🔗 Share this article

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

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

Dern, who starred with Diane Ladd in various films like Wild at Heart, called her “my amazing hero and my special gift as a mother”, stating that she was by her side as she died.

“She was the greatest grandmother, mother, daughter, actress, artist along with empathetic spirit that seemed almost dreamlike,” she wrote. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”

Beginnings and Rise to Fame

The start of her career featured small roles in TV shows like Perry Mason while the 1970s saw her starring with actor Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

During that year, the year 1974, she performed with actress Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese celebrated comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role earned Ladd her initial Oscar nod as best supporting actress.

Subsequent Years

Throughout the 1980s, she was seen in the dramatic film Black Widow, a suspense story plus funny follow-up Christmas Vacation while also joining Alice, a television series inspired by her earlier movie.

During the next ten years, she received another supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in the David Lynch film the movie Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the mother of her biological child the character played by Dern. The following year she was awarded a further nomination for her acting in Rambling Rose which included her daughter.

“This was the picture which Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she flew us to London for a royal premiere and a party in our honor,” Ladd shared about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, taking our hands, and weeping, viewing our performance.”

The 1990s featured performances in the comedy The Cemetery Club joining her again with Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a satirical film, with John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth where she acted as Laura Dern’s mom another time. That period also brought her TV award nominations for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.

Collaborations with Daughter

She continued to star with Laura Dern in films blending humor and drama Daddy and Them, a movie, the David Lynch project Inland Empire, a surreal film and White’s satirical show Enlightened. She also appeared alongside Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in that movie and with Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

Her more recent television parts featured the series Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.

Filmmaking Ventures

Ladd also wrote and oversaw the humorous movie Mrs Munck which starred herself and former husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she said. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a movie. In fact, I’m the only woman in history who directed her former husband. I often joke: ‘I say ladies, if you want revenge, helm a movie with your ex.’ However, I’m joking.”

Personal Connections

Ladd was also a family member of playwright Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a great influence in my life”.

Back in 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with lung disease and told she only had half a year left yet she recovered completely when her daughter shifted her to another medical facility.

“Should you harness your suffering and prevent it from festering like a sore or something, instead use it to explore, to make the path clearer for personal and collective growth, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.