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Oscar-nominated actor Diane Ladd has died at the age of 89.
The actor, whose credits included Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Chinatown and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, died at her home in Ojai, California. The news was announced in a statement shared by her daughter, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern.
Dern, who starred with her mother in a number of films including Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, called her “my amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother”, writing that she was at her bedside as she died.
“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she wrote. We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”
Ladd’s early career saw small roles in TV shows such as Perry Mason, The Fugitive and Gunsmoke while the 1970s saw her starring alongside Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
In the same year, 1974, she shared the screen with Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance landed Ladd her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.
In the 1980s, she appeared in crime thriller Black Widow and comedy sequel National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while also joining Alice, a sitcom based on Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the following decade, she received another best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she played the mother of her real-life daughter Dern’s character. The following year she received another nomination for her role in Rambling Rose which also starred Dern.
“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she flew Laura and I to London for a royal premiere and a party in our honor,” Ladd said of Rambling Rose in a later interview. “And she sat between us, holding both our hands, and crying, watching us perform.”
The 1990s also saw roles in comedy Cemetery Club reuniting her with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political comedy, with John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she played Dern’s mother again. The decade also saw her score Emmy nominations for work in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.
She continued to star with her daughter in comedy drama Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s Inland Empire and Mike White’s dark comedy series Enlightened. She also appeared alongside Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Her later TV roles included Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.
Ladd also wrote and directed the comedy film Mrs Munck which starred herself and ex-husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she said in an interview. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a movie. In fact, I’m the only woman in history to direct her ex-husband. I make a joke: ‘I say ladies, if you want revenge, direct your ex-husband.’ But I’m only kidding.”
Ladd was also the third cousin of Tennessee Williams, who she called “a great influence on my life”.
In 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with lung disease and told she had just six months to live but made a full recovery after her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.
“If you can take your pain and not let it back up like a sore or something, instead use it to explore, to make the path clearer for yourself and others, then you are winning,” Ladd said in 2023.
English (US)