Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at the Age of 89.
This Oscar-nominated performer the celebrated Diane Ladd left us aged 89.
This star, whose filmography included Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home in California’s Ojai. This announcement was revealed via an announcement shared by her daughter, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern, her daughter.
Laura Dern, who performed alongside her mother in several movies including Wild at Heart, referred to her as “my wonderful hero as well as my profound gift of a mother”, noting that she was by her side as she died.
“She was an exceptional mother, daughter, grandmother, performer, creative as well as compassionate soul that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she stated. “We were blessed to have her. She is now with the angels.”
Early Career and Breakthrough
The start of her career featured small roles on television series such as Gunsmoke whereas the seventies had her appearing alongside actor Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.
During that year, 1974, she performed with Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese praised comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her acting earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.
1980s and Beyond
Throughout the 1980s, she appeared in the thriller Black Widow, a suspense story as well as funny follow-up Christmas Vacation and appeared on the show Alice, a sitcom inspired by her earlier movie.
In the subsequent decade, she earned an additional Oscar nomination for supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her role in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she acted as the parent of her biological child Dern’s character. The next year she was awarded an additional nod for her performance in Rambling Rose, another movie which included her daughter.
“This movie which Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she invited me and Laura to the UK for a royal premiere and a celebration for us,” Ladd said about the film Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, taking our hands, and crying, seeing us act.”
That decade featured performances in the comedy Cemetery Club reuniting her with her co-star Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a satirical film, featuring John Travolta and Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth where she played Dern’s mother again. Those years also brought her TV award nominations for work in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom plus Touched by an Angel.
Partnerships with Her Daughter
She kept appearing with Laura Dern in comedy drama Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and Mike White’s satirical show Enlightened. She also appeared with actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in that movie and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Her later TV roles featured Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.
Filmmaking Ventures
She also authored and helmed the humorous movie the movie Mrs Munck that included herself and former husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she mentioned. “It was a privilege to guide him in a movie. In fact, I stand as the only woman ever who directed her former husband. I often joke: ‘I tell women, if you seek payback, helm a movie with your ex.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Personal Connections
She happened to be a relative of playwright Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a great influence on my life”.
In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a pulmonary condition and informed she had just six months to live but she regained full health when her daughter moved her to a new hospital.
“If you can take your pain and not let it back up like an injury, instead use it to discover, to make the path clearer for you and those around, then you are triumphing,” Ladd expressed.
