Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Famed For Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at Age 89.
This Academy Award-nominated actor the celebrated Diane Ladd left us 89 years old.
The actor, with filmography featured Chinatown, left this world in her residence in California’s Ojai. The news was shared via an announcement from her daughter, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.
Her daughter, who starred with Diane Ladd in several movies like Rambling Rose, called her “my incredible hero plus my special gift as a mother”, noting that she was by her side during her final moments.
“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, performer, creative along with caring individual that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she stated. “We were fortunate to know her. She is flying with her angels now.”
Early Career and Rise to Fame
Her initial acting years included supporting roles on television series like The Fugitive and the seventies featured her performing alongside actor Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
During that year, 1974, she performed with Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese praised dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance landed Ladd an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actress.
Subsequent Years
In the 1980s, she was seen in the dramatic film the movie Black Widow as well as humorous film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while also joining the sitcom Alice, a television series based on her earlier movie.
During the next ten years, she earned an additional best supporting actress nomination for her performance in Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart where she acted as the mother of her real-life daughter Dern’s character. The following year she was awarded an additional nod for her role in the film Rambling Rose that also featured her daughter.
“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she flew me and Laura to England for a premiere and a party for us,” Ladd said regarding Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, grasping our hands, with tears, watching us perform.”
The nineties featured performances in comedy Cemetery Club, a film joining her again with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a satirical film, starring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth where she acted as the mother of Dern again. The decade also earned her nominations for Emmy Awards for performances in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.
Partnerships with Her Daughter
She kept appearing with her daughter in films blending humor and drama Daddy and Them, a movie, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and White’s comedy-drama series Enlightened, a TV series. She also appeared alongside Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian plus Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.
Her more recent television parts included Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.
Behind the Camera
Ladd also wrote and helmed the comedy the movie Mrs Munck that included her and former husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she said. “It was a privilege to guide him in a movie. Indeed, I’m the only woman ever to direct her ex-husband. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ However, I’m joking.”
Personal Connections
Ladd was also a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, who she called “a significant impact in my life”.
During 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with lung disease and told her life expectancy was six months yet she recovered completely once her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.
“When you use your pain and prevent it from festering like a sore or something, rather utilize it to investigate, to make the path clearer for personal and collective growth, then you are winning,” Ladd expressed.
