🔗 Share this article Oscar-Nominated Star Diane Ladd, Celebrated For Her Role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Has Died at Age 89. This Academy Award-nominated performer Diane Ladd passed away 89 years old. This actor, with roles spanned National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, passed away at home in Ojai, California. The news was announced through a message by her offspring, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern. Her daughter, who starred with her mom in a number of films like Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, described her as “my wonderful hero plus my precious gift of a mother”, writing that she was at her bedside as she died. “She was the greatest mother, daughter, grandmother, performer, creative along with caring individual that felt like a dream come true,” she wrote. “We were fortunate to know her. She is now with the angels.” Beginnings and Major Success The start of her career featured small roles in television programs including The Fugitive whereas the 1970s had her appearing with Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown. That very year, the year 1974, she performed with actress Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s celebrated dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. The performance landed Ladd her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. 1980s and Beyond During the eighties, she starred in crime thriller the movie Black Widow plus humorous film National Lampoon’s holiday comedy while also joining the show Alice, a comedy program inspired by her earlier movie. In the following decade, she received another supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart where she played the mother of her real-life daughter the character played by Dern. A year later she was awarded a further nomination for her role in the film Rambling Rose which also starred Laura Dern. “This was the picture which Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she brought me and Laura to London for a royal premiere and an event in our honor,” Ladd recalled of Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, holding both our hands, with tears, watching us perform.” That decade featured performances in humorous films The Cemetery Club bringing her back with Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a political comedy, starring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she acted as the mother of Dern once more. The decade also brought her Emmy nominations for roles on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel. Working with Laura Dern She persisted in performing with her daughter in dramatic comedies the film Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and White’s dark comedy series Enlightened. She additionally starred alongside Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy. Her later TV roles consisted of Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon. Filmmaking Ventures She additionally penned and oversaw the humorous movie Mrs Munck, a film that included Diane Ladd and ex-husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she mentioned. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a film. In fact, I’m the only woman in recorded history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, if you seek payback, direct your ex-husband.’ Though I’m just teasing.” Family Ties She was additionally a family member of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she called “a major inspiration on my life”. Back in 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a pulmonary condition and informed her life expectancy was six months but made a full recovery when her daughter transferred her to a different hospital. “Should you harness your suffering and not let it back up like a sore or something, instead use it to discover, to illuminate the way for personal and collective growth, then you are winning,” Ladd remarked.