Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at the Age of 89.
The Academy Award-nominated actor Diane Ladd has died 89 years old.
This actor, whose credits included Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home at her Ojai, California home. The news was revealed via an announcement shared by her daughter, award-winning actress Laura Dern.
Her daughter, who appeared with her mother in several movies including Wild at Heart, described her as “my amazing hero plus my profound gift of a mother”, noting that she was by her side when she passed.
“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, star, artist along with compassionate soul that seemed almost dreamlike,” she wrote. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”
Beginnings and Breakthrough
Her initial acting years saw minor parts in TV shows such as Perry Mason while the seventies had her appearing next to Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.
In the same year, 1974, she appeared with actress Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese celebrated comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. The performance brought Ladd her initial Oscar nod for best supporting actress.
1980s and Beyond
During the eighties, she appeared in the thriller Black Widow as well as funny follow-up Christmas Vacation and also took part in Alice, a sitcom derived from her earlier movie.
During the next ten years, she earned another best supporting actress nomination for her part in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she acted as the parent of her real-life daughter Laura Dern’s role. The next year she obtained an additional nod for her performance in Rambling Rose, another movie that also featured Dern.
“This was the film which Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she brought Laura and I to England for a special screening and an event dedicated to us,” Ladd said of Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, holding both our hands, and crying, viewing our performance.”
That decade featured performances in humorous films The Cemetery Club reuniting her with Ellen Burstyn, Primary Colors, a satirical film, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth where she played Laura Dern’s mom another time. That period also earned her TV award nominations for work in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Collaborations with Daughter
She continued to star with her daughter in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and White’s dark comedy series Enlightened, a TV series. She additionally starred alongside Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.
Her more recent television parts featured the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.
Filmmaking Ventures
Ladd also wrote and directed the humorous movie Mrs Munck, a film featuring Diane Ladd and former husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a movie. Indeed, I’m the only woman in recorded history to helm a film with her ex. I make a joke: ‘I say ladies, should you desire retribution, direct your ex-husband.’ However, I’m joking.”
Personal Life
Ladd was also the third cousin of the great Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a great influence throughout my life”.
Back in 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a pulmonary condition and informed she only had half a year left but she regained full health after her daughter shifted her to a different hospital.
“Should you harness your suffering and avoid letting it accumulate like an injury, rather utilize it to investigate, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are triumphing,” Ladd expressed.
