Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at Age 89.

This Oscar-nominated actor the celebrated Diane Ladd passed away aged 89.

This star, with filmography included Chinatown, died at her home at her Ojai, California home. The news was announced through a message from her daughter, award-winning actress her daughter Laura Dern.

Her daughter, who appeared with her mom in several movies like Wild at Heart, called her “my amazing hero as well as my profound gift of a mother”, noting that she was by her side as she died.

“She was an exceptional daughter, mother, grandmother, performer, creative along with empathetic spirit that seemed almost dreamlike,” she expressed. “We were fortunate to know her. She is now with the angels.”

Beginnings and Rise to Fame

The start of her career included supporting roles in TV shows such as Gunsmoke and the seventies had her appearing with actor Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

That very year, 1974, she performed with actress Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s praised film the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance brought Ladd her first Oscar nomination as best supporting actress.

Later Decades

In the 1980s, she starred in crime thriller Black Widow, a suspense story and funny follow-up National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and appeared on the show Alice, a television series based on Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the subsequent decade, she was given a further Oscar nomination for supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her part in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she acted as the mother of her real-life daughter Dern’s character. The next year she received another nomination for her role in Rambling Rose which also starred Laura Dern.

“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she invited me and Laura to London for a royal premiere and a celebration in our honor,” Ladd recalled about the film Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, grasping our hands, and weeping, watching us perform.”

The 1990s featured performances in humorous films Cemetery Club, a film joining her again with her co-star Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played Laura Dern’s mom another time. The decade also earned her Emmy nominations for work in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.

Working with Laura Dern

She persisted in performing with Laura Dern in comedy drama Daddy and Them, a movie, Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and the series by Mike White comedy-drama series Enlightened, a TV series. She was also seen next to actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian and Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

Her more recent television parts featured the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.

Writing and Directing

She additionally penned and directed the comedy the movie Mrs Munck which starred herself and former husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “It was a privilege to guide him on a project. In fact, I stand as the only woman in recorded history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I say ladies, should you desire retribution, helm a movie with your ex.’ Though I’m just teasing.”

Personal Connections

She was additionally the third cousin of the great Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a major inspiration in my life”.

During 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a respiratory illness and informed she only had half a year left but made a full recovery when her daughter shifted her to a different hospital.

“When you use your pain and not let it back up like a sore or something, rather utilize it to explore, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.