Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Famed For Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at Age 89.
This Academy Award-nominated actress Diane Ladd left us aged 89.
The actress, whose roles featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, left this world in her residence at her Ojai, California home. This announcement was shared through a message by her offspring, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern, her daughter.
Dern, who starred with Diane Ladd in various films including Wild at Heart, referred to her as “my wonderful hero and my precious gift being my mom”, stating that she was present when she passed.
“She was the greatest grandmother, mother, daughter, star, artist along with compassionate soul that felt like a dream come true,” she stated. “We were blessed to have her. She is now with the angels.”
Early Career and Major Success
Ladd’s early career saw minor parts on television series including Gunsmoke while the seventies had her appearing next to Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
In the same year, 1974, she appeared alongside Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese celebrated comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her acting earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.
Subsequent Years
During the eighties, she was seen in crime thriller Black Widow plus humorous film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while also joining Alice, a television series derived from Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
During the next ten years, she earned an additional Oscar nomination for supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she played the mom of her actual daughter Dern’s character. The next year she received another nomination for her role in Rambling Rose that also featured Dern.
“This was the picture that Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she flew me and Laura to the UK for a premiere and an event in our honor,” Ladd recalled regarding Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, grasping our hands, and crying, seeing us act.”
That decade featured performances in comedy Cemetery Club, a film bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed the mother of Dern another time. That period also brought her nominations for Emmy Awards for performances on Dr Quinn, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Partnerships with Her Daughter
She kept appearing with her daughter in comedy drama Daddy and Them, Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and White’s satirical show Enlightened. She was also seen with actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in that movie plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Her later TV roles consisted of the series Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.
Writing and Directing
She also authored and oversaw the comedy film Mrs Munck, a film featuring her and former husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she said. “It was a privilege to guide him in a film. Actually, I stand as the only woman ever to helm a film with her ex. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Personal Connections
She was additionally a relative of Tennessee Williams, who she called “a major inspiration on my life”.
In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a respiratory illness and advised she only had half a year left but made a full recovery when her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.
“Should you harness your suffering and avoid letting it accumulate like a sore or something, rather utilize it to explore, to make the path clearer for yourself and others, then you are succeeding,” Ladd remarked.
