Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at the Age of 89.

This Academy Award-nominated performer Diane Ladd left us at the age of 89.

The star, whose filmography included Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home in Ojai, California. Her passing was shared through a message shared by her daughter, Oscar-winning actor her daughter Laura Dern.

Her daughter, who starred with Diane Ladd in a number of films such as Rambling Rose, called her “my wonderful hero plus my profound gift of a mother”, writing that she was by her side as she died.

“She was the most wonderful mother, daughter, grandmother, performer, creative as well as caring individual that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she stated. “We were blessed to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”

Beginnings and Rise to Fame

The start of her career saw small roles in television programs such as Gunsmoke and the seventies featured her performing alongside Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

In the same year, the year 1974, she appeared with Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s praised film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. The performance brought Ladd her first Oscar nomination as best supporting actress.

1980s and Beyond

In the 1980s, she appeared in crime thriller the movie Black Widow and funny follow-up National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and also took part in the show Alice, a television series inspired by Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

During the next ten years, she earned another best supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her part in David Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart where she played the mother of her real-life daughter the character played by Dern. The following year she obtained another nomination for her role in Rambling Rose, another movie that also featured Laura Dern.

“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she invited us to England for a royal premiere and a party in our honor,” Ladd shared regarding Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, holding both our hands, with tears, seeing us act.”

The 1990s also saw roles in the comedy Cemetery Club, a film joining her again with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political comedy, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played Dern’s mother another time. The decade also earned her Emmy nominations for work in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.

Collaborations with Daughter

She persisted in performing with Laura Dern in comedy drama Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project Inland Empire, a surreal film and White’s comedy-drama series Enlightened, a TV series. She was also seen with actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.

Her later TV roles featured Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.

Filmmaking Ventures

She additionally penned and oversaw the comedy film Mrs Munck, a film featuring Diane Ladd and former husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she noted. “I was honored to direct him in a movie. Indeed, I’m the only woman in recorded history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I say ladies, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Family Ties

Ladd was also a relative of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she called “a significant impact throughout my life”.

During 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with lung disease and told her life expectancy was six months but made a full recovery when her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.

“If you can take your pain and avoid letting it accumulate like a sore or something, instead apply it to explore, to make the path clearer for yourself and others, then you are winning,” Ladd expressed.