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The Academy Award-nominated performer Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran left us 89 years old.

This actress, whose filmography spanned Chinatown, left this world in her residence in California’s Ojai. The news was revealed through a message from her daughter, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern, her daughter.

Laura Dern, who performed alongside her mom in several movies like Rambling Rose, described her as “my wonderful hero as well as my profound gift as a mother”, noting that she was present when she passed.

“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, performer, creative as well as compassionate soul that felt like a dream come true,” she wrote. “We were lucky to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”

Early Career and Rise to Fame

The start of her career saw supporting roles in TV shows such as Perry Mason and that decade had her appearing alongside the legendary Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

During that year, 1974, she performed alongside Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s acclaimed dramatic comedy the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her acting earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actress.

Subsequent Years

During the eighties, she appeared in crime thriller Black Widow, a suspense story and humorous film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and appeared on the sitcom Alice, a comedy program based on Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

During the next ten years, she received an additional best supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her part in Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart where she played the parent of her biological child the character played by Dern. The next year she obtained a further nomination for her acting in Rambling Rose, another movie which also starred Laura Dern.

“This movie that Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she flew me and Laura to London for a royal premiere and an event in our honor,” Ladd said regarding Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, grasping our hands, and weeping, viewing our performance.”

That decade also saw roles in comedy Cemetery Club, a film reuniting her with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a satirical film, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she played Dern’s mother once more. Those years also brought her TV award nominations for roles in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.

Collaborations with Daughter

She persisted in performing with her daughter in comedy drama Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project the movie Inland Empire and White’s dark comedy series the program Enlightened. She also appeared next to Sandra Bullock, a star in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in that movie and with Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

Her later TV roles featured the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.

Writing and Directing

She additionally penned and directed the humorous movie Mrs Munck which starred her and former husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she mentioned. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a film. Actually, I stand as the only woman in history who directed her former husband. I make a joke: ‘I say ladies, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Family Ties

Ladd was also a relative of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she called “a major inspiration on my life”.

Back in 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with lung disease and told her life expectancy was six months but made a full recovery after her daughter transferred her to a new hospital.

“When you use your pain and not let it back up similar to a wound, instead use it to discover, to illuminate the way for you and those around, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.