🔗 Share this article Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at the Age of 89. This Academy Award-nominated actor Diane Ladd passed away aged 89. The actor, with roles included Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home in California’s Ojai. Her passing was shared through a message by her child, award-winning actress Laura Dern. Her daughter, who performed alongside her mom in several movies including Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, called her “my amazing hero and my special gift of a mother”, writing that she was present during her final moments. “She was an exceptional mother, daughter, grandmother, star, artist as well as compassionate soul that seemed almost dreamlike,” she wrote. “We were blessed to have her. She is now with the angels.” Beginnings and Rise to Fame Her initial acting years included minor parts in television programs like The Fugitive while that decade saw her starring with Jack Nicholson in Chinatown. In the same year, the year 1974, she performed with Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance brought Ladd her initial Oscar nod as best supporting actress. Later Decades In the 1980s, she starred in the thriller Black Widow plus comedy sequel National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and appeared on Alice, a comedy program based on the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. During the next ten years, she earned an additional supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her performance in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the mom of her real-life daughter the character played by Dern. A year later she received a further nomination for her performance in Rambling Rose, another movie that also featured Laura Dern. “This was the film that Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she brought us to the UK for a special screening and a celebration in our honor,” Ladd recalled regarding Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, grasping our hands, and crying, seeing us act.” That decade featured performances in comedy Cemetery Club joining her again with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a satirical film, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she acted as Laura Dern’s mom another time. Those years also saw her score Emmy nominations for performances on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel. Partnerships with Her Daughter She kept appearing with her daughter in films blending humor and drama Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project Inland Empire, a surreal film and the series by Mike White comedy-drama series the program Enlightened. She also appeared with actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama. Her later TV roles featured Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy. Behind the Camera Ladd also wrote and oversaw the comedy film the movie Mrs Munck which starred Diane Ladd and ex-husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she mentioned. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a film. Indeed, I am the sole female ever who directed her former husband. I make a joke: ‘I say ladies, should you desire retribution, helm a movie with your ex.’ Though I’m just teasing.” Personal Connections Ladd was also the third cousin of the great Tennessee Williams, who she called “a great influence in my life”. During 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a respiratory illness and advised her life expectancy was six months yet she recovered completely once her daughter transferred her to a different hospital. “Should you harness your suffering and avoid letting it accumulate similar to a wound, instead apply it to investigate, to illuminate the way for personal and collective growth, then you are triumphing,” Ladd said.