Diane Ladd, Known For Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at Age 89.

The Oscar-nominated performer Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran left us 89 years old.

This actor, with roles spanned National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, passed away at home in Ojai, California. Her passing was shared through a message by her daughter, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern.

Dern, who performed alongside Diane Ladd in various films such as Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, called her “my incredible hero plus my special gift as a mother”, writing that she was by her side when she passed.

“She was the most wonderful daughter, mother, grandmother, performer, creative along with empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she expressed. “We were blessed to have her. She is now with the angels.”

Beginnings and Rise to Fame

The start of her career featured small roles in TV shows such as Perry Mason and the seventies saw her starring with Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

During that year, 1974, she performed alongside Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese acclaimed comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.

Subsequent Years

During the eighties, she appeared in the dramatic film the movie Black Widow and funny follow-up National Lampoon’s holiday comedy while also joining the sitcom Alice, a television series derived from her earlier movie.

In the subsequent decade, she was given a further best supporting actress nomination for her part in Lynch’s Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the parent of her biological child the character played by Dern. The next year she obtained a further nomination for her role in Rambling Rose, another movie which also starred Laura Dern.

“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she flew me and Laura to London for a special screening and an event dedicated to us,” Ladd shared about the film Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, grasping our hands, with tears, watching us perform.”

The nineties included parts in comedy Cemetery Club joining her again with her co-star Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a satirical film, with John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth where she acted as the mother of Dern once more. That period also earned her TV award nominations for work on Dr Quinn, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.

Working with Laura Dern

She continued to star with Laura Dern in comedy drama Daddy and Them, a movie, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and White’s satirical show Enlightened, a TV series. She was also seen next to actress Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film plus Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

Her later TV roles included Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.

Writing and Directing

She additionally penned and oversaw the comedy the movie Mrs Munck featuring Diane Ladd and former husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she said. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a film. Actually, I’m the only woman in recorded history to helm a film with her ex. I humorously say: ‘I say ladies, if you want revenge, helm a movie with your ex.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Family Ties

She happened to be a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, who she called “a significant impact in my life”.

In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with lung disease and informed her life expectancy was six months but she regained full health once her daughter moved her to a new hospital.

“When you use your pain and not let it back up like an injury, instead apply it to investigate, to make the path clearer for you and those around, then you are triumphing,” Ladd remarked.