Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Celebrated For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at 89 Years Old.
The award-nominated performer the celebrated Diane Ladd passed away 89 years old.
The star, with roles spanned National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, passed away at home in California’s Ojai. The news was revealed through a message by her child, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern.
Dern, who starred with her mother in a number of films such as Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, called her “my amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother”, writing that she was present when she passed.
“She was the most wonderful mother, daughter, grandmother, performer, creative as well as empathetic spirit that felt like a dream come true,” she expressed. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”
Initial Roles and Major Success
The start of her career featured supporting roles in TV shows including Gunsmoke while that decade had her appearing with the legendary Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.
That very year, 1974, she performed alongside Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese acclaimed comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance brought Ladd her initial Oscar nod as best supporting actress.
Subsequent Years
During the eighties, she was seen in the thriller the movie Black Widow and comedy sequel National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while also joining the sitcom Alice, a television series derived from the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the following decade, she received an additional Oscar nomination for supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her role in David Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the parent of her real-life daughter Dern’s character. A year later she obtained another nomination for her performance in Rambling Rose that also featured her daughter.
“This was the film which Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she flew me and Laura to England for a royal premiere and a party dedicated to us,” Ladd shared of Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, holding both our hands, with tears, watching us perform.”
The nineties also saw roles in humorous films The Cemetery Club joining her again with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political comedy, starring John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she acted as Laura Dern’s mom once more. That period also earned her nominations for Emmy Awards for performances on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.
Partnerships with Her Daughter
She kept appearing alongside her daughter in films blending humor and drama Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project Inland Empire, a surreal film and Mike White’s comedy-drama series the program Enlightened. She additionally starred with Sandra Bullock, a star in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in that movie and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.
Her more recent television parts featured the series Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.
Writing and Directing
She also authored and directed the comedy film the movie Mrs Munck featuring Diane Ladd and former husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she said. “It was a privilege to guide him on a project. Actually, I’m the only woman ever to direct her ex-husband. I humorously say: ‘I advise females, if you want revenge, direct your ex-husband.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Family Ties
She was additionally the third cousin of Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a great influence in my life”.
In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a respiratory illness and advised she only had half a year left yet she recovered completely when her daughter moved her to another medical facility.
“When you use your pain and avoid letting it accumulate like a sore or something, instead apply it to explore, to make the path clearer for yourself and others, then you are triumphing,” Ladd expressed.
