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 has died at the age of 89.
The actress, whose filmography featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home in California’s Ojai. This announcement was shared via an announcement from her offspring, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.
Laura Dern, who starred with her mother in several movies like Wild at Heart, referred to her as “my amazing hero as well as my precious gift as a mother”, writing that she was by her side as she died.
“She was the most wonderful daughter, mother, grandmother, performer, creative along with caring individual that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she expressed. “We were lucky to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”
Early Career and Breakthrough
The start of her career included supporting roles in television programs such as The Fugitive while that decade featured her performing next to actor Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
That very year, 1974, she appeared with actress Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s praised film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her role earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.
Later Decades
Throughout the 1980s, she starred in the dramatic film Black Widow, a suspense story and humorous film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and also took part in the sitcom Alice, a comedy program derived from the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the subsequent decade, she received an additional Oscar nomination for supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her performance in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart where she acted as the mom of her actual daughter Laura Dern’s role. A year later she was awarded a further nomination for her performance in the film Rambling Rose that also featured Laura Dern.
“This was the film that the late Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she brought us to the UK for a royal premiere and an event in our honor,” Ladd recalled regarding Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, holding both our hands, and weeping, seeing us act.”
The 1990s included parts in the comedy The Cemetery Club reuniting her with her co-star Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played the mother of Dern another time. The decade also earned her nominations for Emmy Awards for roles in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Working with Laura Dern
She continued to star with her daughter in comedy drama Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and the series by Mike White satirical show Enlightened. She additionally starred with Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in that movie and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Subsequent TV appearances featured Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.
Writing and Directing
Ladd also wrote and helmed the comedy Mrs Munck, a film which starred herself and previous spouse Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she mentioned. “It was a privilege to guide him on a project. Indeed, I stand as the only woman ever who directed her former husband. I often joke: ‘I say ladies, if you want revenge, direct your ex-husband.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Personal Life
She happened to be the third cousin of Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a great influence in my life”.
During 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with a respiratory illness and advised she had just six months to live yet she recovered completely when her daughter moved her to a different hospital.
“Should you harness your suffering and avoid letting it accumulate similar to a wound, rather utilize it to discover, to illuminate the way for you and those around, then you are winning,” Ladd expressed.
