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This award-nominated performer Diane Ladd passed away 89 years old.

The actress, whose filmography featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, passed away at home at her Ojai, California home. This announcement was shared in a statement by her daughter, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.

Laura Dern, who starred with her mother in a number of films including Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my wonderful hero as well as my profound gift of a mother”, noting that she was present when she passed.

“She was an exceptional daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist along with compassionate soul that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she stated. “We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”

Early Career and Rise to Fame

The start of her career included small roles on television series like Gunsmoke and the seventies saw her starring next to the legendary Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

During that year, the year 1974, she appeared alongside Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s acclaimed film the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role brought Ladd her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

Later Decades

During the eighties, she was seen in crime thriller Black Widow plus funny follow-up National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while also joining the sitcom Alice, a television series inspired by Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the following decade, she was given a further supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she acted as the mother of her real-life daughter Dern’s character. The following year she received another nomination for her acting in the film Rambling Rose which included Dern.

“This was the picture that Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she invited us to the UK for a premiere and an event in our honor,” Ladd recalled regarding Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, grasping our hands, with tears, viewing our performance.”

That decade also saw roles in the comedy Cemetery Club, a film bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a satirical film, with John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played Laura Dern’s mom again. That period also brought her Emmy nominations for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.

Collaborations with Daughter

She continued to star with Laura Dern in dramatic comedies the film Daddy and Them, Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and White’s satirical show the program Enlightened. She also appeared next to actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Anthony Hopkins in that movie and with Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

Her later TV roles included Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon.

Writing and Directing

She additionally penned and directed the comedy film Mrs Munck that included herself and former husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she said. “It was a privilege to guide him in a movie. In fact, I stand as the only woman ever to helm a film with her ex. I often joke: ‘I say ladies, should you desire retribution, direct your ex-husband.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Family Ties

Ladd was also a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, who she called “a great influence throughout my life”.

In 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with a pulmonary condition and advised she had just six months to live yet she recovered completely once her daughter moved her to a different hospital.

“If you can take your pain and avoid letting it accumulate like a sore or something, rather utilize it to explore, to clarify the journey for you and those around, then you are succeeding,” Ladd remarked.