The Oscar-nominated performer the celebrated Diane Ladd has died aged 89.
This actor, with credits spanned Chinatown, passed away at home in California’s Ojai. Her passing was announced in a statement by her child, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern.
Laura Dern, who appeared with her mother in a number of films such as Rambling Rose, called her “my wonderful 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, star, artist along with compassionate soul that felt like a dream come true,” she stated. “We were fortunate to know her. She is now with the angels.”
Her initial acting years featured small roles in TV shows like The Fugitive and the seventies featured her performing alongside Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.
In the same year, 1974, she performed with actress Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed dramatic comedy the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role earned Ladd her first Oscar nomination as best supporting actress.
In the 1980s, she starred in the thriller Black Widow as well as humorous film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and appeared on the sitcom Alice, a comedy program derived from her earlier movie.
In the following decade, she was given an additional Oscar nomination for supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she acted as the mother of her biological child Dern’s character. The next year she obtained a further nomination for her role in Rambling Rose which included her daughter.
“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she flew Laura and I to London for a royal premiere and a party in our honor,” Ladd recalled about the film Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, grasping our hands, and weeping, watching us perform.”
That decade included parts in the comedy The Cemetery Club bringing her back with Ellen Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, with John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy in which she portrayed the mother of Dern another time. The decade also brought her Emmy nominations for performances in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.
She continued to star with her daughter in comedy drama the film Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and White’s comedy-drama series Enlightened. She also appeared alongside actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Anthony Hopkins in that movie plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.
Her later TV roles featured the series Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.
She also authored and directed the humorous movie the movie Mrs Munck featuring Diane Ladd and ex-husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she said. “I was honored to direct him in a film. Indeed, I’m the only woman ever to direct her ex-husband. I often joke: ‘I say ladies, should you desire retribution, guide your former spouse.’ Though I’m just teasing.”
Ladd was also a family member of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a major inspiration in my life”.
In 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a respiratory illness and told she only had half a year left but she regained full health once her daughter shifted her to a new hospital.
“Should you harness your suffering and not let it back up like a sore or something, instead use it to discover, to illuminate the way for you and those around, then you are triumphing,” Ladd remarked.
A passionate textile artist and community organizer who loves inspiring others through creative sewing projects.
