Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Celebrated For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Passes Away at the Age of 89.

The Oscar-nominated performer Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran has died aged 89.

This star, whose filmography featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, passed away at home at her Ojai, California home. The news was revealed via an announcement shared by her offspring, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern, her daughter.

Her daughter, who starred with her mother in various films like Wild at Heart, referred to her as “my wonderful hero plus my special gift of a mother”, noting that she was by her side during her final moments.

“She was the most wonderful mother, daughter, grandmother, performer, creative and compassionate soul that felt like a dream come true,” she stated. “We were blessed to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”

Early Career and Rise to Fame

Ladd’s early career saw small roles on television series such as Gunsmoke and the seventies featured her performing alongside Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

During that year, the year 1974, she shared the screen with Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s praised comedy drama the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role landed Ladd her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

Subsequent Years

Throughout the 1980s, she appeared in the thriller Black Widow, a suspense story as well as humorous film Christmas Vacation and appeared on the show Alice, a comedy program derived from her earlier movie.

In the following decade, she earned another Oscar nomination for supporting actress nomination for her part in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the mom of her biological child the character played by Dern. The next year she obtained an additional nod for her performance in Rambling Rose that also featured her daughter.

“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she flew Laura and I to the UK for a special screening and a party in our honor,” Ladd said of Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, taking our hands, with tears, seeing us act.”

That decade featured performances in humorous films The Cemetery Club bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, with John Travolta and Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth where she acted as Laura Dern’s mom once more. Those years also earned her Emmy nominations for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.

Working with Laura Dern

She persisted in performing with Laura Dern in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, David Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and Mike White’s dark comedy series Enlightened. She was also seen alongside actress Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.

Subsequent TV appearances featured Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon.

Writing and Directing

She additionally penned and oversaw the comedy film the movie Mrs Munck that included her and previous spouse actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she said. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a film. Indeed, I’m the only woman in recorded history to direct her ex-husband. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, should you desire retribution, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Personal Connections

Ladd was also a family member of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a great influence in my life”.

Back in 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a pulmonary condition and advised she only had half a year left but made a full recovery after her daughter shifted her to a new hospital.

“Should you harness your suffering and not let it back up like an injury, instead use it to investigate, to illuminate the way for personal and collective growth, then you are succeeding,” Ladd remarked.