🔗 Share this article

This Academy Award-nominated actress Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran has died aged 89.

This actress, with roles spanned Chinatown, passed away at home in Ojai, California. Her passing was shared through a message by her daughter, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern, her daughter.

Her daughter, who starred with her mom in various films like Wild at Heart, called her “my amazing hero as well as my special gift of a mother”, stating that she was present as she died.

“She was the most wonderful daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist as well as caring individual that felt like a dream come true,” she stated. “We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”

Beginnings and Major Success

Ladd’s early career featured supporting roles in TV shows including The Fugitive whereas that decade featured her performing with Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

That very year, 1974, she shared the screen with Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s celebrated dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. The performance brought Ladd her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

1980s and Beyond

In the 1980s, she appeared in crime thriller Black Widow, a suspense story as well as comedy sequel National Lampoon’s holiday comedy while also joining the sitcom Alice, a sitcom derived from the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the following decade, she earned an additional Oscar nomination for supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she played the mom of her biological child the character played by Dern. A year later she obtained an additional nod for her performance in Rambling Rose that also featured her daughter.

“This movie that the late Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she invited us to the UK for a premiere and an event dedicated to us,” Ladd said regarding Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, taking our hands, with tears, viewing our performance.”

The 1990s featured performances in humorous films The Cemetery Club joining her again with Ellen Burstyn, Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth where she played Laura Dern’s mom once more. Those years also earned her Emmy nominations for work on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom plus Touched by an Angel.

Collaborations with Daughter

She kept appearing alongside her daughter in films blending humor and drama the film Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and the series by Mike White dark comedy series the program Enlightened. She also appeared next to Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in that movie plus Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

Her more recent television parts included Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon, a comedy.

Filmmaking Ventures

Ladd also wrote and oversaw the comedy Mrs Munck that included her and ex-husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she noted. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a movie. Actually, I’m the only woman in history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I advise females, should you desire retribution, guide your former spouse.’ However, I’m joking.”

Family Ties

She happened to be a family member of the great Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a major inspiration in my life”.

In 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with lung disease and told she only had half a year left but she regained full health when her daughter moved her to another medical facility.

“Should you harness your suffering and avoid letting it accumulate like an injury, instead apply it to discover, to clarify the journey for you and those around, then you are winning,” Ladd said.