Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Dies at Age 89.
The Academy Award-nominated performer Diane Ladd left us 89 years old.
This actress, whose roles featured National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, left this world in her residence at her Ojai, California home. This announcement was announced via an announcement from her daughter, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.
Laura Dern, who starred with her mom in various films like Rambling Rose, called her “my amazing hero and my precious gift of a mother”, writing that she was at her bedside during her final moments.
“She was an exceptional 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 Rise to Fame
Her initial acting years saw small roles in TV shows such as Perry Mason while that decade saw her starring next to actor Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.
That very year, 1974, she performed with Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese praised dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her acting landed Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.
Later Decades
In the 1980s, she was seen in the dramatic film Black Widow as well as comedy sequel National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and also took part in the sitcom Alice, a comedy program derived from her earlier movie.
During the next ten years, she earned another Oscar nomination for supporting actress nomination for her performance in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she acted as the mom of her real-life daughter Laura Dern’s role. A year later she was awarded an additional nod for her performance in Rambling Rose which included her daughter.
“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she invited me and Laura to England for a royal premiere and a party in our honor,” Ladd recalled about the film Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, holding both our hands, with tears, viewing our performance.”
That decade also saw roles in comedy Cemetery Club, a film joining her again with Ellen Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political comedy, with John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed Dern’s mother once more. Those years also earned her nominations for Emmy Awards for work on Dr Quinn, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Collaborations with Daughter
She continued to star with Laura Dern in comedy drama Daddy and Them, a movie, Lynch’s Inland Empire and Mike White’s dark comedy series Enlightened. She additionally starred alongside Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, a movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins in that movie and Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.
Subsequent TV appearances included Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon.
Behind the Camera
She also authored and directed the comedy film Mrs Munck which starred her and ex-husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she said. “It was a privilege to guide him on a project. Actually, I am the sole female ever who directed her former husband. I make a joke: ‘I advise females, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ However, I’m joking.”
Personal Connections
She was additionally the third cousin of Tennessee Williams, who she called “a major inspiration throughout my life”.
In 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a pulmonary condition and advised she only had half a year left yet she recovered completely once her daughter transferred her to another medical facility.
“When you use your pain and avoid letting it accumulate like an injury, instead apply it to explore, to illuminate the way for you and those around, then you are succeeding,” Ladd expressed.