Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Known For Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Dies at 89 Years Old.

The Oscar-nominated actor the celebrated Diane Ladd passed away aged 89.

This actress, with filmography spanned National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, passed away at home at her Ojai, California home. Her passing was revealed in a statement from her child, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern.

Laura Dern, who appeared with her mother in various films including Rambling Rose, called her “my amazing hero plus my profound gift of a mother”, writing that she was by her side when she passed.

“She was the most wonderful mother, daughter, grandmother, star, artist as well as compassionate soul that seemed almost dreamlike,” she stated. “We were blessed to have her. She is now with the angels.”

Early Career and Breakthrough

The start of her career featured small roles in TV shows like The Fugitive whereas the 1970s had her appearing with the legendary Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

In the same year, 1974, she appeared alongside Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese celebrated comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. The performance brought Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.

Subsequent Years

Throughout the 1980s, she appeared in the thriller Black Widow plus funny follow-up National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and appeared on the sitcom Alice, a sitcom based on Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the following decade, she earned an additional Oscar nomination for supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her part in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she acted as the mom of her biological child the character played by Dern. The next year she received a further nomination for her role in Rambling Rose which also starred her daughter.

“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she flew Laura and I to the UK for a special screening and a party for us,” Ladd shared regarding Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, holding both our hands, and weeping, viewing our performance.”

The nineties featured performances in humorous films Cemetery Club bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political comedy, featuring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed Laura Dern’s mom again. That period also earned her nominations for Emmy Awards for work in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel.

Partnerships with Her Daughter

She continued to star with Laura Dern in films blending humor and drama Daddy and Them, a movie, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and Mike White’s comedy-drama series Enlightened, a TV series. She additionally starred alongside actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Her later TV roles included the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.

Behind the Camera

Ladd also wrote and helmed the comedy the movie Mrs Munck which starred herself and former husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she said. “I was honored to direct him in a movie. Actually, I stand as the only woman ever who directed her former husband. I often joke: ‘I advise females, if you want revenge, helm a movie with your ex.’ Though I’m just teasing.”

Personal Connections

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

Back in 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a respiratory illness and informed she had just six months to live but made a full recovery once her daughter shifted her to a new hospital.

“When you use your pain and avoid letting it accumulate like a sore or something, instead apply it to explore, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are winning,” Ladd remarked.