🔗 Share this article Acclaimed Actress Diane Ladd, Celebrated For Her Performance in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Passes Away at 89 Years Old. This Academy Award-nominated actor the celebrated Diane Ladd left us 89 years old. The star, with credits included National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, left this world in her residence in Ojai, California. The news was revealed in a statement from her daughter, award-winning actress Laura Dern. Dern, who starred with her mother in a number of films including Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my wonderful hero as well as my special gift as a mother”, writing that she was present as she died. “She was an exceptional daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist as well as compassionate soul that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she expressed. “We were blessed to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.” Beginnings and Breakthrough Her initial acting years featured supporting roles on television series including Perry Mason whereas that decade featured her performing with Jack Nicholson in Chinatown. During that year, 1974, she appeared alongside Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese praised comedy drama the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance earned Ladd her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. 1980s and Beyond During the eighties, she starred in the dramatic film Black Widow as well as humorous film Christmas Vacation and appeared on the show Alice, a television series derived from the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. In the subsequent decade, she received an additional Oscar nomination for supporting actress nomination for her performance in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she acted as the parent of her real-life daughter the character played by Dern. The following year she received a further nomination for her role in Rambling Rose, another movie which included Dern. “This was the film that the late Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she invited us to London for a premiere and a party dedicated to us,” Ladd said about the film Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, taking our hands, and crying, viewing our performance.” That decade included parts in the comedy The Cemetery Club joining her again with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a comedy about politics, with John Travolta and Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth where she played Dern’s mother once more. That period also brought her TV award nominations for performances on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama. Collaborations with Daughter She kept appearing with her daughter in films blending humor and drama the film Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and Mike White’s dark comedy series Enlightened, a TV series. She also appeared next to actress Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy. Her later TV roles included the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon. Filmmaking Ventures She additionally penned and helmed the humorous movie Mrs Munck featuring herself and ex-husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she said. “It was a privilege to guide him on a project. Indeed, I stand as the only woman in history to helm a film with her ex. I often joke: ‘I advise females, if you want revenge, direct your ex-husband.’ Though I’m just teasing.” Personal Connections She happened to be a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a major inspiration in my life”. In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a respiratory illness and advised she only had half a year left but she regained full health when her daughter shifted her to a new hospital. “Should you harness your suffering and not let it back up like an injury, instead apply it to discover, to clarify the journey for you and those around, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.