Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Passes Away at 89 Years Old.
The award-nominated actor Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran left us aged 89.
This actor, whose filmography included National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, passed away at home in Ojai, California. Her passing was shared via an announcement shared by her daughter, Oscar-winning actor her daughter Laura Dern.
Her daughter, who appeared with her mom in various films including Wild at Heart, called her “my incredible hero as well as my special gift of a mother”, writing that she was at her bedside as she died.
“She was the greatest mother, daughter, grandmother, performer, creative as well as caring individual that seemed almost dreamlike,” she stated. “We were fortunate to know her. She is flying with her angels now.”
Beginnings and Breakthrough
The start of her career featured supporting roles on television series including The Fugitive and that decade featured her performing with actor Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
That very year, 1974, she performed with actress Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese praised dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her acting brought Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.
1980s and Beyond
Throughout the 1980s, she appeared in the dramatic film Black Widow, a suspense story plus comedy sequel National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while also joining the sitcom Alice, a television series derived from her earlier movie.
During the next ten years, she received a further best supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her part in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the mother of her biological child the character played by Dern. The next year she received another nomination for her acting in Rambling Rose that also featured her daughter.
“This movie which Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she brought me and Laura to England for a premiere and an event in our honor,” Ladd shared of Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, holding both our hands, and weeping, watching us perform.”
The nineties featured performances in comedy Cemetery Club, a film reuniting her with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a satirical film, featuring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played the mother of Dern another time. That period also earned her nominations for Emmy Awards for roles in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Collaborations with Daughter
She continued to star with her daughter in films blending humor and drama the film Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s Inland Empire and White’s satirical show Enlightened. She was also seen with Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, a movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.
Subsequent TV appearances featured the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.
Filmmaking Ventures
She additionally penned and directed the humorous movie Mrs Munck, a film that included Diane Ladd and ex-husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a talented star,” she said. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a movie. Indeed, I am the sole female ever to helm a film with her ex. I humorously say: ‘I advise females, if you want revenge, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”
Family Ties
Ladd was also a family member of playwright Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a great influence in my life”.
Back in 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with lung disease and informed she had just six months to live but made a full recovery when her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.
“When you use your pain and avoid letting it accumulate similar to a wound, instead use it to investigate, to illuminate the way for personal and collective growth, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.
