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The Academy Award-nominated performer Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran has died aged 89.

This actor, with filmography spanned Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, passed away at home at her Ojai, California home. The news was revealed via an announcement shared by her daughter, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern, her daughter.

Laura Dern, who performed alongside Diane Ladd in a number of films like Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, described her as “my wonderful hero plus my special gift as a mother”, noting that she was at her bedside during her final moments.

“She was an exceptional daughter, mother, grandmother, star, artist as well as empathetic spirit that felt like a dream come true,” she wrote. “We were lucky to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”

Initial Roles and Rise to Fame

Ladd’s early career saw supporting roles in television programs such as Gunsmoke whereas the seventies featured her performing with Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

That very year, 1974, she appeared with actress Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her acting landed Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.

1980s and Beyond

During the eighties, she starred in the thriller Black Widow plus comedy sequel National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and appeared on the show Alice, a sitcom based on the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the subsequent decade, she earned a further best supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her part in Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she acted as the mother of her real-life daughter Laura Dern’s role. The following year she obtained an additional nod for her role in Rambling Rose, another movie that also featured Dern.

“This movie that the late Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she flew Laura and I to the UK for a special screening and a celebration dedicated to us,” Ladd said regarding Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, taking our hands, and weeping, seeing us act.”

The 1990s also saw roles in humorous films Cemetery Club, a film bringing her back with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a satirical film, with John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy in which she portrayed Dern’s mother another time. That period also saw her score Emmy nominations for performances on Dr Quinn, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.

Working with Laura Dern

She persisted in performing alongside her daughter in dramatic comedies the film Daddy and Them, Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and the series by Mike White dark comedy series the program Enlightened. She additionally starred alongside actress Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and with Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

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

Filmmaking Ventures

She additionally penned and directed the comedy Mrs Munck that included herself and previous spouse actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she said. “It was a privilege to guide him in a movie. Indeed, I’m the only woman ever who directed her former husband. I often joke: ‘I advise females, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Family Ties

She was additionally the third cousin of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she called “a great influence in my life”.

Back in 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with a pulmonary condition and informed she only had half a year left but she regained full health once her daughter transferred her to another medical facility.

“Should you harness your suffering and not let it back up like a sore or something, rather utilize it to explore, to make the path clearer for personal and collective growth, then you are winning,” Ladd said.