Diane Ladd, Known For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at Age 89.
This Academy Award-nominated actor Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran left us aged 89.
This star, with credits included Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, left this world in her residence in California’s Ojai. The news was shared via an announcement from her offspring, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern.
Laura Dern, who starred with Diane Ladd in several movies like Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, described her as “my amazing hero plus my special gift of a mother”, noting that she was at her bedside as she died.
“She was the most wonderful grandmother, mother, daughter, performer, creative along with empathetic spirit that seemed almost dreamlike,” she expressed. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”
Initial Roles and Breakthrough
Ladd’s early career featured minor parts in television programs such as The Fugitive and the 1970s had her appearing next to actor Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
In the same year, the year 1974, she shared the screen alongside Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese celebrated dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. The performance brought Ladd an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.
Subsequent Years
In the 1980s, she starred in the thriller Black Widow, a suspense story as well as humorous film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while also joining the sitcom Alice, a comedy program derived from her earlier movie.
In the following decade, she earned a further supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she played the mother of her actual daughter Laura Dern’s role. The following year she received another nomination for her role in Rambling Rose which also starred Dern.
“This was the film which Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she flew me and Laura to the UK for a royal premiere and a celebration in our honor,” Ladd shared of Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, holding both our hands, and crying, seeing us act.”
The 1990s included parts in comedy Cemetery Club, a film joining her again with Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played the mother of Dern again. That period also earned her nominations for Emmy Awards for performances in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Partnerships with Her Daughter
She continued to star alongside her daughter in films blending humor and drama the film Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and the series by Mike White dark comedy series the program Enlightened. She also appeared alongside actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.
Her more recent television parts consisted of Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon, a comedy.
Writing and Directing
She also authored and directed the comedy film Mrs Munck, a film that included her and former husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she said. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a film. Actually, I stand as the only woman in recorded history to direct her ex-husband. I humorously say: ‘I say ladies, if you seek payback, helm a movie with your ex.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Personal Connections
Ladd was also the third cousin of playwright Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a great influence on my life”.
In 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a pulmonary condition and informed her life expectancy was six months but she regained full health after her daughter moved her to a different hospital.
“When you use your pain and not let it back up like a sore or something, instead apply it to explore, to clarify the journey for you and those around, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.
