Diane Ladd, Celebrated For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Dies at Age 89.

The Academy Award-nominated actress the celebrated Diane Ladd left us 89 years old.

This star, with filmography spanned Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, passed away at home at her Ojai, California home. Her passing was announced in a statement shared by her offspring, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern, her daughter.

Her daughter, who performed alongside Diane Ladd in various films such as Rambling Rose, called her “my incredible hero plus my special gift of a mother”, writing that she was present during her final moments.

“She was the most wonderful daughter, mother, grandmother, star, artist along with caring individual that seemed almost dreamlike,” she expressed. “We were blessed to have her. She is now with the angels.”

Initial Roles and Rise to Fame

Ladd’s early career saw small roles on television series including Perry Mason and the seventies saw her starring next to actor Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

During that year, the year 1974, she appeared alongside Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s praised film the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actress.

Subsequent Years

Throughout the 1980s, she appeared in crime thriller the movie Black Widow plus comedy sequel National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and appeared on Alice, a sitcom based on her earlier movie.

In the following decade, she was given another Oscar nomination for supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart, a cult classic in which she portrayed the mother of her actual daughter Dern’s character. The following year she received a further nomination for her performance in the film Rambling Rose which included her daughter.

“This movie that the late Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she invited me and Laura to the UK for a special screening and a celebration in our honor,” Ladd said about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, holding both our hands, and crying, viewing our performance.”

The nineties also saw roles in humorous films Cemetery Club, a film reuniting her with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a satirical film, starring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne the movie Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed the mother of Dern another time. That period also saw her score TV award nominations for work in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.

Working with Laura Dern

She persisted in performing alongside her daughter in films blending humor and drama Daddy and Them, Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and the series by Mike White comedy-drama series Enlightened. She also appeared next to Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in that movie plus Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

Her more recent television parts featured Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.

Behind the Camera

Ladd also wrote and helmed the comedy film Mrs Munck that included Diane Ladd and ex-husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “I was honored to direct him in a movie. Indeed, I’m the only woman in recorded history to direct her ex-husband. I make a joke: ‘I say ladies, if you seek payback, direct your ex-husband.’ Though I’m just teasing.”

Family Ties

Ladd was also a family member of Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a significant impact in my life”.

Back in 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with lung disease and advised she had just six months to live yet she recovered completely after her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.

“Should you harness your suffering and prevent it from festering similar to a wound, instead apply it to explore, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.