Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Dies at 89 Years Old.
The Oscar-nominated actor the celebrated Diane Ladd left us 89 years old.
The star, with credits spanned National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, left this world in her residence in California’s Ojai. The news was revealed via an announcement from her child, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern, her daughter.
Her daughter, who starred with her mother in a number of films like Wild at Heart, called her “my incredible hero as well as my special gift being my mom”, noting that she was by her side as she died.
“She was an exceptional mother, daughter, grandmother, star, artist and caring individual that seemed almost dreamlike,” she stated. “We were fortunate to know her. Her spirit soars with angels.”
Initial Roles and Major Success
Her initial acting years saw minor parts in television programs including The Fugitive while the 1970s featured her performing with actor Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
In the same year, 1974, she performed alongside Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s praised dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her acting brought Ladd her initial Oscar nod as best supporting actress.
Subsequent Years
Throughout the 1980s, she appeared in the thriller the movie Black Widow as well as comedy sequel Christmas Vacation and appeared on the sitcom Alice, a sitcom inspired by Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the following decade, she was given another supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her performance in the David Lynch film the movie Wild at Heart where she played the mom of her biological child Dern’s character. The next year she received a further nomination for her acting in Rambling Rose, another movie which also starred Dern.
“This was the picture that Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she brought us to the UK for a special screening and a celebration in our honor,” Ladd said about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, grasping our hands, and weeping, seeing us act.”
The 1990s included parts in the comedy The Cemetery Club bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a satirical film, with John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed the mother of Dern once more. That period also earned her TV award nominations for work in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Collaborations with Daughter
She continued to star with Laura Dern in films blending humor and drama Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and White’s satirical show Enlightened. She additionally starred next to Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Her more recent television parts featured the series Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.
Writing and Directing
She also authored and helmed the humorous movie Mrs Munck that included Diane Ladd and former husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a movie. In fact, I am the sole female in recorded history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I advise females, if you seek payback, helm a movie with your ex.’ However, I’m joking.”
Personal Connections
She happened to be a family member of Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a major inspiration on my life”.
In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a respiratory illness and informed she had just six months to live yet she recovered completely after her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.
“When you use your pain and prevent it from festering like a sore or something, instead use it to investigate, to illuminate the way for you and those around, then you are succeeding,” Ladd remarked.
