🔗 Share this article

This Academy Award-nominated actor Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran passed away aged 89.

The star, with filmography included National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, passed away at home in Ojai, California. Her passing was announced via an announcement from her offspring, Oscar-winning actor her daughter Laura Dern.

Dern, who performed alongside her mother in several movies including Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my incredible hero as well as my special gift of a mother”, noting that she was by her side during her final moments.

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

Initial Roles and Breakthrough

Ladd’s early career included supporting roles on television series like The Fugitive and the seventies had her appearing alongside Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

That very year, 1974, she performed with Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s celebrated dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her acting earned Ladd her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

Later Decades

During the eighties, she was seen in the dramatic film Black Widow, a suspense story as well as humorous film Christmas Vacation and also took part in Alice, a comedy program derived from the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the subsequent decade, she earned another Oscar nomination for supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her role in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart, a cult classic in which she portrayed the mother of her real-life daughter the character played by Dern. The following year she obtained an additional nod for her performance in Rambling Rose, another movie which also starred Dern.

“This was the film which Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she brought me and Laura to London for a royal premiere and a party in our honor,” Ladd recalled of Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, grasping our hands, and weeping, seeing us act.”

The nineties included parts in comedy Cemetery Club, a film joining her again with Ellen Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a political comedy, starring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she acted as the mother of Dern once more. Those years also brought her Emmy nominations for performances in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.

Partnerships with Her Daughter

She kept appearing with her daughter in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, Lynch’s Inland Empire and White’s comedy-drama series Enlightened. She was also seen alongside Sandra Bullock, a star in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Subsequent TV appearances consisted of Ray Donovan, a drama plus Young Sheldon.

Writing and Directing

Ladd also wrote and helmed the comedy Mrs Munck, a film that included her and ex-husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she said. “I was honored to direct him in a movie. In fact, I’m the only woman ever who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I advise females, should you desire retribution, helm a movie with your ex.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Family Ties

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

In 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a pulmonary condition and advised she only had half a year left but made a full recovery after her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.

“When you use your pain and not let it back up similar to a wound, instead apply it to discover, to make the path clearer for you and those around, then you are triumphing,” Ladd expressed.