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This award-nominated performer Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran passed away at the age of 89.

The star, with filmography featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, passed away at home in California’s Ojai. Her passing was announced through a message from her offspring, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern, her daughter.

Laura Dern, who performed alongside her mom in various films including Wild at Heart, referred to her as “my amazing hero plus my precious gift as a mother”, noting that she was present as she died.

“She was an exceptional grandmother, mother, daughter, performer, creative as well as caring individual that felt like a dream come true,” she stated. “We were blessed to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”

Initial Roles and Breakthrough

The start of her career featured minor parts on television series such as Perry Mason while the seventies featured her performing alongside actor Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

That very year, 1974, she shared the screen with Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s celebrated film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her role earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.

Subsequent Years

During the eighties, she was seen in the thriller the movie Black Widow plus comedy sequel National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and also took part in Alice, a television series inspired by the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the following decade, she received another Oscar nomination for supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her part in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she played the parent of her actual daughter Laura Dern’s role. The next year she obtained another nomination for her acting in Rambling Rose, another movie that also featured Dern.

“This was the film that Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she flew Laura and I to England for a royal premiere and an event in our honor,” Ladd said regarding Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, holding both our hands, and weeping, watching us perform.”

The nineties featured performances in comedy Cemetery Club, a film reuniting her with her co-star Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, with John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she acted as Laura Dern’s mom once more. That period also saw her score TV award nominations for work in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel.

Collaborations with Daughter

She persisted in performing with her daughter in comedy drama Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and Mike White’s comedy-drama series Enlightened, a TV series. She also appeared next to actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Her more recent television parts consisted of Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.

Behind the Camera

Ladd also wrote and helmed the comedy film the movie Mrs Munck which starred her and previous spouse Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a talented star,” she mentioned. “It was a privilege to guide him on a project. Actually, I’m the only woman ever to direct her ex-husband. I often joke: ‘I say ladies, if you want revenge, helm a movie with your ex.’ Though I’m just teasing.”

Personal Connections

She happened to be a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, who she called “a major inspiration throughout my life”.

Back in 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with lung disease and told she had just six months to live but she regained full health after her daughter shifted her to a new hospital.

“When you use your pain and prevent it from festering like an injury, rather utilize it to investigate, to clarify the journey for you and those around, then you are winning,” Ladd said.