🔗 Share this article

This award-nominated actor Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran left us aged 89.

This actress, with roles featured Chinatown, died at her home at her Ojai, California home. Her passing was revealed through a message by her child, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.

Dern, who performed alongside her mother in various films such as Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my incredible hero as well as my special gift being my mom”, writing that she was present as she died.

“She was the most wonderful daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist along with compassionate soul that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she expressed. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”

Early Career and Breakthrough

Her initial acting years featured minor parts in TV shows like Perry Mason whereas that decade featured her performing alongside Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.

During that year, the year 1974, she appeared with actress Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s praised film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her acting earned Ladd her first Oscar nomination as best supporting actress.

1980s and Beyond

During the eighties, she was seen in crime thriller Black Widow as well as comedy sequel Christmas Vacation and also took part in the show Alice, a sitcom based on the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

During the next ten years, she was given a further supporting actress nomination for her performance in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart where she played the mother of her biological child Laura Dern’s role. The next year she was awarded another nomination for her role in Rambling Rose, another movie which also starred Laura Dern.

“This movie which Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she flew me and Laura to London for a special screening and a party for us,” Ladd shared regarding Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, holding both our hands, with tears, seeing us act.”

That decade included parts in humorous films Cemetery Club, a film reuniting her with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a satirical film, starring John Travolta and Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth where she played Dern’s mother another time. That period also brought her TV award nominations for roles in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.

Working with Laura Dern

She continued to star with Laura Dern in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, Lynch’s Inland Empire and Mike White’s satirical show Enlightened, a TV series. She additionally starred next to actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film and with Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

Subsequent TV appearances featured Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.

Filmmaking Ventures

She additionally penned and helmed the humorous movie Mrs Munck, a film featuring Diane Ladd and previous spouse Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “I’m privileged to have directed him on a project. In fact, I am the sole female ever who directed her former husband. I often joke: ‘I say ladies, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ Though I’m just teasing.”

Family Ties

Ladd was also the third cousin of Tennessee Williams, who she called “a major inspiration throughout my life”.

In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with lung disease and advised her life expectancy was six months but made a full recovery after her daughter shifted her to a different hospital.

“Should you harness your suffering and prevent it from festering similar to a wound, instead apply it to explore, to illuminate the way for personal and collective growth, then you are winning,” Ladd remarked.