Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at Age 89.

The Academy Award-nominated actor Diane Ladd passed away 89 years old.

This star, whose credits included National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, passed away at home in California’s Ojai. This announcement was revealed via an announcement shared by her offspring, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern, her daughter.

Laura Dern, who appeared with her mom in various films including Rambling Rose, called her “my wonderful hero plus my profound gift as a mother”, writing that she was at her bedside when she passed.

“She was the most wonderful mother, daughter, grandmother, star, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she stated. “We were lucky to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”

Initial Roles and Rise to Fame

The start of her career featured small roles in TV shows like Gunsmoke while that decade featured her performing alongside Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.

That very year, 1974, she performed with actress Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s praised dramatic comedy the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role landed Ladd an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.

Later Decades

Throughout the 1980s, she was seen in the thriller Black Widow, a suspense story as well as comedy sequel Christmas Vacation and appeared on Alice, a sitcom derived from the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the following decade, she earned another Oscar nomination for supporting actress nomination for her performance in Lynch’s Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the parent of her real-life daughter Dern’s character. The following year she was awarded another nomination for her performance in the film Rambling Rose which also starred Dern.

“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she flew Laura and I to the UK for a premiere and a party in our honor,” Ladd said about the film Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, grasping our hands, and weeping, seeing us act.”

The 1990s featured performances in humorous films Cemetery Club joining her again with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, with John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne the movie Citizen Ruth where she acted as the mother of Dern once more. The decade also saw her score nominations for Emmy Awards for work in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.

Collaborations with Daughter

She kept appearing alongside her daughter in films blending humor and drama the film Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project Inland Empire, a surreal film and the series by Mike White dark comedy series Enlightened, a TV series. She was also seen next to Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in that movie and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Her later TV roles included Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.

Filmmaking Ventures

She additionally penned and oversaw the comedy film Mrs Munck that included her and former husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “It was a privilege to guide him in a movie. Indeed, I’m the only woman in history to direct her ex-husband. I make a joke: ‘I tell women, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ Though I’m just teasing.”

Personal Life

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

In 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with lung disease and told she had just six months to live but she regained full health after her daughter shifted her to a different hospital.

“If you can take your pain and prevent it from festering like an injury, instead apply it to explore, to make the path clearer for you and those around, then you are winning,” Ladd said.