🔗 Share this article Diane Ladd, Famed For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at Age 89. This Oscar-nominated performer Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran passed away at the age of 89. The actor, whose roles featured National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, died at her home in California’s Ojai. This announcement was revealed in a statement shared by her daughter, Oscar-winning actor her daughter Laura Dern. Laura Dern, who starred with her mother in several movies including Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, called her “my amazing hero plus my profound gift being my mom”, noting that she was by her side when she passed. “She was an exceptional mother, daughter, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she wrote. “We were fortunate to know her. She is flying with her angels now.” Initial Roles and Breakthrough The start of her career included minor parts in TV shows including The Fugitive while the 1970s saw her starring with actor Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown. That very year, the year 1974, she performed with Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese celebrated film the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role landed Ladd her first Oscar nomination in the supporting actress category. 1980s and Beyond During the eighties, she starred in the dramatic film Black Widow, a suspense story and humorous film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and appeared on Alice, a sitcom derived from her earlier movie. During the next ten years, she was given another supporting actress Oscar nomination for her performance in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she played the mom of her biological child Dern’s character. The following year she obtained a further nomination for her performance in the film Rambling Rose that also featured her daughter. “This was the picture that Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she brought Laura and I to England for a royal premiere and a celebration for us,” Ladd said regarding Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, grasping our hands, with tears, viewing our performance.” That decade featured performances in humorous films The Cemetery Club bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a political comedy, starring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy in which she portrayed Dern’s mother again. The decade also brought her TV award nominations for work in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel. Collaborations with Daughter She kept appearing with her daughter in films blending humor and drama the film Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and White’s comedy-drama series the program Enlightened. She additionally starred alongside Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in that movie plus Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy. Her more recent television parts included Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon, a comedy. Writing and Directing She also authored and helmed the humorous movie Mrs Munck, a film which starred herself and former husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “I was honored to direct him on a project. Indeed, I am the sole female in recorded history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, if you seek payback, direct your ex-husband.’ However, I’m joking.” Personal Life She was additionally a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, who she called “a significant impact in my life”. In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a respiratory illness and advised she had just six months to live but she regained full health once her daughter shifted her to a new hospital. “Should you harness your suffering and prevent it from festering similar to a wound, instead use it to explore, to illuminate the way for yourself and others, then you are triumphing,” Ladd remarked.