The award-nominated actor Diane Ladd left us aged 89.
This actor, with filmography featured Chinatown, died at her home in Ojai, California. This announcement was revealed via an announcement by her offspring, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern, her daughter.
Her daughter, who performed alongside Diane Ladd in a number of films including Wild at Heart, described her as “my wonderful hero and my profound gift of a mother”, stating that she was present when she passed.
“She was the greatest grandmother, mother, daughter, star, artist as well as caring individual that seemed almost dreamlike,” she stated. “We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”
The start of her career featured minor parts in TV shows like The Fugitive while the 1970s saw her starring next to Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
In the same year, the year 1974, she appeared with actress Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s praised film the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance landed Ladd her initial Oscar nod in the supporting actress category.
In the 1980s, she appeared in the dramatic film Black Widow and humorous film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and also took part in the show Alice, a comedy program derived from Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the following decade, she received another Oscar nomination for supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the mom of her real-life daughter Dern’s character. The next year she was awarded a further nomination for her performance in Rambling Rose that also featured Dern.
“This was the film that Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she flew me and Laura to London for a special screening and an event for us,” Ladd said of Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, grasping our hands, and weeping, viewing our performance.”
That decade also saw roles in comedy Cemetery Club, a film bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political comedy, featuring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played Dern’s mother once more. That period also saw her score TV award nominations for roles in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
She kept appearing with Laura Dern in dramatic comedies the film Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and the series by Mike White satirical show Enlightened, a TV series. She additionally starred next to Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in that movie and with Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.
Her later TV roles consisted of Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon, a comedy.
Ladd also wrote and directed the comedy the movie Mrs Munck that included Diane Ladd and former husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she said. “I was honored to direct him in a film. Actually, I’m the only woman ever who directed her former husband. I often joke: ‘I say ladies, if you want revenge, direct your ex-husband.’ But I’m only kidding.”
She happened to be the third cousin of the great Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a great influence throughout my life”.
Back in 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a pulmonary condition and advised she only had half a year left yet she recovered completely once her daughter transferred her to a new hospital.
“When you use your pain and not let it back up similar to a wound, instead apply it to explore, to illuminate the way for you and those around, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.
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