Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Known For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at Age 89.

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

This actress, with roles featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home at her Ojai, California home. The news was announced through a message shared by her daughter, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern.

Dern, who appeared with her mom in several movies including Wild at Heart, described her as “my incredible hero as well as my precious gift being my mom”, writing that she was present during her final moments.

“She was the most wonderful mother, daughter, grandmother, actress, artist as well as empathetic spirit that seemed almost dreamlike,” she stated. “We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”

Beginnings and Major Success

The start of her career featured supporting roles in television programs including The Fugitive and the 1970s had her appearing alongside the legendary Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.

In the same year, 1974, she appeared with Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s celebrated dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role brought Ladd her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

1980s and Beyond

Throughout the 1980s, she starred in crime thriller Black Widow, a suspense story and funny follow-up Christmas Vacation and appeared on the sitcom Alice, a television series inspired by Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the following decade, she earned an additional best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her performance in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she acted as the mom of her real-life daughter Dern’s character. A year later she was awarded another nomination for her acting in the film Rambling Rose that also featured Dern.

“This movie which Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she brought us to London for a special screening and a party for us,” Ladd recalled of Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, holding both our hands, and crying, viewing our performance.”

The nineties also saw roles in the comedy Cemetery Club bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a political comedy, with John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed Dern’s mother another time. That period also saw her score nominations for Emmy Awards for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.

Working with Laura Dern

She kept appearing with Laura Dern in comedy drama Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire and Mike White’s satirical show Enlightened, a TV series. She additionally starred with Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in that movie and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.

Her more recent television parts featured Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon, a comedy.

Writing and Directing

Ladd also wrote and oversaw the comedy film the movie Mrs Munck which starred her and former husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she mentioned. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a film. Actually, I’m the only woman in history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Personal Life

Ladd was also the third cousin of the great Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a significant impact throughout my life”.

In 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with a respiratory illness and informed her life expectancy was six months but she regained full health after her daughter moved her to another medical facility.

“When you use your pain and avoid letting it accumulate like an injury, instead apply it to discover, to illuminate the way for personal and collective growth, then you are winning,” Ladd expressed.