Diane Ladd, Known For Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at 89 Years Old.

This Academy Award-nominated actress Diane Ladd passed away 89 years old.

The star, with credits included Chinatown, left this world in her residence in Ojai, California. This announcement was announced via an announcement shared by her offspring, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern, her daughter.

Dern, who starred with Diane Ladd in several movies like Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, described her as “my amazing hero plus my special gift of a mother”, writing that she was at her bedside during her final moments.

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

Beginnings and Rise to Fame

Ladd’s early career included small roles in television programs like Gunsmoke whereas the 1970s featured her performing with Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.

That very year, 1974, she appeared alongside Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s praised comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her acting landed Ladd her initial Oscar nod for best supporting actress.

1980s and Beyond

Throughout the 1980s, she was seen in the thriller Black Widow, a suspense story plus humorous film National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and appeared on Alice, a comedy program based on Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the subsequent decade, she received a further supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she acted as the mom of her biological child the character played by Dern. The next year she was awarded an additional nod for her acting in Rambling Rose, another movie 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 premiere and a celebration for us,” Ladd shared of Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, taking our hands, and crying, seeing us act.”

The nineties featured performances in the comedy Cemetery Club joining her again with Ellen Burstyn, Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne the movie Citizen Ruth where she acted as the mother of Dern once more. The decade also brought her TV award nominations for roles in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.

Collaborations with Daughter

She persisted in performing with her daughter in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, David Lynch’s Inland Empire and the series by Mike White comedy-drama series Enlightened, a TV series. She was also seen alongside Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in that movie and with Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

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

Behind the Camera

She also authored and helmed the humorous movie Mrs Munck, a film featuring herself and previous spouse Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she noted. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a movie. Indeed, I am the sole female in history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, if you want revenge, direct your ex-husband.’ Though I’m just teasing.”

Family Ties

She was additionally the third cousin of the great Tennessee Williams, who she called “a major inspiration in my life”.

In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with lung disease and told her life expectancy was six months but made a full recovery after her daughter moved her to another medical facility.

“If you can take your pain and avoid letting it accumulate similar to a wound, rather utilize it to explore, to make the path clearer for personal and collective growth, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.