Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Dies at the Age of 89.
The award-nominated actor Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran passed away 89 years old.
This star, whose credits featured National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, passed away at home in California’s Ojai. This announcement was shared in a statement by her offspring, Academy Award-winning star her daughter Laura Dern.
Her daughter, who performed alongside her mom in several movies like Wild at Heart, referred to her as “my incredible hero as well as my profound gift of a mother”, noting that she was present as she died.
“She was the most wonderful mother, daughter, grandmother, performer, creative and empathetic spirit that seemed almost dreamlike,” she stated. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”
Beginnings and Rise to Fame
The start of her career saw small roles on television series like Gunsmoke while that decade featured her performing next to the legendary Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
In the same year, the year 1974, she shared the screen with actress Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese celebrated film the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance landed Ladd her initial Oscar nod for best supporting actress.
Later Decades
Throughout the 1980s, she was seen in the dramatic film the movie Black Widow and humorous film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and also took part in Alice, a comedy program derived from the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
During the next ten years, she earned another best supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her part in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she played the mom of her biological child Laura Dern’s role. The next year she obtained another nomination for her role in Rambling Rose, another movie that also featured Laura Dern.
“This movie that Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she brought Laura and I to England for a royal premiere and a celebration in our honor,” Ladd recalled of Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, grasping our hands, with tears, viewing our performance.”
The nineties included parts in comedy Cemetery Club bringing her back with Ellen Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a satirical film, starring John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed Dern’s mother another time. The decade also brought her Emmy nominations for work on Dr Quinn, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Collaborations with Daughter
She continued to star with Laura Dern in comedy drama the film Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and White’s comedy-drama series the program Enlightened. She was also seen next to Sandra Bullock, a star in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in that movie and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.
Subsequent TV appearances included Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.
Filmmaking Ventures
She also authored and oversaw the comedy film the movie Mrs Munck featuring Diane Ladd and former husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “I was honored to direct him on a project. Indeed, I am the sole female ever to helm a film with her ex. I humorously say: ‘I say ladies, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”
Personal Connections
Ladd was also a family member of Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a significant impact throughout my life”.
In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with lung disease and advised she only had half a year left but made a full recovery once her daughter shifted her to a different hospital.
“When you use your pain and avoid letting it accumulate similar to a wound, instead use it to discover, to clarify the journey for you and those around, then you are triumphing,” Ladd expressed.
