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The award-nominated performer the celebrated Diane Ladd left us at the age of 89.

This actor, with filmography spanned Chinatown, passed away at home in California’s Ojai. Her passing was shared through a message by her daughter, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern.

Her daughter, who performed alongside her mother in a number of films like Rambling Rose, described her as “my wonderful hero as well as 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 as well as caring individual that felt like a dream come true,” she wrote. “We were blessed to have her. She is now with the angels.”

Initial Roles and Rise to Fame

Her initial acting years included small roles in TV shows including The Fugitive and the 1970s featured her performing next to Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

That very year, 1974, she performed with actress Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s acclaimed film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her acting landed Ladd her initial Oscar nod as best supporting actress.

Subsequent Years

Throughout the 1980s, she was seen in the thriller the movie Black Widow plus humorous film National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and appeared on the sitcom Alice, a television series derived from her earlier movie.

In the following decade, she earned an additional Oscar nomination for supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart, a cult classic in which she portrayed the mother of her biological child Laura Dern’s role. The next year she was awarded an additional nod for her performance in the film Rambling Rose that also featured Laura Dern.

“This movie which Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she brought us to the UK for a premiere and an event dedicated to us,” Ladd said about the film Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, grasping our hands, and weeping, seeing us act.”

The nineties also saw roles in the comedy The Cemetery Club bringing her back with Ellen Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played Dern’s mother another time. That period also saw her score Emmy nominations for performances in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.

Working with Laura Dern

She continued to star alongside her daughter in films blending humor and drama Daddy and Them, a movie, the David Lynch project Inland Empire, a surreal film and White’s comedy-drama series the program Enlightened. She was also seen alongside Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.

Subsequent TV appearances included Ray Donovan, a drama plus Young Sheldon.

Filmmaking Ventures

She also authored and helmed the comedy film Mrs Munck that included her and former husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “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 make a joke: ‘I tell women, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Personal Life

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

In 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with lung disease and told she had just six months to live but made a full recovery after her daughter moved her to a new hospital.

“When you use your pain and avoid letting it accumulate similar to a wound, rather utilize it to discover, to illuminate the way for yourself and others, then you are triumphing,” Ladd said.