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This Academy Award-nominated actor Diane Ladd has died aged 89.

The actor, with filmography featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, left this world in her residence at her Ojai, California home. This announcement was announced through a message from her child, Academy Award-winning star her daughter Laura Dern.

Dern, who appeared with Diane Ladd in several movies including Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, called her “my wonderful hero and my precious gift being my mom”, noting that she was by her side during her final moments.

“She was the most wonderful grandmother, mother, daughter, performer, creative and compassionate soul that seemed almost dreamlike,” she stated. “We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”

Beginnings and Rise to Fame

The start of her career featured small roles in television programs such as Gunsmoke while the 1970s featured her performing next to Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

During that year, 1974, she shared the screen alongside Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.

1980s and Beyond

In the 1980s, she appeared in the dramatic film Black Widow, a suspense story and humorous film Christmas Vacation and also took part in the sitcom Alice, a comedy program derived from her earlier movie.

In the subsequent decade, she received another Oscar nomination for supporting actress nomination for her role in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she acted as the mother of her biological child Laura Dern’s role. A year later she was awarded an additional nod for her acting in Rambling Rose, another movie which included Dern.

“This was the film that the late Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she flew Laura and I to England for a premiere and a party dedicated to us,” Ladd shared about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, holding both our hands, and crying, viewing our performance.”

That decade also saw roles in comedy Cemetery Club reuniting her with Ellen Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a political comedy, with John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed Dern’s mother again. Those years also brought her nominations for Emmy Awards for work in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.

Collaborations with Daughter

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

Her more recent television parts consisted of Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.

Behind the Camera

Ladd also wrote and directed the humorous movie Mrs Munck, a film that included her and former husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she said. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a film. Indeed, I’m the only woman in recorded history to direct her ex-husband. I often joke: ‘I say ladies, if you seek payback, helm a movie with your ex.’ However, I’m joking.”

Family Ties

Ladd was also a family member of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she called “a great influence in my life”.

During 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with lung disease and advised she had just six months to live but made a full recovery after her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.

“If you can take your pain and prevent it from festering like a sore or something, rather utilize it to explore, to illuminate the way for personal and collective growth, then you are winning,” Ladd remarked.