that seemed almost dreamlike,” she stated. “We were fortunate to know her. She is flying with her angels now.”
Early Career and Major Success
The start of her career featured small roles on television series like Perry Mason and the seventies saw her starring next to actor Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
In the same year, 1974, she shared the screen with Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese acclaimed comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her role brought Ladd her initial Oscar nod for best supporting actress.
Later Decades
In the 1980s, she starred in crime thriller the movie Black Widow plus comedy sequel National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and appeared on the sitcom Alice, a comedy program based on the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the following decade, she received a further Oscar nomination for supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her performance in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she played the mom of her real-life daughter Laura Dern’s role. The next year she received an additional nod for her performance in Rambling Rose which included her daughter.
“This movie which Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she brought us to the UK for a royal premiere and a celebration for us,” Ladd shared of Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, grasping our hands, with tears, viewing our performance.”
That decade featured performances in the comedy Cemetery Club joining her again with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed Laura Dern’s mom another time. The decade also brought her nominations for Emmy Awards for performances in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom plus Touched by an Angel.
Working with Laura Dern
She continued to star with Laura Dern in films blending humor and drama the film Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and Mike White’s comedy-drama series Enlightened, a TV series. She additionally starred alongside Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.
Her more recent television parts consisted of the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.
Writing and Directing
She also authored and helmed the comedy film the movie Mrs Munck featuring herself and ex-husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a talented star,” she said. “I’m privileged to have directed him on a project. In fact, I am the sole female in recorded history to direct her ex-husband. I make a joke: ‘I tell women, if you want revenge, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”
Personal Connections
Ladd was also a relative of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she called “a significant impact throughout my life”.
During 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with lung disease and advised she had just six months to live but she regained full health 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 investigate, to clarify the journey for you and those around, then you are succeeding,” Ladd expressed.
