Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Dies at the Age of 89.

This Academy Award-nominated actress Diane Ladd has died 89 years old.

The actress, with filmography included Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, left this world in her residence in Ojai, California. This announcement was shared through a message by her daughter, Academy Award-winning star her daughter Laura Dern.

Laura Dern, who performed alongside Diane Ladd in a number of films like Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, described her as “my wonderful hero and my profound gift of a mother”, noting that she was at her bedside when she passed.

“She was the greatest grandmother, mother, daughter, star, artist and compassionate soul that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she stated. “We were lucky to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”

Beginnings and Breakthrough

Her initial acting years saw supporting roles in television programs including The Fugitive and the 1970s had her appearing with Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.

That very year, 1974, she appeared with Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s praised film the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance brought Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.

Subsequent Years

During the eighties, she appeared in the thriller the movie Black Widow and funny follow-up National Lampoon’s holiday comedy while also joining the show Alice, a comedy program based on Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

During the next ten years, she was given a further best supporting actress nomination for her performance in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she acted as the parent of her actual daughter Laura Dern’s role. The following year she was awarded a further nomination for her acting in Rambling Rose, another movie which also starred her daughter.

“This movie that the late Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she flew Laura and I to England for a special screening and a celebration in our honor,” Ladd recalled regarding Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, taking our hands, and crying, watching us perform.”

That decade also saw roles in comedy Cemetery Club, a film reuniting her with Ellen Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a satirical film, featuring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she acted as Dern’s mother another time. Those years also brought her TV award nominations for performances on Dr Quinn, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.

Collaborations with Daughter

She persisted in performing with Laura Dern in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and the series by Mike White satirical show the program Enlightened. She additionally starred alongside actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Her later TV roles included the series Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.

Behind the Camera

She also authored and helmed the humorous movie Mrs Munck which starred herself and former husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she mentioned. “It was a privilege to guide him in a film. Indeed, I am the sole female in recorded history to direct her ex-husband. I make a joke: ‘I advise females, should you desire retribution, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Family Ties

Ladd was also a family member of playwright Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a great influence on my life”.

In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a respiratory illness and told her life expectancy was six months but made a full recovery after her daughter shifted her to a different hospital.

“Should you harness your suffering and avoid letting it accumulate like an injury, instead use it to discover, to make the path clearer for yourself and others, then you are winning,” Ladd remarked.