Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Passes Away at Age 89.
This award-nominated actress Diane Ladd has died aged 89.
The actress, whose credits featured National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, left this world in her residence in Ojai, California. Her passing was shared in a statement by her daughter, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern, her daughter.
Her daughter, who starred with her mom in various films like Rambling Rose, called her “my amazing hero as well as my special gift of a mother”, writing that she was present when she passed.
“She was the most wonderful mother, daughter, grandmother, actress, artist as well as caring individual that felt like a dream come true,” she stated. “We were lucky to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”
Initial Roles and Breakthrough
Her initial acting years included small roles on television series such as Perry Mason while the seventies saw her starring with actor Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
During that year, 1974, she appeared with Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed dramatic comedy the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance earned Ladd her first Oscar nomination as best supporting actress.
Subsequent Years
In the 1980s, she appeared in the dramatic film Black Widow plus funny follow-up Christmas Vacation and appeared on Alice, a television series derived from the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the following decade, she was given an additional best supporting actress nomination for her role in the David Lynch film the movie Wild at Heart where she played the mom of her actual daughter Laura Dern’s role. The next year she was awarded another nomination for her performance in Rambling Rose which included Laura Dern.
“This was the picture which Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she invited Laura and I to London for a royal premiere and a celebration in our honor,” Ladd said about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, taking our hands, and crying, watching us perform.”
That decade included parts in comedy Cemetery Club reuniting her with Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, starring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth where she played the mother of Dern once more. Those years also saw her score TV award nominations for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom plus Touched by an Angel.
Collaborations with Daughter
She kept appearing with Laura Dern in comedy drama Daddy and Them, a movie, Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and Mike White’s dark comedy series Enlightened, a TV series. She was also seen with Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, a movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins in that movie and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.
Her more recent television parts featured Ray Donovan, a drama plus Young Sheldon.
Writing and Directing
She also authored and directed the comedy film Mrs Munck which starred herself and ex-husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a great actor,” she noted. “I’m privileged to have directed him on a project. Indeed, I stand as the only woman in recorded history to helm a film with her ex. I often joke: ‘I say ladies, should you desire retribution, helm a movie with your ex.’ However, I’m joking.”
Personal Connections
She was additionally a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a significant impact in my life”.
In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a pulmonary condition and advised she only had half a year left but made a full recovery when her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.
“Should you harness your suffering and avoid letting it accumulate like an injury, instead use it to discover, to make the path clearer for you and those around, then you are triumphing,” Ladd expressed.
