Diane Ladd, Celebrated For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at Age 89.
The Oscar-nominated performer Diane Ladd left us 89 years old.
This actor, with filmography spanned Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, passed away at home in Ojai, California. Her passing was shared through a message shared by her child, Academy Award-winning star her daughter Laura Dern.
Laura Dern, who starred with her mom in various films such as Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my wonderful hero as well as my profound gift being my mom”, noting that she was by her side as she died.
“She was an exceptional grandmother, mother, daughter, actress, artist as well as caring individual that seemed almost dreamlike,” she expressed. “We were fortunate to know her. She is flying with her angels now.”
Early Career and Breakthrough
The start of her career saw small roles in television programs like The Fugitive and the 1970s featured her performing alongside the legendary Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
That very year, the year 1974, she shared the screen with actress Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s celebrated film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role earned Ladd her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.
Subsequent Years
During the eighties, she appeared in the dramatic film the movie Black Widow as well as funny follow-up National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and appeared on the sitcom Alice, a sitcom based on the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the following decade, she received another supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her role in David Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart where she acted as the parent of her actual daughter Dern’s character. The following year she was awarded another nomination for her acting in Rambling Rose, another movie which also starred Laura Dern.
“This was the film which Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she invited Laura and I to England for a special screening and a party for us,” Ladd shared of Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, grasping our hands, and crying, viewing our performance.”
The 1990s featured performances in comedy Cemetery Club, a film reuniting her with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played Dern’s mother another time. Those years also brought her TV award nominations for roles in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.
Partnerships with Her Daughter
She kept appearing with Laura Dern in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and Mike White’s satirical show the program Enlightened. She was also seen next to Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in that movie plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.
Subsequent TV appearances consisted of the series Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.
Writing and Directing
She additionally penned and oversaw the comedy Mrs Munck, a film featuring herself and ex-husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she noted. “I was honored to direct him on a project. Indeed, I’m the only woman ever to helm a film with her ex. I humorously say: ‘I advise females, should you desire retribution, guide your former spouse.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Personal Life
She was additionally the third cousin of playwright Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a significant impact throughout my life”.
Back in 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a pulmonary condition and informed she had just six months to live but she regained full health after her daughter shifted her to a new hospital.
“Should you harness your suffering and prevent it from festering like a sore or something, instead apply it to investigate, to make the path clearer for personal and collective growth, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.
