This award-nominated performer Diane Ladd has died at the age of 89.
This star, with roles spanned Chinatown, died at her home in Ojai, California. The news was revealed via an announcement shared by her child, award-winning actress her daughter Laura Dern.
Laura Dern, who performed alongside Diane Ladd in various films including Wild at Heart, referred to her as “my amazing hero plus my precious gift as a mother”, stating that she was present when she passed.
“She was an exceptional daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist along with compassionate soul that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she wrote. “We were lucky to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”
Her initial acting years saw small roles in television programs such as The Fugitive whereas the 1970s saw her starring with the legendary Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.
That very year, 1974, she shared the screen with Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s celebrated dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her role brought Ladd her initial Oscar nod as best supporting actress.
During the eighties, she was seen in the thriller Black Widow and funny follow-up National Lampoon’s holiday comedy while also joining the show Alice, a comedy program inspired by Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the following decade, she received an additional best supporting actress nomination for her part in the David Lynch film the movie Wild at Heart where she played the parent of her actual daughter Laura Dern’s role. A year later she was awarded a further nomination for her role in the film Rambling Rose which included Laura Dern.
“This was the picture that Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she invited me and Laura to the UK for a royal premiere and a celebration for us,” Ladd shared regarding Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, taking our hands, and weeping, seeing us act.”
The nineties also saw roles in humorous films Cemetery Club joining her again with her co-star Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a political comedy, starring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth where she played Dern’s mother again. That period also brought her Emmy nominations for work on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
She continued to star with Laura Dern in films blending humor and drama the film Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project the movie Inland Empire and White’s comedy-drama series the program Enlightened. She was also seen next to Sandra Bullock in 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.
Ladd also wrote and helmed the humorous movie Mrs Munck which starred Diane Ladd and ex-husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she said. “It was a privilege to guide him in a movie. Actually, I stand as the only woman in recorded history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I say ladies, should you desire retribution, helm a movie with your ex.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
She was additionally the third cousin of playwright Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a major inspiration on my life”.
In 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a pulmonary condition and advised she only had half a year left but she regained full health once her daughter shifted her to another medical facility.
“When you use your pain and prevent it from festering like an injury, instead use it to explore, to clarify the journey for yourself and others, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.
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