🔗 Share this article Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at Age 89. This award-nominated actress Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran has died 89 years old. The actor, with filmography featured National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, died at her home at her Ojai, California home. Her passing was announced through a message shared by her daughter, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern, her daughter. Laura Dern, who starred with Diane Ladd in a number of films like Wild at Heart, described her as “my amazing hero as well as my precious gift as a mother”, stating that she was by her side as she died. “She was the greatest grandmother, mother, daughter, performer, creative and caring individual that seemed almost dreamlike,” she stated. “We were blessed to have her. She is now with the angels.” Beginnings and Breakthrough The start of her career included supporting roles in TV shows such as Gunsmoke and the seventies saw her starring alongside the legendary Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown. That very year, the year 1974, she shared the screen alongside Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed dramatic comedy the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role brought Ladd an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress. 1980s and Beyond Throughout the 1980s, she was seen in crime thriller Black Widow plus funny follow-up National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and appeared on the sitcom Alice, a television series derived from her earlier movie. During the next ten years, she received an additional best supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her role in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart where she acted as the parent of her real-life daughter Laura Dern’s role. The following year she obtained another nomination for her performance in Rambling Rose, another movie which included Dern. “This movie that Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she invited Laura and I to England for a royal premiere and a celebration in our honor,” Ladd recalled about the film Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, holding both our hands, with tears, seeing us act.” That decade included parts in the comedy The Cemetery Club joining her again with Ellen Burstyn, Primary Colors, a satirical film, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth where she played Dern’s mother once more. The decade also brought her TV award nominations for roles in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama. Collaborations with Daughter She persisted in performing with her daughter in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project the movie Inland Empire and the series by Mike White satirical show the program Enlightened. She was also seen with actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in that movie and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama. Her later TV roles included Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon. Writing and Directing Ladd also wrote and helmed the comedy film Mrs Munck, a film featuring her and ex-husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a talented star,” she said. “It was a privilege to guide him in a movie. In fact, I am the sole female in history to helm a film with her ex. I make a joke: ‘I advise females, if you want revenge, helm a movie with your ex.’ However, I’m joking.” Personal Connections Ladd was also a family member of the great Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a significant impact in my life”. During 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a pulmonary condition and informed she only had half a year left yet she recovered completely once her daughter shifted her to a different hospital. “When you use your pain and not let it back up similar to a wound, instead apply it to investigate, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are winning,” Ladd expressed.