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The Academy Award-nominated performer Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran left us aged 89.

This actor, whose roles featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home at her Ojai, California home. Her passing was shared via an announcement from her daughter, Academy Award-winning star her daughter Laura Dern.

Laura Dern, who starred with Diane Ladd in various films such as Rambling Rose, called her “my incredible hero plus my special gift being my mom”, stating that she was at her bedside when she passed.

“She was the greatest grandmother, mother, daughter, star, artist along with caring individual that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she wrote. “We were fortunate to know her. She is flying with her angels now.”

Early Career and Rise to Fame

Her initial acting years saw small roles in TV shows including Gunsmoke whereas the 1970s had her appearing next to Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

In the same year, 1974, she appeared with actress Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s celebrated dramatic comedy the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance earned Ladd her initial Oscar nod as best supporting actress.

Subsequent Years

In the 1980s, she starred in crime thriller Black Widow as well as funny follow-up National Lampoon’s holiday comedy while also joining the show Alice, a sitcom inspired by her earlier movie.

In the following decade, she was given a further supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the parent of her actual daughter Laura Dern’s role. The next year she was awarded an additional nod for her performance in Rambling Rose, another movie which included her daughter.

“This was the film that Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she brought us to England for a royal premiere and a party for us,” Ladd said of Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, holding both our hands, and weeping, viewing our performance.”

The nineties included parts in the comedy The Cemetery Club reuniting her with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she acted as Laura Dern’s mom another time. The decade also brought her Emmy nominations for work on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.

Working with Laura Dern

She kept appearing with her daughter in comedy drama the film Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and the series by Mike White comedy-drama series Enlightened, a TV series. She was also seen next to actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film 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 the movie Mrs Munck that included her and previous spouse Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she noted. “I was honored to direct him in a film. Actually, I am the sole female in recorded history to helm a film with her ex. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, should you desire retribution, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Family Ties

Ladd was also the third cousin of the great Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a major inspiration on my life”.

Back in 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a respiratory illness and informed she only had half a year left but made a full recovery when her daughter transferred her to another medical facility.

“Should you harness your suffering and prevent it from festering like an injury, instead use it to discover, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are winning,” Ladd expressed.