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This Oscar-nominated actress Diane Ladd left us aged 89.

This star, whose filmography featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, passed away at home at her Ojai, California home. Her passing was announced through a message shared by her child, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.

Her daughter, who performed alongside her mother in various films such as Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my amazing hero as well as my precious gift as a mother”, noting that she was present during her final moments.

“She was an exceptional daughter, mother, grandmother, star, artist as well as empathetic spirit that felt like a dream come true,” she wrote. “We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”

Initial Roles and Breakthrough

Ladd’s early career included supporting roles in television programs such as The Fugitive while the seventies had her appearing next to the legendary Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

That very year, 1974, she shared the screen alongside Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s praised dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her acting landed Ladd her initial Oscar nod for best supporting actress.

1980s and Beyond

During the eighties, she appeared in the thriller Black Widow plus funny follow-up National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while also joining the sitcom Alice, a television series derived from the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

During the next ten years, she received another supporting actress nomination for her role in David Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the parent of her real-life daughter the character played by Dern. The next year she was awarded a further nomination for her performance in Rambling Rose which also starred her daughter.

“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she invited me and Laura to London for a royal premiere and a party dedicated to us,” Ladd shared about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, grasping our hands, and weeping, watching us perform.”

The 1990s included parts in the comedy Cemetery Club, a film reuniting her with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a satirical film, with John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she played Laura Dern’s mom again. The decade also earned her Emmy nominations for roles in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom plus Touched by an Angel.

Working with Laura Dern

She persisted in performing with Laura Dern in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and the series by Mike White dark comedy series Enlightened. She also appeared next to actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.

Subsequent TV appearances consisted of the series Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.

Writing and Directing

She also authored and helmed the comedy the movie Mrs Munck featuring Diane Ladd and former husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a talented star,” she said. “I was honored to direct him in a film. Actually, I am the sole female in history who directed her former husband. I make a joke: ‘I advise females, if you want revenge, direct your ex-husband.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Personal Connections

Ladd was also a relative of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she called “a major inspiration in my life”.

In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a respiratory illness and advised her life expectancy was six months but she regained full health once her daughter shifted her to a new hospital.

“Should you harness your suffering and prevent it from festering like a sore or something, rather utilize it to investigate, to make the path clearer for personal and collective growth, then you are triumphing,” Ladd expressed.