🔗 Share this article

The Academy Award-nominated performer Diane Ladd has died 89 years old.

The actor, whose roles included National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, left this world in her residence at her Ojai, California home. This announcement was shared through a message by her child, award-winning actress Laura Dern.

Her daughter, who performed alongside Diane Ladd in various films like Wild at Heart, referred to her as “my wonderful hero and my special gift of a mother”, stating that she was by her side during her final moments.

“She was the greatest mother, daughter, grandmother, actress, artist and caring individual that seemed almost dreamlike,” she stated. “We were lucky to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”

Beginnings and Rise to Fame

The start of her career featured small roles in TV shows such as Perry Mason while the seventies featured her performing with the legendary Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.

During that year, 1974, she appeared alongside Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s celebrated dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her acting brought Ladd her first Oscar nomination in the supporting actress category.

Subsequent Years

In the 1980s, she was seen in the dramatic film Black Widow as well as humorous film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and appeared on the show Alice, a sitcom inspired by Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

During the next ten years, she received an additional supporting actress Oscar nomination for her performance in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic in which she portrayed the parent of her real-life daughter Dern’s character. The following year she was awarded another nomination for her role in Rambling Rose which also starred Dern.

“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she brought me and Laura to London for a royal premiere and an event dedicated to us,” Ladd said about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, grasping our hands, and weeping, watching us perform.”

The nineties featured performances in humorous films Cemetery Club bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political comedy, starring John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she acted as the mother of Dern again. That period also brought her Emmy nominations for performances in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.

Collaborations with Daughter

She kept appearing with Laura Dern in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and the series by Mike White comedy-drama series Enlightened, a TV series. She also appeared alongside Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Her more recent television parts featured Ray Donovan, a drama plus Young Sheldon.

Writing and Directing

She additionally penned and helmed the comedy film Mrs Munck that included her and former husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she said. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a film. Indeed, I stand as the only woman in history who directed her former husband. I often joke: ‘I say ladies, should you desire retribution, helm a movie with your ex.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Family Ties

Ladd was also the third cousin of the great Tennessee Williams, who she called “a major inspiration in my life”.

Back in 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with lung disease and informed she only had half a year left but she regained full health once her daughter shifted her to another medical facility.

“If you can take your pain and not let it back up like a sore or something, instead apply it to explore, to illuminate the way for you and those around, then you are winning,” Ladd remarked.