🔗 Share this article

The Academy Award-nominated actress Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran left us aged 89.

The actor, whose credits included Chinatown, passed away at home in California’s Ojai. The news was revealed in a statement by her daughter, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern.

Laura Dern, who appeared with Diane Ladd in various films such as Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my amazing hero and my precious gift as a mother”, noting that she was by her side as she died.

“She was the most wonderful daughter, mother, grandmother, star, artist as well as empathetic spirit that seemed almost dreamlike,” she stated. “We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”

Early Career and Major Success

The start of her career saw small roles on television series like Gunsmoke and that decade featured her performing alongside the legendary Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.

In the same year, the year 1974, she shared the screen with actress Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese celebrated dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her acting brought Ladd her first Oscar nomination in the supporting actress category.

1980s and Beyond

During the eighties, she appeared in the thriller the movie Black Widow and funny follow-up Christmas Vacation and also took part in the sitcom Alice, a television series based on the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the subsequent decade, she received an additional supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her role in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the mother of her actual daughter the character played by Dern. The following year she received a further nomination for her performance in Rambling Rose which included her daughter.

“This movie which Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she brought me and Laura to England for a special screening and a celebration dedicated to us,” Ladd said about the film Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, grasping our hands, with tears, seeing us act.”

That decade included parts in the comedy Cemetery Club, a film bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a satirical film, starring John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she acted as Laura Dern’s mom once more. Those years also earned her TV award nominations for work on Dr Quinn, the show Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.

Partnerships with Her Daughter

She persisted in performing alongside her daughter in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project the movie Inland Empire and White’s dark comedy series Enlightened, a TV series. She additionally starred alongside actress Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Her later TV roles featured the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.

Filmmaking Ventures

She also authored and helmed the comedy film Mrs Munck that included herself and previous spouse Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she noted. “It was a privilege to guide him on a project. In fact, I’m the only woman in recorded history to helm a film with her ex. I often joke: ‘I say ladies, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Family Ties

Ladd was also a relative of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she called “a significant impact throughout my life”.

In 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a respiratory illness and told her life expectancy was six months but she regained full health after her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.

“Should you harness your suffering and prevent it from festering similar to a wound, instead use it to discover, to illuminate the way for personal and collective growth, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.