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This Academy Award-nominated actor Diane Ladd passed away aged 89.

This actor, whose credits featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home in Ojai, California. This announcement was revealed in a statement from her child, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern.

Laura Dern, who appeared with Diane Ladd in a number of films including Wild at Heart, described her as “my amazing hero and my profound gift as a mother”, stating that she was present as she died.

“She was the most wonderful daughter, mother, grandmother, performer, creative and compassionate soul that felt like a dream come true,” she expressed. “We were blessed to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”

Beginnings and Breakthrough

Ladd’s early career saw supporting roles on television series such as The Fugitive and the seventies saw her starring alongside Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

In the same year, the year 1974, she appeared alongside Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed dramatic comedy the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role brought Ladd her first Oscar nomination as best supporting actress.

1980s and Beyond

In the 1980s, she starred in the dramatic film Black Widow and comedy sequel National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and appeared on the sitcom Alice, a sitcom inspired by Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the subsequent decade, she was given a further Oscar nomination for supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role in Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she acted as the parent of her biological child the character played by Dern. The next year she obtained another nomination for her acting in the film Rambling Rose that also featured Laura Dern.

“This movie that Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she invited us to London for a special screening and an event in our honor,” Ladd shared about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, grasping our hands, and weeping, watching us perform.”

The 1990s featured performances in the comedy The Cemetery Club bringing her back with Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, with John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she played the mother of Dern another time. That period also earned her nominations for Emmy Awards for performances on Dr Quinn, the show Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.

Working with Laura Dern

She persisted in performing with Laura Dern in comedy drama Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and Mike White’s comedy-drama series the program Enlightened. She also appeared next to Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film and with Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

Subsequent TV appearances consisted of Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon, a comedy.

Behind the Camera

She also authored and directed the humorous movie the movie Mrs Munck which starred Diane Ladd and former husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she noted. “I’m privileged to have directed him on a project. Indeed, I stand as the only woman in history who directed her former husband. I make a joke: ‘I tell women, if you want revenge, helm a movie with your ex.’ Though I’m just teasing.”

Personal Life

She happened to be the third cousin of Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a significant impact on my life”.

During 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with lung disease and advised she had just six months to live but made a full recovery after her daughter moved her to a new hospital.

“When you use your pain and avoid letting it accumulate like a sore or something, instead apply it to investigate, to illuminate the way for yourself and others, then you are winning,” Ladd said.