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This award-nominated actress Diane Ladd passed away at the age of 89.

The actress, with credits featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, left this world in her residence in California’s Ojai. Her passing was shared in a statement shared by her offspring, award-winning actress her daughter Laura Dern.

Dern, who starred with Diane Ladd in several movies including Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my incredible hero as well as my special gift of a mother”, stating that she was present during her final moments.

“She was the greatest mother, daughter, grandmother, actress, artist as well as empathetic spirit that felt like a dream come true,” she expressed. “We were fortunate to know her. She is now with the angels.”

Early Career and Major Success

Ladd’s early career included supporting roles in television programs such as Perry Mason while the seventies featured her performing with Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

That very year, 1974, she performed alongside Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese acclaimed film the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her acting earned Ladd her first Oscar nomination as best supporting actress.

Subsequent Years

Throughout the 1980s, she appeared in the thriller Black Widow, a suspense story as well as funny follow-up National Lampoon’s holiday comedy while also joining the show Alice, a television series derived from the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

During the next ten years, she earned another supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her performance in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart where she played the parent of her real-life daughter the character played by Dern. The next year she received an additional nod for her role in Rambling Rose, another movie that also featured Laura Dern.

“This was the film that Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she brought Laura and I to the UK for a premiere and an event dedicated to us,” Ladd shared of Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, taking our hands, with tears, watching us perform.”

That decade featured performances in humorous films Cemetery Club, a film joining her again with her co-star Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a political comedy, with John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she acted as the mother of Dern another time. The decade also earned her Emmy nominations for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.

Working with Laura Dern

She persisted in performing with her daughter in comedy drama the film Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and Mike White’s satirical show Enlightened. She was also seen alongside Sandra Bullock, a star in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Subsequent TV appearances featured the series Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.

Writing and Directing

She also authored and helmed the comedy film Mrs Munck, a film that included her and ex-husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she said. “It was a privilege to guide him in a film. Indeed, I stand as the only woman in recorded history to helm a film with her ex. I make a joke: ‘I say ladies, should you desire retribution, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Personal Connections

Ladd was also a family member of Tennessee Williams, who she called “a significant impact on my life”.

Back in 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with lung disease and told she had just six months to live but made a full recovery when her daughter transferred her to another medical facility.

“Should you harness your suffering and not let it back up like a sore or something, instead apply it to investigate, to illuminate the way for you and those around, then you are triumphing,” Ladd remarked.