🔗 Share this article

This Oscar-nominated actress the celebrated Diane Ladd has died at the age of 89.

This star, with filmography included National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, left this world in her residence at her Ojai, California home. Her passing was announced through a message from her child, award-winning actress her daughter Laura Dern.

Dern, who appeared with her mother in various films like Wild at Heart, called her “my incredible hero as well as my profound gift of a mother”, writing that she was present when she passed.

“She was an exceptional mother, daughter, grandmother, actress, artist along with caring individual that seemed almost dreamlike,” she expressed. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”

Early Career and Rise to Fame

Ladd’s early career included small roles in television programs like The Fugitive and that decade saw her starring alongside actor Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

During that year, 1974, she shared the screen with actress Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s acclaimed film the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance brought Ladd her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

1980s and Beyond

In the 1980s, she was seen in the dramatic film the movie Black Widow as well as humorous film National Lampoon’s holiday comedy while also joining the sitcom Alice, a television series derived from her earlier movie.

In the following decade, she received a further Oscar nomination for supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her part in Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart where she played the parent of her real-life daughter the character played by Dern. The next year she received an additional nod for her role in Rambling Rose that also featured her daughter.

“This was the film that the late Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she brought Laura and I to the UK for a special screening and an event for us,” Ladd recalled of Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, grasping our hands, and crying, seeing us act.”

That decade featured performances in humorous films Cemetery Club joining her again with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she acted as Laura Dern’s mom once more. That period also saw her score TV award nominations for roles in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.

Working with Laura Dern

She continued to star with her daughter in films blending humor and drama Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and Mike White’s dark comedy series Enlightened. She was also seen with Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Anthony Hopkins in that movie and Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

Her later TV roles featured the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.

Filmmaking Ventures

Ladd also wrote and oversaw the humorous movie Mrs Munck, a film featuring Diane Ladd and former husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a talented star,” she said. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a movie. In fact, I am the sole female ever who directed her former husband. I make a joke: ‘I say ladies, if you want revenge, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Personal Life

She was additionally a family member of Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a major inspiration on my life”.

In 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a respiratory illness and advised her life expectancy was six months but made a full recovery after her daughter moved her to a new hospital.

“Should you harness your suffering and not let it back up like a sore or something, rather utilize it to investigate, to clarify the journey for yourself and others, then you are triumphing,” Ladd said.