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This Academy Award-nominated actor Diane Ladd passed away aged 89.

This actor, whose filmography featured Chinatown, passed away at home at her Ojai, California home. This announcement was shared in a statement by her child, award-winning actress Laura Dern.

Dern, who starred with her mom in several movies such as Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my incredible hero and my special gift as a mother”, writing that she was present when she passed.

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

Initial Roles and Major Success

The start of her career included supporting roles on television series like Gunsmoke while that decade had her appearing with Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.

In the same year, 1974, she appeared with Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s celebrated comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her acting landed Ladd an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.

Subsequent Years

In the 1980s, she appeared in the thriller Black Widow, a suspense story plus funny follow-up National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while also joining the sitcom Alice, a television series derived from her earlier movie.

In the subsequent decade, she earned a further Oscar nomination for supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her role in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she acted as the parent of her actual daughter Laura Dern’s role. The following year she was awarded another nomination for her role in Rambling Rose that also featured Laura Dern.

“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she invited me and Laura to England for a royal premiere and an event for us,” Ladd recalled of Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, holding both our hands, with tears, watching us perform.”

The 1990s also saw roles in the comedy Cemetery Club bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political comedy, with John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she played the mother of Dern again. The decade also earned her Emmy nominations for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.

Partnerships with Her Daughter

She kept appearing with her daughter in films blending humor and drama the film Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire and Mike White’s satirical show Enlightened. She also appeared with Sandra Bullock, a star in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

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

Behind the Camera

She also authored and helmed the humorous movie the movie Mrs Munck featuring her and former husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she said. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a movie. In fact, I’m the only woman in recorded history to helm a film with her ex. I often joke: ‘I advise females, if you want revenge, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Personal Connections

She was additionally a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, who she called “a significant impact on my life”.

Back in 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with lung disease and advised her life expectancy was six months but made a full recovery once her daughter moved her to another medical facility.

“When you use your pain and prevent it from festering like a sore or something, rather utilize it to explore, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are triumphing,” Ladd said.