Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Passes Away at the Age of 89.
This Oscar-nominated performer Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran passed away 89 years old.
The star, whose filmography featured National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, passed away at home in Ojai, California. The news was shared through a message by her daughter, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern.
Laura Dern, who appeared with her mom in several movies such as Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my wonderful hero as well as my precious gift as a mother”, writing that she was by her side when she passed.
“She was the greatest mother, daughter, grandmother, star, artist along with caring individual that felt like a dream come true,” she stated. “We were fortunate to know her. She is now with the angels.”
Initial Roles and Rise to Fame
The start of her career included supporting roles in TV shows including Gunsmoke while the 1970s had her appearing alongside the legendary Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
In the same year, 1974, she shared the screen with actress Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s acclaimed dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role landed Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.
Later Decades
In the 1980s, she starred in crime thriller Black Widow, a suspense story plus funny follow-up National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and also took part in the show Alice, a television series based on the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the following decade, she earned a further supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she played the mother of her real-life daughter Laura Dern’s role. The following year she received another nomination for her acting in Rambling Rose, another movie which included Laura Dern.
“This was the film which Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she flew me and Laura to the UK for a royal premiere and a celebration for us,” Ladd recalled regarding Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, holding both our hands, and crying, seeing us act.”
The 1990s featured performances in humorous films Cemetery Club bringing her back with Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, with John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she acted as the mother of Dern once more. That period also saw her score TV award nominations for roles in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Collaborations with Daughter
She kept appearing alongside her daughter in films blending humor and drama the film Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project Inland Empire, a surreal film and White’s comedy-drama series the program Enlightened. She also appeared next to Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Her more recent television parts featured Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.
Filmmaking Ventures
Ladd also wrote and directed the comedy Mrs Munck, a film featuring her and former husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “It was a privilege to guide him on a project. In fact, I’m the only woman in recorded history to direct her ex-husband. I make a joke: ‘I say ladies, if you want revenge, direct your ex-husband.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Personal Life
She was additionally the third cousin of Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a major inspiration in my life”.
In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a respiratory illness and informed her life expectancy was six months yet she recovered completely after her daughter shifted her to a new hospital.
“Should you harness your suffering and avoid letting it accumulate like a sore or something, instead use it to discover, to illuminate the way for you and those around, then you are triumphing,” Ladd remarked.
