Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Famed For Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at Age 89.
This Academy Award-nominated performer Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran has died 89 years old.
The actor, whose roles featured National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, left this world in her residence in California’s Ojai. Her passing was announced in a statement by her child, award-winning actress Laura Dern.
Her daughter, who appeared with Diane Ladd in several movies including Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my incredible hero and my special gift of a mother”, writing that she was by her side as she died.
“She was the greatest grandmother, mother, daughter, star, artist as well as compassionate soul that felt like a dream come true,” she wrote. “We were fortunate to know her. Her spirit soars with angels.”
Early Career and Major Success
Her initial acting years saw small roles in TV shows including The Fugitive and the seventies saw her starring with the legendary Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
That very year, 1974, she appeared with actress Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. The performance landed Ladd her first Oscar nomination as best supporting actress.
Later Decades
Throughout the 1980s, she appeared in the thriller Black Widow, a suspense story plus humorous film Christmas Vacation and appeared on the show Alice, a sitcom based on the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
During the next ten years, she was given an additional supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role in Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she acted as the mother of her actual daughter the character played by Dern. The next year she received a further nomination for her performance in Rambling Rose that also featured Laura Dern.
“This movie that Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she brought Laura and I to England for a royal premiere and a celebration dedicated to us,” Ladd recalled regarding Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, grasping our hands, and weeping, watching us perform.”
The 1990s included parts in humorous films Cemetery Club joining her again with her co-star Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a satirical film, with John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed Laura Dern’s mom again. The decade also earned her nominations for Emmy Awards for performances on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom plus Touched by an Angel.
Partnerships with Her Daughter
She kept appearing alongside her daughter in films blending humor and drama the film Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and White’s satirical show Enlightened, a TV series. She additionally starred alongside Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film and with Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.
Her more recent television parts included the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.
Behind the Camera
Ladd also wrote and directed the comedy Mrs Munck that included Diane Ladd and ex-husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she said. “It was a privilege to guide him in a film. Indeed, I’m the only woman in recorded history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, should you desire retribution, guide your former spouse.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Personal Life
Ladd was also a relative of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a significant impact in my life”.
Back in 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with lung disease and advised she had just six months to live yet she recovered completely after her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.
“If you can take your pain and avoid letting it accumulate like an injury, instead use it to explore, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are winning,” Ladd expressed.
