This award-nominated performer the celebrated Diane Ladd left us 89 years old.
The actor, whose roles included Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, passed away at home in California’s Ojai. The news was announced through a message from her child, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern, her daughter.
Dern, who appeared with her mother in several movies such as Wild at Heart, referred to her as “my incredible hero and my special gift of a mother”, stating that she was present when she passed.
“She was the greatest mother, daughter, grandmother, actress, artist along with compassionate soul that felt like a dream come true,” she wrote. “We were blessed to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”
Early Career and Rise to Fame
Her initial acting years featured small roles on television series like Perry Mason whereas the seventies saw her starring alongside Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
In the same year, the year 1974, she appeared alongside Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her role landed Ladd her initial Oscar nod in the supporting actress category.
Subsequent Years
During the eighties, she appeared in the thriller Black Widow as well as funny follow-up National Lampoon’s holiday comedy while also joining Alice, a comedy program derived from her earlier movie.
In the subsequent decade, she was given a further Oscar nomination for supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she acted as the mother of her actual daughter the character played by Dern. The following year she was awarded another nomination for her acting in Rambling Rose which also starred Dern.
“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she flew Laura and I to England for a royal premiere and a celebration for us,” Ladd said of Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, grasping our hands, and weeping, watching us perform.”
The 1990s included parts in comedy Cemetery Club reuniting her with Ellen Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a comedy about politics, with John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she acted as Dern’s mother again. The decade also brought her Emmy nominations for performances on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Working with Laura Dern
She persisted in performing with Laura Dern in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and the series by Mike White comedy-drama series the program Enlightened. She was also seen next to Sandra Bullock, a star in the film 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in that movie and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.
Her more recent television parts featured the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.
Writing and Directing
Ladd also wrote and helmed the comedy film the movie Mrs Munck which starred herself and previous spouse Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a great actor,” she said. “I’m privileged to have directed him on a project. In fact, I’m the only woman in history to helm a film with her ex. I humorously say: ‘I say ladies, should you desire retribution, helm a movie with your ex.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Personal Connections
Ladd was also a family member of the great Tennessee Williams, who she called “a major inspiration in my life”.
During 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a pulmonary condition and informed she had just six months to live yet she recovered completely when her daughter shifted her to a new hospital.
“If you can take your pain and avoid letting it accumulate similar to a wound, instead apply it to discover, to illuminate the way for personal and collective growth, then you are triumphing,” Ladd said.
