Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at the Age of 89.
The Academy Award-nominated actor Diane Ladd has died aged 89.
This star, whose filmography included National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, passed away at home at her Ojai, California home. This announcement was announced in a statement shared by her child, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.
Her daughter, who performed alongside Diane Ladd in several movies including Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, called her “my wonderful hero plus my special gift as a mother”, noting that she was by her side during her final moments.
“She was an exceptional grandmother, mother, daughter, performer, creative along with empathetic spirit that felt like a dream come true,” she expressed. “We were blessed to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”
Initial Roles and Rise to Fame
Ladd’s early career featured minor parts on television series such as Gunsmoke while the seventies featured her performing next to the legendary Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
That very year, the year 1974, she shared the screen alongside Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s praised film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.
Subsequent Years
Throughout the 1980s, she starred in the dramatic film the movie Black Widow and funny follow-up National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while also joining the sitcom Alice, a sitcom derived from her earlier movie.
In the subsequent decade, she was given an additional Oscar nomination for supporting actress nomination for her role in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the mother of her biological child the character played by Dern. The following year she was awarded an additional nod for her performance in Rambling Rose which included her daughter.
“This was the picture which Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she flew us to London for a special screening and a party for us,” Ladd shared about the film Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, holding both our hands, and crying, viewing our performance.”
The nineties featured performances in humorous films Cemetery Club bringing her back with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a political comedy, starring John Travolta and Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed the mother of Dern again. That period also brought her TV award nominations for performances in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Partnerships with Her Daughter
She kept appearing alongside her daughter in dramatic comedies the film Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project Inland Empire, a surreal film and White’s dark comedy series Enlightened, a TV series. She also appeared alongside Sandra Bullock, a star in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.
Her more recent television parts included Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.
Writing and Directing
Ladd also wrote and oversaw the comedy Mrs Munck, a film that included Diane Ladd and former husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a movie. In fact, I am the sole female in recorded history who directed her former husband. I make a joke: ‘I advise females, if you want revenge, direct your ex-husband.’ However, I’m joking.”
Personal Connections
She happened to be a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, who she called “a significant impact on my life”.
In 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with lung disease and advised she had just six months to live but she regained full health once her daughter moved her to a different hospital.
“If you can take your pain and avoid letting it accumulate like an injury, instead apply it to discover, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are triumphing,” Ladd said.
