Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at the Age of 89.
The award-nominated performer the celebrated Diane Ladd passed away at the age of 89.
This actor, whose roles included National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, left this world in her residence in Ojai, California. This announcement was shared via an announcement from her offspring, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.
Laura Dern, who starred with her mom in a number of films such as Wild at Heart, called her “my amazing hero and my profound gift as a mother”, writing that she was present as she died.
“She was the most wonderful daughter, mother, grandmother, performer, creative as well as empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she wrote. “We were blessed to have her. She is now with the angels.”
Early Career and Breakthrough
The start of her career featured supporting roles in television programs including Perry Mason and the 1970s had her appearing next to actor Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.
In the same year, 1974, she performed with Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role brought Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.
Later Decades
During the eighties, she starred in crime thriller Black Widow as well as funny follow-up National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and also took part in the show Alice, a sitcom based on the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
During the next ten years, she was given a further best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she acted as the mother of her actual daughter Dern’s character. The following year she obtained an additional nod for her performance in Rambling Rose that also featured Dern.
“This movie that the late Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she invited me and Laura to the UK for a premiere and a celebration for us,” Ladd said of Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, grasping our hands, and crying, watching us perform.”
The nineties featured performances in the comedy Cemetery Club, a film bringing her back with Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a satirical film, featuring John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played Dern’s mother again. Those years also brought her nominations for Emmy Awards for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Working with Laura Dern
She continued to star with Laura Dern in comedy drama Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and the series by Mike White satirical show Enlightened, a TV series. She also appeared alongside Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Her more recent television parts consisted of Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.
Behind the Camera
Ladd also wrote and directed the comedy Mrs Munck featuring her and previous spouse Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a great actor,” she mentioned. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a film. Indeed, I am the sole female ever to helm a film with her ex. I humorously say: ‘I say ladies, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”
Personal Connections
She happened to be a relative of Tennessee Williams, who she called “a major inspiration in my life”.
In 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a respiratory illness and informed her life expectancy was six months but she regained full health once her daughter moved her to a new hospital.
“When you use your pain and avoid letting it accumulate similar to a wound, instead apply it to discover, to illuminate the way for yourself and others, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.
