Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Celebrated For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Passes Away at the Age of 89.
This Oscar-nominated actor Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran has died 89 years old.
The actress, with credits included Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home in Ojai, California. This announcement was revealed via an announcement shared by her offspring, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern.
Laura Dern, who appeared with Diane Ladd in various films including Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, called her “my wonderful hero plus my profound gift of a mother”, noting that she was at her bedside during her final moments.
“She was the greatest grandmother, mother, daughter, performer, creative as well as compassionate soul that felt like a dream come true,” she wrote. “We were fortunate to know her. Her spirit soars with angels.”
Initial Roles and Major Success
Her initial acting years saw minor parts in TV shows like Perry Mason and the seventies featured her performing with actor Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
That very year, 1974, she shared the screen with Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese celebrated dramatic comedy the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance brought Ladd an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actress.
1980s and Beyond
In the 1980s, she was seen in crime thriller Black Widow plus humorous film National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and appeared on the show Alice, a television series derived from her earlier movie.
During the next ten years, she was given an additional Oscar nomination for supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her role in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she acted as the mom of her real-life daughter the character played by Dern. A year later she received a further nomination for her role in the film Rambling Rose which included Dern.
“This was the picture that Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she flew me and Laura to London for a royal premiere and an event for us,” Ladd shared of Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, holding both our hands, with tears, seeing us act.”
That decade featured performances in the comedy The Cemetery Club reuniting her with Ellen Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a political comedy, featuring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth where she played the mother of Dern again. The decade also earned her TV award nominations for roles in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.
Collaborations with Daughter
She persisted in performing with Laura Dern in comedy drama Daddy and Them, a movie, Lynch’s Inland Empire and Mike White’s comedy-drama series Enlightened, a TV series. She additionally starred alongside Sandra Bullock, a star in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and with Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.
Her more recent television parts featured Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon.
Behind the Camera
She also authored and directed the humorous movie the movie Mrs Munck featuring Diane Ladd and previous spouse Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a talented star,” she said. “I was honored to direct him on a project. Actually, I am the sole female in recorded history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I advise females, if you seek payback, helm a movie with your ex.’ However, I’m joking.”
Family Ties
She happened to be a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, who she called “a major inspiration in my life”.
During 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a respiratory illness and informed she had just six months to live yet she recovered completely when her daughter moved her to another medical facility.
“When you use your pain and prevent it from festering similar to a wound, instead use it to investigate, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are triumphing,” Ladd remarked.
