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This Academy Award-nominated actor Diane Ladd has died 89 years old.

This actor, with filmography featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, passed away at home at her Ojai, California home. Her passing was announced through a message by her offspring, Academy Award-winning star her daughter Laura Dern.

Laura Dern, who performed alongside her mom in a number of films including Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, called her “my wonderful hero and my precious gift of a mother”, writing that she was present when she passed.

“She was the most wonderful mother, daughter, grandmother, actress, artist and caring individual that felt like a dream come true,” she stated. “We were blessed to have her. She is now with the angels.”

Early Career and Major Success

Ladd’s early career included small roles on television series including Perry Mason and the 1970s saw her starring alongside Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

In the same year, the year 1974, she shared the screen with Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her acting earned Ladd her initial Oscar nod for best supporting actress.

Later Decades

Throughout the 1980s, she starred in crime thriller Black Widow and humorous film Christmas Vacation while also joining the sitcom Alice, a comedy program inspired by the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the following decade, she was given an additional best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart where she played the mother of her real-life daughter the character played by Dern. A year later she received a further nomination for her role in Rambling Rose, another movie which also starred her daughter.

“This was the picture which Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she brought us to the UK for a premiere and an event for us,” Ladd said of Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, holding both our hands, and crying, viewing our performance.”

The nineties included parts in comedy Cemetery Club bringing her back with Ellen Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a satirical film, starring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth where she acted as Dern’s mother once more. That period also saw her score nominations for Emmy Awards for work in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.

Partnerships with Her Daughter

She continued to star with her daughter in films blending humor and drama Daddy and Them, a movie, David Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and the series by Mike White dark comedy series Enlightened, a TV series. She additionally starred next to actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Her more recent television parts consisted of Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.

Behind the Camera

She additionally penned and oversaw the comedy film the movie Mrs Munck featuring Diane Ladd and ex-husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a film. Actually, I’m the only woman ever to direct her ex-husband. I often joke: ‘I say ladies, if you seek payback, direct your ex-husband.’ However, I’m joking.”

Personal Connections

She was additionally a relative of Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a significant impact in my life”.

Back in 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with a respiratory illness and informed she only had half a year left yet she recovered completely after her daughter shifted her to a different hospital.

“If you can take your pain and prevent it from festering like an injury, instead use it to investigate, to make the path clearer for yourself and others, then you are winning,” Ladd expressed.