Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Celebrated For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at the Age of 89.

The award-nominated actress Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran passed away aged 89.

The actress, whose roles featured Chinatown, passed away at home at her Ojai, California home. This announcement was revealed via an announcement shared by her child, Academy Award-winning star her daughter Laura Dern.

Dern, who starred with her mother in various films including Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my incredible hero as well as my profound gift of a mother”, noting that she was by her side when she passed.

“She was the greatest grandmother, mother, daughter, star, artist as well as empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she stated. “We were fortunate to know her. Her spirit soars with angels.”

Beginnings and Breakthrough

The start of her career included minor parts in television programs such as Gunsmoke whereas that decade had her appearing with the legendary Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

That very year, 1974, she performed with actress Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s praised film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her acting earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actress.

Later Decades

Throughout the 1980s, she was seen in the dramatic film Black Widow as well as comedy sequel National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and appeared on the show Alice, a sitcom based on the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the following decade, she earned another Oscar nomination for supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she played the parent of her real-life daughter Dern’s character. A year later she received another nomination for her performance in the film Rambling Rose which also starred her daughter.

“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she invited me and Laura to London for a special screening and an event in our honor,” Ladd shared of Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, taking our hands, and weeping, watching us perform.”

The nineties also saw roles in humorous films The Cemetery Club bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, starring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she acted as the mother of Dern again. Those years also saw her score TV award nominations for performances in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.

Partnerships with Her Daughter

She kept appearing with Laura Dern in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and White’s comedy-drama series the program Enlightened. She was also seen alongside actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Subsequent TV appearances consisted of Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.

Writing and Directing

She additionally penned and helmed the comedy Mrs Munck, a film featuring herself and ex-husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a film. In fact, I’m the only woman in history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I advise females, if you want revenge, helm a movie with your ex.’ However, I’m joking.”

Personal Life

She was additionally a family member of Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a significant impact throughout my life”.

Back in 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with a respiratory illness and informed she had just six months to live but she regained full health when her daughter moved her to a different hospital.

“Should you harness your suffering and not let it back up similar to a wound, instead apply it to investigate, to make the path clearer for personal and collective growth, then you are triumphing,” Ladd said.