The Academy Award-nominated actress Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran has died 89 years old.
This actor, with filmography included Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, passed away at home in California’s Ojai. The news was revealed via an announcement by her child, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.
Her daughter, who appeared with her mother in a number of films like Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, called her “my amazing hero as well as my profound gift being my mom”, noting that she was present during her final moments.
“She was an exceptional daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that seemed almost dreamlike,” she stated. “We were fortunate to know her. Her spirit soars with angels.”
Ladd’s early career saw minor parts on television series like Gunsmoke whereas the seventies saw her starring next to the legendary Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
During that year, 1974, she appeared with actress Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her acting brought Ladd her initial Oscar nod in the supporting actress category.
Throughout the 1980s, she was seen in the thriller the movie Black Widow as well as funny follow-up Christmas Vacation while also joining the show Alice, a comedy program inspired by her earlier movie.
During the next ten years, she was given another supporting actress nomination for her part in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she played the mother of her real-life daughter Laura Dern’s role. A year later she obtained another nomination for her acting in Rambling Rose which included her daughter.
“This movie that Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she flew Laura and I to the UK for a royal premiere and a celebration for us,” Ladd recalled of Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, grasping our hands, and crying, viewing our performance.”
The nineties included parts in the comedy Cemetery Club, a film joining her again with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a political comedy, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth where she played the mother of Dern again. Those years also brought her Emmy nominations for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
She continued to star alongside her daughter in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and the series by Mike White satirical show Enlightened, a TV series. She was also seen next to Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, a movie, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian plus Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.
Subsequent TV appearances included Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.
She also authored and oversaw the comedy film Mrs Munck, a film that included herself and previous spouse Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she mentioned. “I was honored to direct him in a movie. Indeed, I’m the only woman in recorded history who directed her former husband. I often joke: ‘I say ladies, if you want revenge, guide your former spouse.’ However, I’m joking.”
She was additionally a relative of playwright Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a major inspiration in my life”.
In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a respiratory illness and advised she had just six months to live but she regained full health when her daughter shifted her to a new hospital.
“When you use your pain and not let it back up like an injury, instead use it to discover, to clarify the journey for you and those around, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.
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