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This Academy Award-nominated performer the celebrated Diane Ladd passed away aged 89.

This star, with credits spanned Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home in California’s Ojai. Her passing was shared through a message from her offspring, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern, her daughter.

Her daughter, who performed alongside her mom in several movies including Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my wonderful hero and my precious gift being my mom”, noting that she was by her side as she died.

“She was an exceptional mother, daughter, grandmother, performer, creative along with empathetic spirit that felt like a dream come true,” she wrote. “We were blessed to have her. She is now with the angels.”

Beginnings and Rise to Fame

The start of her career included supporting roles in television programs like Perry Mason and the seventies featured her performing next to actor Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

In the same year, 1974, she shared the screen with Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s celebrated dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.

1980s and Beyond

In the 1980s, she appeared in the thriller the movie Black Widow plus comedy sequel Christmas Vacation and appeared on Alice, a comedy program derived from the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the following decade, she earned an additional best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she played the mom of her actual daughter Dern’s character. The next year she was awarded a further nomination for her role in the film Rambling Rose which included her daughter.

“This was the picture which Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she brought Laura and I to England for a premiere and a party dedicated to us,” Ladd recalled about the film Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, holding both our hands, with tears, viewing our performance.”

The 1990s featured performances in humorous films Cemetery Club, a film bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a political comedy, starring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth where she played the mother of Dern another time. That period also brought her nominations for Emmy Awards for performances on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel.

Working with Laura Dern

She kept appearing with her daughter in comedy drama Daddy and Them, a movie, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and Mike White’s satirical show Enlightened. She was also seen alongside Sandra Bullock, a star in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.

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

Behind the Camera

She additionally penned and oversaw the humorous movie Mrs Munck that included Diane Ladd and ex-husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she said. “I was honored to direct him on a project. Indeed, I’m the only woman ever to direct her ex-husband. I humorously say: ‘I advise females, should you desire retribution, helm a movie with your ex.’ However, I’m joking.”

Personal Life

Ladd was also a relative of Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a great influence in my life”.

In 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with a pulmonary condition and told she had just six months to live but made a full recovery when her daughter shifted her to a different hospital.

“If you can take your pain and avoid letting it accumulate like a sore or something, instead use it to discover, to clarify the journey for you and those around, then you are triumphing,” Ladd remarked.