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This Academy Award-nominated actress the celebrated Diane Ladd passed away aged 89.

The actor, whose filmography included Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, passed away at home in California’s Ojai. The news was shared through a message from her daughter, award-winning actress her daughter Laura Dern.

Dern, who appeared with Diane Ladd in various films such as Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my wonderful hero and my precious gift being my mom”, stating that she was present as she died.

“She was the most wonderful daughter, mother, grandmother, star, artist as well as empathetic spirit that seemed almost dreamlike,” she wrote. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”

Initial Roles and Major Success

Her initial acting years included supporting roles on television series such as Perry Mason and that decade featured her performing alongside actor Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

That very year, the year 1974, she appeared alongside Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese acclaimed comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role landed Ladd her first Oscar nomination as best supporting actress.

Subsequent Years

Throughout the 1980s, she was seen in the dramatic film Black Widow plus funny follow-up National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and appeared on the sitcom Alice, a sitcom derived from the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the subsequent decade, she received another supporting actress nomination for her role in David Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart where she acted as the parent of her real-life daughter Laura Dern’s role. A year later she was awarded another nomination for her performance in Rambling Rose, another movie which included Dern.

“This was the film that Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she invited me and Laura to London for a special screening and an event dedicated to us,” Ladd shared about the film Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, grasping our hands, and weeping, viewing our performance.”

The 1990s also saw roles in comedy Cemetery Club, a film bringing her back with Ellen Burstyn, Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she acted as Laura Dern’s mom again. That period also brought her nominations for Emmy Awards for roles on Dr Quinn, the show Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.

Collaborations with Daughter

She persisted in performing with her daughter in comedy drama Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project the movie Inland Empire and Mike White’s comedy-drama series the program Enlightened. She additionally starred alongside Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.

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

Writing and Directing

She additionally penned and oversaw the comedy Mrs Munck featuring her and previous spouse Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she mentioned. “I was honored to direct him on a project. In fact, I am the sole female in history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ Though I’m just teasing.”

Family Ties

Ladd was also the third cousin of playwright Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a major inspiration in my life”.

In 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a respiratory illness and informed her life expectancy was six months but she regained full health after her daughter transferred her to a new hospital.

“If you can take your pain and prevent it from festering similar to a wound, rather utilize it to discover, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are triumphing,” Ladd said.