Diane Ladd, Famed For Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Dies at the Age of 89.
This Academy Award-nominated actress Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran left us aged 89.
The actress, whose roles spanned Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, left this world in her residence at her Ojai, California home. Her passing was announced through a message shared by her offspring, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.
Dern, who starred with Diane Ladd in several movies including Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, called her “my incredible hero plus my precious gift as a mother”, writing that she was at her bedside during her final moments.
“She was the most wonderful grandmother, mother, daughter, actress, artist as well as empathetic spirit that felt like a dream come true,” she stated. “We were fortunate to know her. Her spirit soars with angels.”
Early Career and Breakthrough
The start of her career featured small roles in television programs like The Fugitive while the seventies featured her performing alongside the legendary Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
That very year, the year 1974, she performed alongside Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese acclaimed comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role brought Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.
Later Decades
Throughout the 1980s, she appeared in crime thriller Black Widow and funny follow-up Christmas Vacation while also joining Alice, a comedy program based on the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
During the next ten years, she received a further best supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her performance in Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart where she played the parent of her actual daughter Laura Dern’s role. A year later she received an additional nod for her role in Rambling Rose, another movie which also starred her daughter.
“This movie which Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she flew Laura and I to the UK for a special screening and an event dedicated to us,” Ladd recalled about the film Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, grasping our hands, and crying, viewing our performance.”
The nineties also saw roles in humorous films Cemetery Club, a film bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne the movie Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed Laura Dern’s mom once more. The decade also saw her score TV award nominations for roles in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Partnerships with Her Daughter
She persisted in performing with Laura Dern in comedy drama Daddy and Them, a movie, the David Lynch project the movie Inland Empire and White’s satirical show Enlightened. She was also seen next to Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins in that movie plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.
Her later TV roles consisted of the series Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.
Filmmaking Ventures
Ladd also wrote and directed the comedy film the movie Mrs Munck that included Diane Ladd and former husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she noted. “It was a privilege to guide him in a film. In fact, I’m the only woman ever to helm a film with her ex. I often joke: ‘I tell women, should you desire retribution, direct your ex-husband.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Personal Connections
She was additionally a relative of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she called “a significant impact in my life”.
Back in 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with lung disease and told she only had half a year left but made a full recovery when her daughter moved her to another medical facility.
“Should you harness your suffering and avoid letting it accumulate like a sore or something, instead use it to explore, to clarify the journey for you and those around, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.
