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The Oscar-nominated actress Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran left us at the age of 89.

The star, whose filmography featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home in Ojai, California. The news was revealed through a message from her daughter, award-winning actress her daughter Laura Dern.

Laura Dern, who starred with her mother in several movies like Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my wonderful hero plus my special gift as a mother”, noting that she was present during her final moments.

“She was an exceptional mother, daughter, grandmother, performer, creative and caring individual that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she stated. “We were fortunate to know her. She is flying with her angels now.”

Early Career and Breakthrough

Ladd’s early career saw supporting roles in television programs like The Fugitive whereas that decade featured her performing with actor Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.

During that year, 1974, she performed with Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese praised comedy drama the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance brought Ladd her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

Subsequent Years

Throughout the 1980s, she was seen in the dramatic film the movie Black Widow and funny follow-up National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and appeared on the show Alice, a television series derived from Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the subsequent decade, she earned an additional best supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her part in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she played the mom of her actual daughter Laura Dern’s role. A year later she obtained a further nomination for her role in the film Rambling Rose that also featured Dern.

“This was the film which Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she invited Laura and I to the UK for a special screening and a party in our honor,” Ladd said about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, grasping our hands, and crying, viewing our performance.”

The 1990s also saw roles in comedy The Cemetery Club reuniting her with Ellen Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a satirical film, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed the mother of Dern again. That period also brought her TV award nominations for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel.

Collaborations with Daughter

She continued to star with Laura Dern in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, David Lynch’s Inland Empire and Mike White’s comedy-drama series Enlightened, a TV series. She additionally starred alongside actress Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in that movie and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Her more recent television parts featured Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon, a comedy.

Writing and Directing

Ladd also wrote and directed the comedy film Mrs Munck, a film featuring Diane Ladd and former husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she mentioned. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a movie. Actually, I am the sole female in history who directed her former husband. I often joke: ‘I tell women, should you desire retribution, helm a movie with your ex.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Family Ties

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

Back in 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a respiratory illness and advised she only had half a year left but she regained full health once her daughter transferred her to another medical facility.

“If you can take your pain and not let it back up like a sore or something, rather utilize it to investigate, to make the path clearer for yourself and others, then you are winning,” Ladd remarked.