The award-nominated actor Diane Ladd passed away 89 years old.
This star, with credits included National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, died at her home in Ojai, California. The news was revealed via an announcement by her offspring, Academy Award-winning star her daughter Laura Dern.
Her daughter, who performed alongside her mother in various films like Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, described her as “my wonderful hero as well as my special gift as a mother”, noting that she was by her side as she died.
“She was an exceptional daughter, mother, grandmother, star, artist and compassionate soul that felt like a dream come true,” she wrote. “We were lucky to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”
The start of her career included small roles in TV shows including The Fugitive whereas that decade saw her starring with Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.
That very year, 1974, she shared the screen alongside Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese praised comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. The performance brought Ladd an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actress.
In the 1980s, she appeared in the thriller Black Widow and humorous film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and also took part in the show Alice, a television series inspired by the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
In the following decade, she was given an additional best supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her role in David Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the mother of her biological child Laura Dern’s role. The following year she was awarded a further nomination for her acting in Rambling Rose, another movie that also featured Laura Dern.
“This movie that the late Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she invited me and Laura to the UK for a premiere and a celebration for us,” Ladd shared about the film Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, taking our hands, and crying, seeing us act.”
The nineties included parts in the comedy Cemetery Club bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, with John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed Laura Dern’s mom another time. Those years also brought her TV award nominations for roles in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.
She kept appearing with her daughter in films blending humor and drama the film Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and the series by Mike White satirical show Enlightened, a TV series. She also appeared alongside actress Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian plus Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.
Subsequent TV appearances included Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon.
She also authored and oversaw the comedy film the movie Mrs Munck that included herself and ex-husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she said. “I was honored to direct him in a film. Actually, I stand as the only woman in recorded history who directed her former husband. I often joke: ‘I advise females, if you want revenge, direct your ex-husband.’ But I’m only kidding.”
She was additionally a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a major inspiration on my life”.
During 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a pulmonary condition and told she had just six months to live but made a full recovery after her daughter shifted her to a different hospital.
“Should you harness your suffering and prevent it from festering like an injury, instead apply it to explore, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are succeeding,” Ladd expressed.
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