Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Celebrated For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Dies at 89 Years Old.
The award-nominated actress Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran left us aged 89.
The star, with roles spanned Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, left this world in her residence in Ojai, California. The news was announced via an announcement from her daughter, Academy Award-winning star her daughter Laura Dern.
Her daughter, who starred with Diane Ladd in various films such as Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, called her “my amazing hero and my special gift being my mom”, stating that she was at her bedside during her final moments.
“She was the greatest grandmother, mother, daughter, performer, creative and compassionate soul that felt like a dream come true,” she stated. “We were fortunate to know her. She is flying with her angels now.”
Initial Roles and Major Success
Ladd’s early career featured small roles on television series including Perry Mason while the seventies saw her starring next to Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
During that year, 1974, she shared the screen with actress Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s praised comedy drama the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role earned Ladd her initial Oscar nod as best supporting actress.
Later Decades
During the eighties, she appeared in the dramatic film Black Widow, a suspense story and funny follow-up National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while also joining the show Alice, a comedy program derived from the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the following decade, she received another best supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her part in Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she played the mom of her biological child Laura Dern’s role. A year later she obtained another nomination for her acting in Rambling Rose which included her daughter.
“This movie that the late Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she invited us to England for a royal premiere and an event in our honor,” Ladd shared regarding Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, holding both our hands, and crying, seeing us act.”
The 1990s featured performances in humorous films Cemetery Club, a film joining her again with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political comedy, with John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played Dern’s mother another time. That period also earned her nominations for Emmy Awards for work in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Working with Laura Dern
She persisted in performing with Laura Dern in dramatic comedies the film Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and Mike White’s satirical show Enlightened. She also appeared with actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Her more recent television parts consisted of Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.
Writing and Directing
She additionally penned and oversaw the comedy film Mrs Munck featuring her and former husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “I’m privileged to have directed him on a project. Indeed, I’m the only woman in recorded history to direct her ex-husband. I often joke: ‘I tell women, if you want revenge, direct your ex-husband.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Family Ties
She happened to be a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, who she called “a great influence in 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 moved her to a new hospital.
“Should you harness your suffering and not let it back up like an injury, instead use it to investigate, to make the path clearer for you and those around, then you are succeeding,” Ladd remarked.
