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This Academy Award-nominated actress Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran has died 89 years old.

This actress, with roles featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home at her Ojai, California home. The news was revealed in a statement shared by her offspring, award-winning actress Laura Dern.

Dern, who appeared with her mom in a number of films like Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my incredible hero as well as my special gift being my mom”, writing that she was by her side when she passed.

“She was the greatest mother, daughter, grandmother, performer, creative and caring individual that seemed almost dreamlike,” she expressed. “We were fortunate to know her. She is now with the angels.”

Early Career and Major Success

Her initial acting years included small roles on television series such as The Fugitive while the seventies saw her starring next to actor Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

During that year, 1974, she shared the screen with Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed dramatic comedy the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.

Later Decades

In the 1980s, she appeared in crime thriller Black Widow, a suspense story and humorous film National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and appeared on Alice, a television series derived from Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

During the next ten years, she earned another best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart where she played the mother of her biological child the character played by Dern. The next year she obtained an additional nod for her performance in Rambling Rose, another movie which also starred Laura Dern.

“This movie that Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she brought me and Laura to England for a royal premiere and a celebration for us,” Ladd recalled of Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, grasping our hands, and crying, seeing us act.”

That decade also saw roles in the comedy Cemetery Club, a film reuniting her with Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, with John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed Laura Dern’s mom again. Those years also brought her TV award nominations for roles in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel.

Collaborations with Daughter

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

Her later TV roles included Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon, a comedy.

Behind the Camera

She additionally penned and directed the humorous movie the movie Mrs Munck which starred her and previous spouse Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she said. “It was a privilege to guide him in a movie. Actually, I’m the only woman in recorded history to helm a film with her ex. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, should you desire retribution, direct your ex-husband.’ Though I’m just teasing.”

Personal Life

She happened to be the third cousin of the great Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a major inspiration on my life”.

Back in 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a pulmonary condition and told she had just six months to live but made a full recovery after her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.

“When you use your pain and not let it back up similar to a wound, rather utilize it to investigate, to make the path clearer for personal and collective growth, then you are winning,” Ladd said.