Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Celebrated For Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at the Age of 89.
This award-nominated performer Diane Ladd passed away aged 89.
The actor, with filmography spanned Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, left this world in her residence in California’s Ojai. The news was announced through a message shared by her offspring, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern.
Her daughter, who starred with Diane Ladd in several movies like Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my amazing hero plus my special gift being my mom”, noting that she was by her side when she passed.
“She was an exceptional mother, daughter, grandmother, performer, creative as well as caring individual that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she expressed. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”
Initial Roles and Major Success
Ladd’s early career saw minor parts in television programs like The Fugitive while the 1970s featured her performing next to actor Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
During that year, 1974, she appeared with actress Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s acclaimed film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. The performance landed Ladd her initial Oscar nod as best supporting actress.
1980s and Beyond
In the 1980s, she starred in crime thriller Black Widow plus funny follow-up Christmas Vacation and appeared on Alice, a comedy program based on the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
During the next ten years, she earned an additional Oscar nomination for supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her performance in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she played the parent of her biological child the character played by Dern. The following year she was awarded an additional nod for her acting in Rambling Rose, another movie that also featured her daughter.
“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she brought us to the UK for a special screening and a party in our honor,” Ladd recalled regarding Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, holding both our hands, and weeping, seeing us act.”
The nineties featured performances in the comedy The Cemetery Club reuniting her with Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a political comedy, featuring John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played Dern’s mother once more. Those years also earned her nominations for Emmy Awards for work in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom plus Touched by an Angel.
Collaborations with Daughter
She persisted in performing with her daughter in comedy drama Daddy and Them, a movie, Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and the series by Mike White dark comedy series Enlightened. She additionally starred alongside actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins in that movie and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Her later TV roles included the series Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.
Writing and Directing
She additionally penned and helmed the comedy Mrs Munck, a film which starred Diane Ladd and ex-husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a great actor,” she said. “I was honored to direct him in a film. In fact, I stand as the only woman in history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”
Personal Life
Ladd was also a relative of Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a great influence in my life”.
Back in 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with a pulmonary condition and advised her life expectancy was six months yet she recovered completely when her daughter transferred her to a new hospital.
“If you can take your pain and avoid letting it accumulate like a sore or something, instead apply it to explore, to make the path clearer for you and those around, then you are triumphing,” Ladd remarked.
