Diane Ladd, Celebrated For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Dies at Age 89.
This award-nominated actress the celebrated Diane Ladd passed away at the age of 89.
The actor, whose filmography spanned Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home in Ojai, California. Her passing was announced in a statement from her offspring, Academy Award-winning star her daughter Laura Dern.
Her daughter, who starred with her mom in several movies including Wild at Heart, called her “my incredible hero and my profound gift of a mother”, writing that she was present when she passed.
“She was an exceptional daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist along with caring individual that seemed almost dreamlike,” she wrote. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”
Early Career and Major Success
Ladd’s early career featured minor parts in TV shows like Gunsmoke whereas that decade featured her performing alongside Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
In the same year, the year 1974, she performed alongside Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s celebrated comedy drama the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her acting earned Ladd her first Oscar nomination as best supporting actress.
1980s and Beyond
During the eighties, she appeared in the dramatic film Black Widow plus humorous film Christmas Vacation and appeared on the sitcom Alice, a television series derived from her earlier movie.
In the subsequent decade, she was given an additional supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role in Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she acted as the mom of her real-life daughter the character played by Dern. A year later she obtained another nomination for her performance in Rambling Rose which included her daughter.
“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she invited me and Laura to the UK for a premiere and a party for us,” Ladd said about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, taking our hands, and weeping, seeing us act.”
That decade featured performances in comedy Cemetery Club reuniting her with her co-star Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a political comedy, with John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth where she acted as Dern’s mother again. Those years also saw her score TV award nominations for work on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel.
Collaborations with Daughter
She continued to star with her daughter in comedy drama the film Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project the movie Inland Empire and the series by Mike White satirical show Enlightened, a TV series. She was also seen with Sandra Bullock, a star in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Her more recent television parts included the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.
Filmmaking Ventures
She also authored and directed the comedy film Mrs Munck, a film that included Diane Ladd and ex-husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a talented star,” she said. “I was honored to direct him in a movie. Actually, I stand as the only woman in recorded history to helm a film with her ex. I often joke: ‘I advise females, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Family Ties
She was additionally a relative of Tennessee Williams, who she called “a great influence in my life”.
In 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with lung disease and told her life expectancy was six months but made a full recovery after her daughter shifted her to a different hospital.
“If you can take your pain and not let it back up like a sore or something, instead use it to explore, to illuminate the way for personal and collective growth, then you are succeeding,” Ladd expressed.
