Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Known For Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Dies at Age 89.
The Academy Award-nominated performer Diane Ladd has died at the age of 89.
The star, whose roles included National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, passed away at home at her Ojai, California home. Her passing was shared via an announcement by her child, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern.
Laura Dern, who performed alongside her mom in various films like Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my incredible hero as well as my profound gift of a mother”, noting that she was at her bedside during her final moments.
“She was the most wonderful grandmother, mother, daughter, star, artist along with empathetic spirit that seemed almost dreamlike,” she expressed. “We were blessed to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”
Early Career and Breakthrough
Ladd’s early career included supporting roles in TV shows like Gunsmoke whereas the seventies featured her performing next to actor Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
That very year, 1974, she performed alongside Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s celebrated comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role brought Ladd her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.
Subsequent Years
In the 1980s, she appeared in crime thriller Black Widow, a suspense story and funny follow-up National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and also took part in Alice, a comedy program based on Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
During the next ten years, she was given an additional best supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her performance in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic in which she portrayed the mother of her real-life daughter the character played by Dern. A year later she was awarded a further nomination for her acting in the film Rambling Rose which included Dern.
“This movie that the late Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she flew Laura and I to the UK for a premiere and an event in our honor,” Ladd shared about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, grasping our hands, with tears, watching us perform.”
The nineties featured performances in the comedy The Cemetery Club joining her again with Ellen Burstyn, Primary Colors, a satirical film, with John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne the movie Citizen Ruth where she acted as the mother of Dern again. That period also saw her score nominations for Emmy Awards for work on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
Working with Laura Dern
She continued to star with her daughter in dramatic comedies the film Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and White’s comedy-drama series Enlightened, a TV series. She was also seen alongside Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.
Her more recent television parts featured the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.
Behind the Camera
She additionally penned and directed the comedy film Mrs Munck, a film which starred her and previous spouse actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she said. “I was honored to direct him on a project. In fact, I am the sole female ever who directed her former husband. I make a joke: ‘I advise females, if you want revenge, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”
Family Ties
She happened to be a relative of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a major inspiration throughout my life”.
During 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a pulmonary condition and advised her life expectancy was six months yet she recovered completely when her daughter shifted her to another medical facility.
“If you can take your pain and not let it back up like a sore or something, instead use it to discover, to make the path clearer for you and those around, then you are winning,” Ladd said.